VanGogh Ebook

VAN GOGHS
UNTOLD JOURNEY
REVELATIONS OF FAITH, FAMILY, & ARTISTIC INSPIRATION
WILLIAM J. HAVLICEK, PH.D.
VAN GOGHS UNTOLD JOURNEY

Revelations of Faith, Family, & Artistic Inspiration
William J. Havlicek's new and revealing book about Vincent van Gogh is based largely on Vincents astonishing letters of which over 900 exist. The letters, first released in 1914, were publicly exhibited for the first time in late 2009 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. This important bookthe result of over 15 years of research and new revelations found in Vincents lettersprovides insight into the artist's true character, nurtured from his abiding faith, the influence of family, and the tender solicitude he felt for mankind. Havliceks book also dispels much of the myth that has come to surround Vincents tumultuous life. In the authors words, the book instead illuminates ...an unknown, adventurous, deeply compassionate man whose essence seems to have been lost in the dramatic and often apocryphal stories surrounding his illness and early death. My effort has been to resurrect unknown aspects of Vincentsome that are even heroic and certainly praiseworthy....
A beautifully produced, gate-fold, printed version of this book is available. To order the printed version, contact us at:
www.CreativeStorytellers.com
ISBN 9780982487211
Proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to PROGENY an international organization dedicated to the rescue, safety, treatment, and rehabilitation of exploited and endangered children, and the pursuit of justice on their behalf. For more information, please visit www.EndangeredChildren.org

Revelations of Faith, Family, & Artistic Inspiration by William J. Havlicek, Ph.D.
First Edition
Published by
Creative Storytellers Book Designers & Publishers Postbus 59267

1043 KG Amsterdam The Netherlands
Printed in Belgium by Bigger Dot.
2010 William J. Havlicek, Ph.D.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any way whatsoever without the prior and written consent of the publisher. ISBN 9780982487211 Proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to the Endangered Child Initiative an international organization dedicated to the rescue, safety, treatment, and rehabilitation of exploited and endangered children, and the pursuit of justice on their behalf. For more information, please visit www.EndangeredChildren.org
A beautifully-produced, gate-fold, printed version of this book is available by contacting us at the following Internet address:
Please note: Citations and credits for all text quotations, sources, and images used in this book may be found in the appendices. Cover Image: Portrait of Vincent van Gogh by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Pastel on paper. 1886-87. In the collection of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

REVELATIONS OF FAITH, FAMILY, AND ARTISTIC INSPIRATION
WILLIAM J. HAVLICEK, PH.D.
VBOOK VERSION
Creative Storytellers
! 787<64G8 G;<F JBE> GB @L 784E?L 78C4EG87 94G;8E 4A7 @BG;8E, "B;A 4A7 %4EL 4I?<68>, 9BE G;8<E ?<98?BA: 78IBG<BA 4A7 ?BI<A: 8K4@C?8.
Publishers Note:
Creative Storytellers considers the publishing of this book to be a great privilege because its message, and the underlying principles of its author, Professor William J. Havlicek (as well as those of the inimitable Vincent), remind us that kindness, compassion, and generosity of spirittogether with actionwill always enable us to overcome the moral and ethical dilemmas of our time. Both author and publisher have committed more than half of the net proceeds from the sale of this book to PROGENY, a global organization dedicated to the plight of disavowed, exploited, and endangered children around the world, and to their rescue, safety, and rehabilitation. Your purchase of this book means that you, too, are playing a significant part in giving just one lost child a real chance for recovery, a normal life, and the opportunities they deserve. Thank you!
Please visit: www.EndangeredChildren.org
CONTENTS
9 11 Preface Prelude
EPISODE ONEFAMILY & EARLY AESTHETIC INFLUENCES

23 31 45 61 Johanna The Family Van Gogh The Inspiration of Charles Dickens Sorrowful But Always Rejoicing
EPISODE TWODESOLATION & EMERGENCE

87 99 Bleak Days in the Borinage A Spiritual Renascence
EPISODE THREEA CALM ARDOR FOR WORK

129 145 Healing Themes Domestic Dreams
EPISODE FOURVINCENTS MORAL HERITAGE

165 185 Remembrance & Reconciliation The Bishops Doctrine & Starry Night
EPISODE FIVEA STARRY LEGACY

213 237 254 Gauguins Absolution Vincents Enduring Bequest
Appendices
Please note: The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has created an excellent online resource to Vincent van Goghs letters, paintings, drawings, and sketches. This may be accessed at www.VanGoghMuseum.com.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply grateful to all of the following without whose help the publication of this book would simply not have been possible: my wife Jeanne, for her love, patience and support when days were long; my late mother-in-law Bobbie Rackliffe, whose unfailing support meant so much to me during my demanding doctoral days; the pastors and the congregation of South Shores Church in Dana Point for their inspiration and kind support; the directors and staff of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena; the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for their help and extraordinary online resources; my cousin John Barnett (JB); neighbor Margaret Sebold; the late and revered Professor David Nye Brown; Dr. John K. Roth, my doctoral committee chairman, for his steady unswerving support; the late Dr, Ralph Ross; the late Fr. Winance; and Dr. Frances K. Pohl and Dr. Patricia Easton for their untiring insight and investment of time in this project. I am also very grateful to my late childhood friend, James F. Daly, and his brother Mike, and my other Iowa friends Steve Alt, Mike S. Ryan, and his wife Judy; to Matthias and Kris D'Autremont; to my brothers Jack, Bob and Tim, sister Jean, and my dear nieces and nephews; our family pastor Fr. Blocklinger; my former students Julio and Candace Reyes; Brian and Lauren Scott; former fellow students George Bedell, Rob and Robin Vance; and Quentin Van Eyck from my year in Holland from 1967-1968. Deep appreciation also goes to the staff and faculty at the Laguna College of Art and Design, among them President Dr. Dennis Power, Vice President Dr. Hlne Garrison, the European Study Director and colleague Professor Betty Shelton, Liberal Arts Chairman Professor Grant Hier, colleague Scott Angus, and staff members Mark B. Murray, Jennifer Daniels, and Kerri Redeker. And finally to David Glen, my publisher, colleague and friend, and his wife Jeanie, and the talented, dedicated staff at Creative Storytellers. Thank you all.
William J. Havlicek Dana Point, California
PREFACE
Anyone familiar with Vincent Van Gogh knows how devoted he was to the welfare of the poor, especially children. So when I came across a publisher who had founded a charity for endangered children, I knew Van Goghs Untold Journey was in precisely the right hands. Throughout his life Vincent was convinced that one was gauged not by personal gain but by how much one can bestow on othersthe true measure of what one has attained in life. This is a Gospel principle best known universally as love thy neighbor as thyself. However imperfect human endeavors are, effort must be made to alleviate suffering where it is found. This innate ability resides in each of us. Vincent had in mind a very high ideal (shared by Charles Dickens (whom Vincent deeply admired and imitated throughout his life) which was to make the plight of the abandoned and neglected better known. Both of these men had experienced some degree of neglect and abandonment, experiences they never forgot, and like a curse turned to blessing, they transformed the curse into a cure. Their art was used like a balm to sooth and staunch suffering first for themselves therapeutically, and then for others. Good art is always like that; based on real need and intended for real good. It is honest, directed and selfless in the best sense of those terms however idealistic that may sound. In fact, in the case of Vincent van Gogh and Charles Dickens, it was their idealism married to a gritty realism that gave their art its steady radiance. Both men were generous and charitable to a fault. I would like to paraphrase Vincent who once wrote that in order to know God one needed to love many things, for God created all things and by loving many things one comes to know their Creator. Such inverse logic also applies to this bookin knowing the many things that Vincent created one comes to love him, and through that love to love his Creator, the Creator of the Universe. I dedicate this work to that ideal, and to the many people in this world who still share this hope.
PRELUDE
UA C8EFBA ?<>8 .<A68AG <F ;4E7 GB E8C?468. ,;8 4@BHAG ;8 >ABJF 4A7 G;8 6?4E<GL B9 ;<F I<8JF BA G;8 JBE?7 4E8 HA58?<8I45?8. ,;8E89BE8, ! 4@ FHE8 G;4G ;8 J<?? @4>8 4 A4@8 9BE ;<@F8?9 J;<?8 ;8 FG<?? ;4F 4 68EG4<A AH@58E B9 L84EF GB ?<I8. ,;EBH:; ;<@, ! 64@8 <A 6BAG46G J<G; @4AL C4<AG8EF, 4@BA: J;B@ ;8 J4F J8?? G;BH:;G B9. 8 <F BA8 B9 G;8 6;4@C<BAF B9 A8J <784F; 4F G;8E8 <F ABG;<A: A8J HA78E G;8 FHA, <G <F @BE8 6BEE86G GB F4L, B9 G;8 HC;84I4? B9 B?7 <784F J;<6; ;4I8 78:8A8E4G87 BE ;4I8 ?BFG G;8<E I4?H8 G;EBH:; G;8 ;H@-7EH@ B9 BHE G<@8.V T,;8B I4A GB:;
In many ways, Vincents work marks a permanent spiritual landmark in Western art. He captures the spiritual yearnings that crisscross the pages of humankinds spotted and tormented history. But while it is Vincents vision that is examined in this present work, what makes his vision so potent is that it is a vision saturated not only with a timeless spirituality but also with the specific cultural spirit of his time, and in a real sense our time as well. His work is timelesshe gave expression to the public world at large even as he gave utterance to his personal and private place in that world. His work is a fusion of the private realms that make up every persons cultural identity. We can learn a great deal about ourselves as we study Vincents writings, and we can learn to see how human existence is given meaning by devotion to a higher purpose. One could say that Vincent is a contemporary man, and his 19th century existence feels oddly familiar to anyone with an eye to read between the lines. This is not hard to do because the late 19th century was a world undergoing massive seismic shifts and rumblings much like our own troubled times. Many of the same questions and doubts that haunted the 19th century still trouble us today. We sense the probing and throbbing questioning and convulsive churning of minds and hearts looking for answers. We can understand why throughout his life Vincent sought consolation in Victor Hugos Les Miserables, and the novels of Charles Dickens. We seek it in the Bible, inspirational poems, music,
3Table of Contents
11
.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L
and sacred works of art. Vincents work is both heartbreaking and moving because it was spawned from a heart that had repeatedly been broken. Vincent has been positioned, along with Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne, as one of the three key innovators of the Post-Impressionist Movement: Vincent representing the expressionist branch of the movement; Gauguin marking the symbolist branch; and Cezanne providing the conceptual innovations that led to Cubism. Picasso was directly influenced by all three of these artists but especially by the expressive aspects of Vincent, so much so that he referred to Vincent as his artistic father. Similarly, in the same way that Picasso borrowed from Vincent, Vincent borrowed from his own artist mentors: Rembrandt, Millet, Daumier, and many others. This is the way art evolves. Vincent was less reactive and cutting edge than it may seem. He reached back into the past for aesthetic and moral direction as much as he leaned forward. I believe Vincent would have said that his work was a bridge linking the present to the past. In considering the moral concerns that link our cultural present to the 19th century, we discover hidden insights into ourselves as we traverse Vincents bridge. The first time I was to cross that bridge was in 1967 when as a twenty year old American art student living in Holland I saw the Van Gogh collection for the first time. One drawing in particular, Peasant Mowing, staggered me. It was a heavily-worked, charcoal drawing where gritty marks gave massive form to a grimly focused reaper. Black pools of shadow flooded the folds of his garments as he lurched forward, swinging a sickle. This brooding worker was the literal and graphic embodiment of all the unknown miners smeared with coal dust that Vincent had seen as a missionary in the bleak mining community of the Borinage in 1879. Yet the sum of it was much more than an experience of illusion and movement. It was also evidence of an intense effort on Vincents part to tangibly reveal humankinds endless cycles of toil . The powerful drawing made an anonymous man and his private exertion visible. Many consider this drawing, a significant part of the Van Gogh Collection in Amsterdam, to be one of the most convincing depictions of labor in the history of art.
12
3Table of Contents
(E8?H78
U(84F4AG %BJ<A:V 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;, 1885. C;4E6B4? J<G; 5?46> 6E4LBA. .4A GB:; %HF8H@, A@FG8E74@, ,;8 &8G;8E?4A7F.
I have long been interested in what motivated an artist like Van Gogh. Writing a book on Vincent was one way to find out. Being a painter myself was another way. It was through both of these ways that I found answers to my question about artistic motivation. It was a journey that took me into the heart of human motivation and the wells of spiritual, cultural and natural power that feed artistic life. My personal involvement in visual art began very early with an uncle (whose birthday I shared) who gave me my first set of oil paints, along with deeply craved encouragement. It was also about the same time that one of my brothers friends gave me a book on how to draw. Those seeds of encouragement were planted in eager soil, and by high school my drawing skill was well developed. It was also in high school that a passion for reading, writing and painting were kindled by inspired teachers.
3Table of Contents
13
My family added a cultural foundation to all of this as my father was a Czech immigrant who brought with him rich European traditions along with my Babis (grandmother) cooking and peasant stories. Among the family ancestry was the well known writer and moral activist Karel Havlicek Borovsky, to whom I am told I bear an uncanny resemblance, and from whom some of my idealism and passion for writing may emanate. I was told by my maternal grandmother, who was the familys archivist, of a rich gallery of ancestors including Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Toms Cabin, Andrew Jackson, and (rather ominously) two of her own brothers who served life sentences for murder for their part in the Great Train Robbery! As a child I felt that I had inherited two complementary worlds staged in the United States and Europe. My maternal grandmother had been a homesteader and nurse in the Wild West in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Coincidentally, I too would later live in Colorado and obtain military medical training as a psychiatric orderly at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, in Denver. I also recall a particularly well-shaped reading chair that ended up in my boyhood bedroom and which became my transportation vehicle in late night reading expeditions during freezing Iowa winters and rain-drenched spring weekends. Iowa, with its dramatic and colorful seasonal changes, would also play a central part of my love for landscape painting and was another of the things that linked my personal aesthetic with that of Vincent. This landscape absorption would be amplified when I lived in Holland as a Junior Year Abroad Student in art school. Preceding all of this was my introduction to religion as a student at a Catholic grade school and altar boy. There was a fusion of natural and supernatural thought that stimulated my childhood in ways that would later blossom into a lifelong interest in the Bible and sacred experience. These interests and motivations were also shared by Vincent and would be one of the strongest links that I would forge with him. The unity of the natural and spiritual aspects of Vincents art and life would
14
3Table of Contents
(E8?H78
become a central theme of his letters, and of this book. The landscape is a living thing to those whose lives are dependent upon it, a lesson I would learn in the summers in Iowa when I worked as a hired hand to farmers willing to pay a high school kid a minimal wage. Later this rural connection too would deepen when I rented a farmhouse in Kalona, Iowa, while in graduate school at the University of Iowa. Isolated as I was in a century old wooden farmhouse surrounded by fields and cattle, my vision as an artist became permanently immersed in things of nature. That unity of nature and spiritual life was to take me appreciably closer to Vincent. The power, presence and intensity of the seasons were never stronger and more real to me as when I had to literally dig my station wagon out of snow drifts, herd cattle, mend fences and witness animal birth and deathall set under the unbending power of nature. I recall on an early spring day, as the snow was beginning to melt, seeing a white object at the bottom of a stream. It was the carcass of a ewe who had drowned trying to ford the stream in a blinding blizzard, and whose frozen wool had acted like a sponge, dragging her to the bottom. I had another experience parallel to Vincents life while working as a psychiatric orderly in Hawaii during the Vietnam War, and witnessed first hand the shadowlands that Vincent had traversed of violence, exhaustion, delusion, mental breakdowns, and the brighter upsurge of hope and self-recovery. All of this combined with a stimulating masters program at the University of Iowas art and art history department located a stones throw from the famed Iowas Writers Workshop helped me unify these experiences and embody these ideals into painting, writing, and exhibiting. Following graduation I moved to California and began to show my paintings and to receive a measure of success and much appreciated encouragement. I soon had affiliations with a number of well-respected Los Angeles galleries and museums, and received several large-scale private commissions. By 1990, I was exhibiting in Europe and on the east
3Table of Contents
15
coast of the United States. Vincents moral universe was always beckoning to me, and in 1996, I returned to my scholarly roots by reigniting a doctoral program in philosophy at the Claremont Graduate University, in California. My doctoral program was centered on Vincents personal letters, and my plan was to divide the letters into themes that would reveal the deep foundations of his world view, and that would become my doctoral thesis and the origin of this book. I had previously been a museum curator at the Riverside Art Center and Museum. Prior to that, I had been an assistant professor of studio and art history at Loma Linda University. Vincents world view was rich and complex, made up of his early memories of life in rural Brabant in The Netherlands. Crucial to this was that he was both son and grandson of two of the most effective welfare activists in Europepastors and missionaries to the poor. His letters were to unveil an extraordinary vision borne from his innate powers of observation and strong empathy with all humanity. The letters are ardent and hopeful, passionate and determined, spiritual, and at times, despairing. They are philosophical, poetic, lyrical, analyticaland nearly always beautiful. Vincents letters are in many ways like a Dickens novel, reflections of the human condition as it tries to make sense of a world full of complexity and contradiction. The letters can rival the descriptive powers of any first-rate novelist. Judy Sund, in her important 1992 study
True to Temperament: Vincent and French Naturalist Literature, makes

the following comment regarding this literary dimension of VanGogh:
U.<A68AGXF 499<A<GL 9BE G;8 JE<GG8A JBE7 <F 5BG; HA78A<45?8 4A7 HA78E-46>ABJ?87:87. 8 J4F 4 CEB?<9<6 ?8GG8E JE<G8E J;BF8 6B??86G87 6BEE8FCBA78A68 ABJ 9<??F <F ?8GG8EF 4E8 E8C?8G8 J<G; E898E8A68F GB 4A7 4CCE4<F4?F B9 @H?G<C?8 IB?H@8F, 4A7 4 IBE46<BHF E8478E J;B 6?4<@87 W4 @BE8 BE ?8FF <EE8F<FG<5?8 C4FF<BA 9BE 5BB>FX. 5BB>F 4A7 4HG;BEF; @BE8 G;4A GJB ;HA7E87 5BB>F 4E8 @8AG<BA87 5L G<G?8, 4A7 @4AL BG;8EF 4E8 4??H787 GB <A ?8FF B5I<BHF J4LF.V T +HA7, 1992
16
3Table of Contents
(E8?H78
Vincent himself wrote,
U! =HFG 64AXG 58?<8I8 G;4G 4 C4<AG8E F;BH?7 ;4I8 AB BG;8E G4F> 4A7 AB BG;8E 7HGL G;4A C4<AG<A: BA?L. /;4G ! @84A GB F4L <F, J;8E84F @4AL 6BAF<78E, 9BE <AFG4A68, E847<A: 5BB>F 4A7 FH6; G;<A:F J;4G G;8L 64?? 4 J4FG8 B9 G<@8, BA G;8 6BAGE4EL, ! 4@ B9 G;8 BC<A<BA G;4G, 94E 9EB@ 64HF<A: BA8 GB JBE> ?8FF BE ?8FF J8??, E4G;8E <G @4>8F BA8 JBE> @BE8 4A7 58GG8E GB GEL GB 5EB478A BA8XF @<A7 <A 4 9<8?7 G;4G <F FB 6?BF8?L 4??<87 J<G; G;<F JBE>TG;4G 4G 4AL E4G8 <G <F 4 @4GG8E B9 <@CBEG4A68, J;<6; :E84G?L <A9?H8A68F BA8XF JBE>, 9EB@ J;4G8I8E CB<AG B9 I<8J BA8 ?BB>F 4G G;<A:F, 4A7 J;4G8I8E 6BA68CG<BA BA8 @4L ;4I8 B9 ?<98.V
It is these under-acknowledged aspects of Vincent that this book explores: his identification with the outsider, the marginalized, the afflicted; his support of other artists; his deeply held moral and ethical views; his use of literature as a catalyst for his art; his profound understanding and strikingly near-parallel life with that of Charles Dickens. There is also the remarkable synthesis between his painting and his nursing of atrociously injured miners from firedamp explosions in coalmines, and long treks into the night under starry skies to the bedside of a dying friend. I saw a neglected dimension of Vincent, the untold journey of an unknown, adventurous, deeply compassionate man whose essence seems to have been lost in the dramatic and often apocryphal stories surrounding his illness and early death. My effort is to resurrect an unknown aspect of Vincentone that is even heroic and certainly praiseworthy, and profoundly religious in the best sense of the word.
S
3Table of Contents
17
)Women Mine!" Ca!!'ing Coal*, 1882. Thi" i" one of #he ea!lie"# &e ha%e of Vincen# %an Gogh+" ain#ing". Women coal mine!" "h$ffle in #he "no& &eigh#ed do&n $nde! bag" of hea%' coal. Vincen# had no fo!mal a!# #!aining a# #hi" #ime 'e# #he &o!k "$cceed" in " i#e of #hi". He !o%ided in"igh# in#o hi" in#ended meaning &hen he &!o#e: *No&, &i#h #he "no&, #he effec# i" like black cha!ac#e!" on &hi#e a e!(like age" of #he Go" el.* The c!$de ain#ing ha" #he a$!a of Pie#e! B!$egel, #he la#e medie%al ma"#e! of ea"an# life. The age" of #he Go" el g!a hicall' come ali%e ill$"#!a#ing #he !omi"e of Je"$" #o lif# h$mankind+" hea%' b$!den".
EPISODE ONE
FAMILY & EARLY AESTHETIC INFLUENCES

JOHANNA THE FAMILY VAN GOGH THE INSPIRATION OF CHARLES DICKENS SORROWFUL BUT ALWAYS REJOICING
JOHANNA
U...!A G;BH:;G ! 4@ ?<I<A: J;B??L J<G; ,;8B 4A7 .<A68AG, B;, G;8 <A9<A<G8?L 78?<64G8, G8A78E 4A7 ?BI8?LS2DH4?<GL3 B9 G;4G E8?4G<BA. BJ G;8L 98?G 9BE 846; BG;8E, ;BJ G;8L HA78EFGBB7 846; BG;8E, 4A7 B;, ;BJ GBH6;<A: .<A68AG'F 78C8A78A68 4G G<@8F - ,;8B A8I8E ?8G ;<@ 988? <G, 5HG ABJ 4A7 G;8A ;8 988?F <G ;<@F8?9, 4A7 G;8A ;<F ?8GG8EF 4E8 I8EL F47 - B9G8A ! J8CG BI8E G;8@. %L 74E?<A: - @L 784E - 784E ,;8B - 4G 8I8EL JBE7, 58GJ88A 8I8EL GJB ?<A8F, ! 4@ G;<A><A: B9 LBH - ;BJ LBH @478 @8 C4EG B9 LBHEF8?9 <A G;8 F;BEG G<@8 J8 J8E8 GB:8G;8E - ! 4@ FG<?? ?<I<A: J<G; LBH, 5L LBH. %4L LBHE FC<E<G :B BA <AFC<E<A: @8, G;8A 8I8ELG;<A: J<?? 58 4?? E<:;G J<G; BHE ?<GG?8 98??BJ.
/;B J<?? JE<G8 G;4G 5BB> 45BHG .<A68AG?...V T"B;4AA4 I4A GB:;-BBA:8E, 1892
On the evening of July 27, 1890, Vincent Van Gogh walked into a field near Auvers-sur Oise, in France, and shot himself with a revolver. He lingered until the morning of July 29, his beloved brother Theo at his side. He was only 37 years old. His last words to Theo were, "La tristesse durera toujours" (the sadness will last forever). Six months, later, Theo too died at just 33 years of age. Left behind, and with the awesome task of preserving a legacy virtually unmatched in the history of art, was one of the least celebrated souls in the extraordinary and tragically brief life of Vincent Van Gogh his sister-in-law, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. Had it not been for this remarkable woman, virtually nothing of the illustrious Vincent we know of today would remain, for she became heir and keeper of his immense collection of over two thousand paintings, sketches, and illustrations. Moreover, she was to preserve and chronicle at least 900 hand-written letters without which we would never have come to understand the devoted relationship and inter-dependency Vincent had with his brother Theo, nor the remarkable beneficence that lay at the very core of the Van Gogh family as a whole. Most importantly, we would never have come to know the uncommon genius that was Vincent van Gogh. The
'CCBF<G8: "B;4AA4 I4A GB:;-BBA:8E, .<A68AGXF F<FG8E-<A-?4J, 4A7 J<98 GB ,;8B I4A GB:;. ,;8 545L <A G;8 C;BGB J4F 4?FB A4@87 .<A68AG.
23
letters, publicly exhibited for the first time at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in November, 2009, were also to prove crucial in dispelling many of the apocryphal stories that were later to surround the artists lifestories that crassly portrayed him as some madman whose art betrayed his fractured and frenzied soul rather than the highly intelligent man he in fact was. Johanna had realized that Vincents letters to Theo were crucial to our understanding of Vincent yet she did not want their powerful message to eclipse his art, withholding them from public scrutiny for nearly twenty-four years until Vincents reputation as an artist was safely established. Johannas astute concern, care, and dedication to preserving the very essence of Vincent Van Gogh were manifested in a way of which he would have approved: through action. In 1914, while living in Amsterdam, she wrote of how she had first discovered the letters:
U/;8A 4F ,;8B'F LBHA: J<98 ! 8AG8E87 <A ACE<?, 1889, BHE 9?4G <A G;8 C<GN (<:4??8 <A (4E<F, ! 9BHA7 <A G;8 5BGGB@ B9 4 F@4?? 78F> 4 7E4J8E 9H?? B9 ?8GG8EF 9EB@ .<A68AG, 4A7 J88> 49G8E J88> ! F4J G;8 FBBA 94@<?<4E L8??BJ 8AI8?BC8F J<G; G;8 6;4E46G8E<FG<6 ;4A7JE<G<A: <A6E84F8 <A AH@58E. A9G8E .<A68AG'F 784G; ,;8B 7<F6HFF87 J<G; @8 G;8 CEB=86G B9 CH5?<F;<A: G;8F8 ?8GG8EF, 5HG 784G; GBB> ;<@ 4J4L 8E8 ;8 6BH?7 58:<A GB 8K86HG8 G;<F C?4A. &84E?L GJ8AGL-9BHE L84EF C4FF87 49G8E ,;8B'F 784G; 589BE8 ! J4F 45?8 GB 6B@C?8G8 G;8<E CH5?<64G<BA. %H6; G<@8 J4F A868FF4EL GB 786<C;8E G;8 ?8GG8EF 4A7 GB 4EE4A:8 G;8@; G;<F J4F G;8 @BE8 7<99<6H?G 5864HF8 B9G8A G;8 74G8F 94<?87, 4A7 @H6; 64E89H? G;BH:;G J4F A88787 589BE8 G;8F8 ?8GG8EF J8E8 9<GG87 <AGB G;8<E C?468. ,;8E8 J4F 4ABG;8E E84FBA, ;BJ8I8E, J;<6; >8CG @8 9EB@ @4><A: G;8@ >ABJA 84E?<8E. !G JBH?7 ;4I8 588A 4A <A=HFG<68 GB .<A68AG GB 6E84G8 <AG8E8FG <A ;<F C8EFBA4?<GL 8E8 G;8 JBE> GB J;<6; ;8 :4I8 ;<F ?<98 J4F E86B:A<M87 4A7 4CCE86<4G87 4F <G 78F8EI87. %4AL L84EF C4FF87 589BE8 .<A68AG J4F E86B:A<M87 4F 4 :E84G C4<AG8E. &BJ <G <F G<@8 ;<F C8EFBA4?<GL J4F >ABJA 4A7 HA78EFGBB7. %4L G;8 ?8GG8EF 58 E847 J<G; 6BAF<78E4G<BA.V
Johannas prudence in her handling of Vincents letters and art was born from her understanding of the complex motives which drove
24
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 'A8: "B;4AA4
her passionate and gifted brother-in-law, and the close, committed relationship between Vincent and Theo. But she was also astutely aware of the importance of Vincents work in that he had bequeathed to posterity not just a phenomenal body of paintings and drawings but also a messagealmost an appealof kindness and compassion for ones fellow man. This concept was not Johannas alone; it is self-evident when one reads Vincents erudite exchanges between Theo, Johanna, members of the Van Gogh family, and all those who were touched by his soul. Writing to a friend, Johanna once said:
U,;8 ?8GG8EF ;4I8 G4>8A 4 ?4E:8 C?468 <A @L ?<98 4?E847L, F<A68 G;8 58:<AA<A: B9 ,;8B'F <??A8FF. ,;8 9<EFG ?BA8?L 8I8A<A: J;<6; ! FC8AG <A BHE ;B@8 49G8E @L E8GHEA ! GBB> G;8 C46>4:8 B9 ?8GG8EF. ! >A8J G;4G <A G;8@ ! F;BH?7 9<A7 ;<@ 4:4<A. EI8A<A: 49G8E 8I8A<A: G;4G J4F @L 6BAFB?4G<BA 49G8E G;8 @<F8E45?8 74LF. !G J4F ABG .<A68AG J;B@ ! J4F F88><A: 5HG ,;8B. ! 7E4A> <A 8I8EL JBE7, ! 45FBE587 8I8EL 78G4<?. ! ABG BA?L E847 G;8 ?8GG8EF J<G; @L ;84EG, 5HG J<G; @L J;B?8 FBH?. AA7 FB <G ;4F E8@4<A87 4?? G;8 G<@8. ! ;4I8 E847 G;8@, 4A7 E8E847 G;8@, HAG<? ! F4J G;8 9<:HE8 B9 .<A68AG 6?84E?L 589BE8 @8. !@4:<A8 9BE BA8 @B@8AG @L 8KC8E<8A68, J;8A ! 64@8 546> GB B??4A7TE84?<M<A: G;8 :E84GA8FF 4A7 G;8 AB5<?<GL B9 G;4G ?BA8?L 4EG<FG'F ?<98. !@4:<A8 @L 7<F4CCB<AG@8AG 4G G;8 <A7<998E8A68 J;<6; C8BC?8 F;BJ87, J;8A <G 6BA68EA87 .<A68AG 4A7 ;<F JBE>...+B@8G<@8F <G @478 @8 I8EL F47. ! E8@8@58E ;BJ ?4FG L84E, BA G;8 74L B9 .<A68AG'F 784G;, ! J8AG BHG ?4G8 <A G;8 8I8A<A:. ,;8 J<A7 5?8J, <G E4<A87, 4A7 <G J4F C<G6;-74E>. EI8ELJ;8E8 <A G;8 ;BHF8F ! F4J ?<:;G 4A7 C8BC?8 :4G;8E87 4EBHA7 G;8 G45?8. AA7 ! 98?G FB 9BE?BEA G;4G 9BE G;8 9<EFG G<@8 ! HA78EFGBB7 J;4G .<A68AG @HFG ;4I8 98?G <A G;BF8 G<@8F, J;8A 8I8EL5B7L GHEA87 4J4L 9EB@ ;<@, J;8A ;8 98?G W4F <9 G;8E8 J8E8 AB C?468 9BE ;<@ BA 84EG;...X ! J<F;87 G;4G ! 6BH?7 @4>8 LBH 988? G;8 <A9?H8A68 .<A68AG ;47 BA @L ?<98. !G J4F ;8 J;B ;8?C87 @8 GB 466B@@B74G8 @L ?<98 <A FH6; 4 J4L G;4G ! 64A 58 4G C8468 J<G; @LF8?9. +8E8A<GLTG;<F J4F G;8 94IBE<G8 JBE7 B9 5BG; B9 G;8@, G;8 FB@8G;<A: G;8L 6BAF<78E87 G;8 ;<:;8FG. +8E8A<GLT! ;4I8 9BHA7 <G. +<A68 G;4G J<AG8E, J;8A ! J4F 4?BA8, ! ;4I8 ABG 588A HA;4CCLT XFBEEBJ9H? L8G 4?J4LF E8=B<6<A:,X G;4G J4F BA8 B9 ;<F 8KCE8FF<BAF, J;<6; ! ;4I8 6B@8 GB HA78EFG4A7 ABJ.V
3Table of Contents
25
Vincent had always longed for a close family. This became a tangible reality twice in his life: once when he had taken in, along with her two illegitimate children, the poor and abandoned Sien Hoornik, a Dutch woman from a criminally-minded family encouraged by her own mother to practice prostitution; then, at end of his life, with his brother Theo, Johanna and his little nephew and namesake. His role in these familial relationships, and the strong bonds that emerged from them, were significant. They have also been the source of much speculation by historians and biographers. What made the latter of these relationships especially complicated was that the adults were enmeshed ina precarious web of financial interdependency just as Theo and Johanna's child arrived.Vincent relied almost entirely on Theos monetary support, and sought to earn it with the prolificacy of his art. Despite this, and on the eve of an intense and risky childbirth (which by some estimates lasted 14 hours), Johanna wrote adeeply touching, rarely quoted letter to Vincent. She had been told that the birth would come at a real risk to her life. She was at the time just twentyeight years old, and was a petite, delicately framed woman, and the infant was situated awkwardly in her womb. Her doctor may have even suggested that she put her final affairs in order in case she didnt survive the ordeal. This was no doubt very disturbing for poor Johanna considering that this was not only her first child...it might well be her last. Johanna had only been married to Theo a little over a year at this point. Nevertheless, her letter demonstrated that she was an integral part of their symbiosis, and she was clearly a person of great sensibility.
A5BI8: +<8A BBEA<>, 9EB@ 4 7E4J<A: 5L .<A68AG .4A GB:;
26
3Table of Contents
/87A8F74L &<:;G 2"4AH4EL 30, 18903 D84E .<A68AG,SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS EI8E F<A68 C;E<FG@4F <G ;4F 588A @L <AG8AG<BA, 74L 49G8E 74L, GB JE<G8 LBHT G;8E8 <F 8I8A 4 ;4?9-9<A<F;87 ?8GG8E GB LBH <A @L JE<G<A: 64F8T4A7 8I8A ABJ, <9 ! F;BH?7 ABG @4>8 ;4FG8S GB JE<G8 LBH G;<F ?8GG8E, LBH JBH?7 :8G G;8 A8JF FBBA8E G;4G LBHE ?<GG?8 A4@8F4>8 ;47 4EE<I87. B89BE8 G;<F @B@8AG, ;BJ8I8E, ! J4AG GB F4L :BB7 A<:;G GB LBH.S !G <F CE86<F8?L @<7A<:;GTG;8S7B6GBE ;4F :BA8 GB F?88C 9BE 4 J;<?8, 9BE GBA<:;G ;8 CE898EF GB FG4L <A G;8 ;BHF8T,;8B, %BG;8E 4A7 /<? 4E8 F<GG<A: 4EBHA7 G;8 G45?8 J<G; @8T4J4<G<A: 9HGHE8 8I8AGFT<G <F FH6; 4 FGE4A:8 988?<A:TBI8E 4A7 BI8E 4:4<A G;4G DH8FG<BA, J<?? G;8 545L 58 ;8E8 5L GB@BEEBJ @BEA<A:? ! 64AABG JE<G8 @H6;, 5HG ! FB 784E?L J4AG87 GB ;4I8 4 6;4G J<G; LBH...,BA<:;GT4A7 4?? G;EBH:; G;8F8 74LF 9BE G;4G @4GG8ET! ;4I8 588A JBA78E<A: FB @H6; J;8G;8E ! ;4I8 E84??L 588A 45?8 GB 7B FB@8G;<A: GB @4>8 ,;8B ;4CCL <A ;<F @4EE<4:8T;8 68EG4<A?L ;4F @8.S 8 ;4F 588A FB :BB7 GB @8, FB :BB7T<9 G;<A:F F;BH?7 ABG GHEA BHG J8??T<9 ! F;BH?7 ;4I8 GB ?84I8 ;<@T G;8ASLBHS@HFG G8?? ;<@T9BE G;8E8 <F AB5B7L BA 84EG; ;8 ?BI8F FB @H6;TG;4G ;8 @HFG A8I8E E8:E8G G;4G ;8 @4EE<87 @8, 9BE ;8 ;4F @478 @8,SB;, FB ;4CCL.S!G <F GEH8 G;4G FH6; 4 @8FF4:8 FBHA7F F8AG<@8AG4?T5HG ! 64AABG G8?? ;<@ ABJT 9BE ;4?9 B9 @L 6B@C4AL ;4F 94??8A 4F?88C, ;8 GBB, 9BE ;8 <F FB I8EL G<E87.S';, <9 ! 6BH?7 :<I8 ;<@ 4 ;84?G;L FJ88G ?<GG?8 5BL, JBH?7AXG G;4G @4>8 ;<@ ;4CCL! ! G;<A> ! F;4?? FGBC ABJ, 9BE ! ;4I8 4GG46>F B9 C4<A 8I8EL ABJ 4A7 G;8A J;<6; CE8I8AG @8 9EB@ G;<A><A: BE JE<G<A: <A 4A BE78E?L J4L.S/;8A LBH E868<I8 G;<F 4?? J<?? 58 BI8E. B8?<8I8 @8, 0BHEF 49986G<BA4G8?L, "B.
The dire circumstances under which this letter was written and the poignant message it conveyed must have been the source of great anxiety for Vincent. Prior to his own birth, anolder brotheralso named Vincent Willem Van Goghhad been stillborn and now, upon receiving Johannas letter, it must have seemed to him that birth and death had ominously convened again.
3Table of Contents
27
Still, it is a measure of Johanna's respect for the devotion between the two brothers, as well as her own solicitude for Vincent, that she wrote this letter four months before she had actually met him, and just six months before his death. In fact, Johanna was to only meet Vincent face-to-face twice, once on May 17, 1890, and again on June 10. She later described that first encounter, and the impressions she had of Vincent.
"! ;47 8KC86G87 GB F88 4 F<6> @4A, 5HG ;8E8 J4F 4 FGHE7L, 5EB47-F;BH?78E87 @4A, J<G; 4 ;84?G;L 6B?BE, 4 F@<?8 BA ;<F 9468, 4A7 4 I8EL E8FB?HG8 4CC84E4A68; B9 4?? G;8 F8?9-CBEGE4<GF, G;8 BA8 589BE8 G;8 84F8? <F @BFG ?<>8 ;<@ 4G G;4G C8E<B7...,;8A ,;8B 7E8J ;<@ <AGB G;8 EBB@ J;8E8 BHE ?<GG?8 5BL'F 6E47?8 J4F; ;8 ;47 588A A4@87 49G8E .<A68AG. +<?8AG?L G;8 GJB 5EBG;8EF ?BB>87 4G G;8 DH<8G?L F?88C<A: 545LT5BG; ;47 G84EF <A G;8<E 8L8F. ,;8A .<A68AG GHEA87 F@<?<A:?L GB @8 4A7 F4<7, CB<AG<A: GB G;8 F<@C?8 6EB6;8G87 6BI8E BA G;8 6E47?8, "DB ABG 6BI8E ;<@ GBB @H6; J<G; ?468, ?<GG?8 F<FG8E." 8 FG4L87 G;E88 74LF, 4A7 J4F 6;88E9H? 4A7 ?<I8?L 4?? G;8 G<@8. +G. *8@L J4F ABG @8AG<BA87...,;8 9<EFG @BEA<A: ;8 J4F HC I8EL 84E?L 4A7 J4F FG4A7<A: <A ;<F F;<EGF?88I8F ?BB><A: 4G ;<F C<6GHE8F, B9 J;<6; BHE 4C4EG@8AG J4F 9H??. ,;8 J4??F J8E8 6BI8E87 J<G; G;8@..."
Vincents letters and the testimony of Johanna portray a very different story than the popular tale of the mad artist who cuts off his ear. What emerges instead is a story of selfless loyalty, the epitome of the Gospels sacred counsel"love one another". This was the core not only of Vincents ethics; it was also the foundation of his aesthetic stance. Tangible expression of such transcendental themes appeared in his first masterpiece The Potato Eaters completed at the very beginning of his career. We find these themes with even greater validity in his late paintings, such as The Starry Night, of 1889,and The Resurrection of Lazarus, of 1890.One senses a soaring spirituality rounded with human and divine love. This understanding of Vincent does not overtly appear in many accounts of his life, nor is its traditional sensibility something that seems familiar in our own times. In the early 1900s, when the previous
28
3Table of Contents
century was being documented, there was a significant erosion of a belief in morality. Bear in mind that Johanna first published Vincent's letters in 1914 at the outset of the First World War, and when the world was facing great despair. It is easy to understand why in the ensuing years many historians, in telling Vincent's story, would neglect elements of his life that spoke of faith and commitment. Such values were enshrouded by the horrific carnage and devastation on a scale never before seen in human history. Peoples minds were just elsewhere. However, the strong moral outlook of Vincent's letters, found too in Johannas memoirs written decades after the artists death, spoke strongly to the very human spirit that was in dire jeopardy in those dark times. Perhaps our own private forebodingsfueled by the crises and moral dilemmas of our times todaycan find sustenance in the innate and profound compassion of Vincent van Gogh.
,BC ?89G: 'A8 B9 G;8 BA?LT4A7 6BAGEBI8EF<4?TC;BGBF B9 .<A68AG I4A GB:; (F88 ABG4G<BA <A G;8 ACC8A7<K). $BJ8E ?89G: ,;8B I4A GB:;, .<A68AGXF 5EBG;8E. $BJ8E E<:;G: "B;4AA4 I4A GB:;-BBA:8E, ,;8BXF J<98.
3Table of Contents
29
THE FAMILY VAN GOGH

UW/;8A ;8 64@8 546> GB G;8@ B9 ;<F BJA J<??, G;8L E868<I87 ;<@ J<G; FB @H6; ?BI8 4A7 GE<87 8I8ELG;<A: <A G;8<E CBJ8E GB @4>8 ;<@ 6B@9BEG45?8...X 2 <F 94G;8E JEBG83 W/8 4CCEBI87 B9 ;<F FG4L<A: ;8E8 9BE FB@8 G<@8 GB @4>8 FGH7<8F. 8 J4AG87 G;8 @4A:?<A: EBB@ 9<GG87 HC 9BE ;<@.../8 ;47 4 A<68 FGBI8 CHG <A; 4F G;8 EBB@ ;47 4 FGBA8 9?BBE J8 ;47 <G 6BI8E87 J<G; 5B4E7F 4A7 @478 <G 4F 6B@9BEG45?8 4F CBFF<5?8; J8 CHG <A 4 587 BA 4 JBB78A FG4A7, FB G;4G <G @<:;G ABG 58 GBB 74@C...! CEBCBF87 ;4I<A: 4 ?4E:8 J<A7BJ @478 <A <G 5HG ;8 7<7 ABG J4AG G;4G.S !A F;BEG, J8 HA78EG4>8 G;<F 8KC8E<@8AG J<G; E84? 6BA9<78A68, 4A7 J8 <AG8A7 GB ?84I8 ;<@ C8E986G?L 9E88 <A ;<F C86H?<4E<G<8F B9 7E8FF, 8G6.XV T"B;4AA4 I4A GB:;-BBA:8E, 1914
Throughout his life, Vincent was provided for by a number of people, among them his father, brother, uncles, friends, doctors, and Protestant clergymen. Their singular concern for him, clearly evident in Johannas writings, does not concur with suggestions by earlier Van Gogh scholars many of whom have propagated the notion that Vincents upbringing was abnormal, and was a major cause of his instability. Van Gogh biographer, M.E. Traulbaut, even proposed a Freudian hypothesis that Vincents mother had rejected him in favor of her first-born son (also named Vincent) who had been still-born. Johanna attests to just the oppositethat in losing the first Vincent, it was imperative for the family to cherish and nurture the second. Vincent van Gogh was born into an important Dutch family whose members, over the centuries, had been involved in a variety of vocations: theology, government, the military, sculpture, painting, crafts, and book-binding. Three at least were astute and adept in the business of selling art. Vincents grandparents had eleven childrentwo daughters
'CCBF<G8: .4A GB:;XF C4<AG<A: B9 ;<F @BG;8E, AAA4 CBEA8?<4 C4E58AGHF. 8 A8I8E C4<AG87 ;<F 94G;8E J;<6; ;8 788C?L E8:E8GG87 ?4G8E <A ?<98.
31
and nine sons. Both daughters married military officers of high rank in the Dutch Armed forces, while six of the sons held notable administrative and business positions in what we now call The Netherlands.Vincents Uncle Johannes, a handsome and powerful man, was Vice-Admiral and Commandant of the Dutch Navyits second-highest ranking officer. Three other sons became art dealers.One in particular was to have a powerful impact on Vincent and Theo in their decisions to pursue careers in art.Also named Vincent, but known as Uncle Cent, he was well-read, highly successful, and very influential.According to Johanna, he had opened a gallery in Den Haag (The Hague) that enjoyed prestige throughout Europe.She described Uncle Cent as a gifted, witty, and intelligent man, and held great authority in the world of art at that time.Johanna told how Goupil & Cie., the renowned international art dealers and print publishers in Paris, offered him a partnership, and achieved its highest renown only after Vincent (the uncle) joined it. There was, therefore, a well established set of vocational choices within the Van Gogh family. Johanna, writing in her memoirs, provided a lucid understanding of the family Van Gogh:
U,;8 94@<?L A4@8, .4A GB:;, <F CEB545?L 78E<I87 9EB@ G;8 F@4?? GBJA GB:; BA G;8 G8E@4A 9EBAG<8E, 5HG <A G;8 F<KG88AG; 68AGHEL G;8 .4A GB:;F J8E8 4?E847L 8FG45?<F;87 <A B??4A7. A66BE7<A: GB G;8 AAA4?8F G8A84?B:<DH8F 5L AEAB?7 BH6;8?<HF, 4 "46B5 .4A GB:; ?<I87 4G G;4G G<@8 <A -GE86;G, U<A G;8 'J? 58;<A7 G;8 ,BJA 4??.V "4A, "46B5XF FBA, J;B ?<I87 U<A G;8 B<5?8 HA78E G;8 9?4K @4E>8G,V FB?7 J<A8 4A7 5BB>F 4A7 J4F C4CG4<A B9 G;8 C<I<? GH4E7.S,;8<E 6B4G B9 4E@F J4F 4 54E J<G; G;E88 EBF8F, 4A7 <G <F FG<?? G;8 .4A GB:; 94@<?L 6E8FG. !A G;8 F8I8AG88AG; 68AGHEL J8 9<A7 @4AL .4A GB:;F B66HCL<A: ;<:; B99<68F B9 FG4G8 <A
32
B??4A7. "B;4AA8F .4A GB:;, @4:<FGE4G8 B9 1HGC;8A, J4F 4CCB<AG87

3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;
<:; ,E84FHE8E B9 G;8 -A<BA <A 1628; %<6;8? .4A GB:;TBE<:<A4??L CBAFH? G8A8E4? <A BE4M<? 4A7 GE84FHE8E B9 188?4A7TJ4F 4 @8@58E B9 G;8 E@54FFL G;4G J8?6B@87 #<A: C;4E?8F !! B9 EA:?4A7 BA ;<F 4F68AG GB G;8 G;EBA8 <A 1660. !A 45BHG G;8 F4@8 C8E<B7 CBEA8?<HF .4A GB:; J4F 4 *8@BAFGE4AG 6?8E:L@4A 4G BBF>BBC;... ...D4I<7 .4A GB:;, J;B F8GG?87 <A ,;8 4:H8, J4F 4 :B?7-J<E8 7E4J8E.S <F 8?78FG FBA, "4A, 9B??BJ87 G;8 F4@8 GE478, 4A7 @4EE<87 %4E<4 +G4?I<HF; 5BG; 58?BA:87 GB G;8 /4??BBA (EBG8FG4AG C;HE6;.SD4I<7XF F86BA7 FBA, .<A68AG (1729-1802), J4F 4 F6H?CGBE 5L CEB98FF<BA, 4A7 J4F F4<7 GB ;4I8 588A <A (4E<F <A ;<F LBHG;: <A 1749 ;8 J4F BA8 B9 G;8 C8AG +H<FF8F.S/<G; ;<@ G;8 CE46G<68 B9 4EG F88@F GB ;4I8 6B@8 <AGB G;8 94@<?L . . . . ..."B;4AA8F J4F 4G 9<EFG 4 :B?7-J<E8 7E4J8E ?<>8 ;<F 94G;8E, 5HG ;8 ?4G8E 5864@8 4 B<5?8 G846;8E 4A7 4 6?8E> <A G;8 C?B<FG8E C;HE6; 4G ,;8 4:H8.S 8 @4EE<87 "B;4AA4 I4A 78E .<A B9 %4??<A8F, 4A7 G;8<E FBA .<A68AG (1789-1874) J4F 8A45?87, 5L G;8 ?8:46L B9 ;<F :E84G-HA6?8 .<A68AG, GB FGH7L G;8B?B:L 4G G;8 -A<I8EF<GL B9 $8<78A. ,;<F .<A68AG, G;8 :E4A794G;8E B9 G;8 C4<AG8E, J4F 4 @4A B9 :E84G <AG8??86G, J<G; 4A 8KGE4BE7<A4E<?L FGEBA: F8AF8 B9 7HGL.S AG G;8 $4G<A F6;BB? ;8 7<FG<A:H<F;87 ;<@F8?9 4A7 JBA 4?? ><A7F B9 CE<M8F 4A7 G8FG<@BA<4?F..."
Johanna, who had named her own child Vincent Willem Van Gogh after her charismatic brother-in-law, also drew attention to the recurring use of the name Vincent in the family line: an uncle, greatuncle, grandfather, and great-grandfather bore the name, and they included a sculptor, a Bible teacher,a gold-drawer and jeweler, an acclaimed theologian, and an art dealer in the person of Uncle Cent. It is clear from the letters of both Johanna, Theo, and others, that Vincents parents were, despite his foibles and peccadillos, remarkably accepting and generous throughout his life. This is amply demonstrated by the fact that Vincent was allowed back into their home repeatedly, even after he had attained the age of thirty years, and after he had provoked and confounded his cousins and the extended family by his conduct.This forgiveness and compassion of his parents most
3Table of Contents
33
A5BI8: ",;8 (4EFBA4:8 4G &H8A8A" 1885, 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;. .4A GB:; %HF8H@. .4A GB:; ;47 4A HA64AAL 45<?<GL GB E8A78E G;8 @4FF<I8 E84?<GL B9 4E6;<G86GHE4? B5=86GF. 8E8 ;8 FH@@BAF HC G;8 5EBJA 5E<6> GJB FGBEL CE8F8A68 B9 G;8 C4EFBA4:8 CEBI<787 5L G;8 C4E<F; ;<F 94G;8E B99<6<4G87 BI8E. .<A68AG'F F<FG8EF @BFG ?<>8?L 4E8 F;BJA <A G;8 J4?>J4L.
likely accounts for the constant theme in his art and letters concerning having his own home, marriage and children, and the domestic life he yearned for. This kind of nurturing was very unusual in the nineteenth century. Men were required to be self-supporting at fourteen to sixteen years of age. Even in the era of the First World War in Holland, the Dutch-American painter, Willem de Kooning, was gainfully employed, and providing for his mother and siblings at the age of twelve. As noted by Stevens and Swan in De Kooning: An American Master (2004): In 1916, his pay was one guilder a day. His mother took what he earned and gave him an allowance, the usual practice of the time. Nevertheless, at great expense, and considering their modest retirement savings, Vincents parents remodeled part of their house into a studio for him in spite of his age and notwithstanding his unusual
34
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;
behavior. He would read in isolation for long periods, dress as a peasant or farm laborer (belying his being a prominent, middle-class clergymans son), and often refusing to eat with the rest of the family. Vincents father, Theodorus, deserves far more credit than most historians have noted for helping his quirky and often exasperating son at various points in his life. Both Johanna and Theo have written that Vincent was not always an easy person with whom to get along. Theo later reported:
U!G F88@F 4F <9 ;8 J8E8 GJB C8EFBAF:S BA8 @4EI8?BHF?L :<9G87, G8A78E 4A7 E89<A87, G;8 BG;8E 8:BG<FG<6 4A7 ;4E7-;84EG87. ,;8L CE8F8AG G;8@F8?I8F <A GHEAF, FB G;4G BA8 ;84EF ;<@ G4?> 9<EFG <A BA8 J4L, G;8A <A G;8 BG;8E, 4A7 4?J4LF J<G; 4E:H@8AGF BA 5BG; F<78FV.
Johanna tells of numerous, critical times when his father came to Vincents aid, demonstrating a consistent and unusually tender concern for his son.Johanna believed that Theodoruss generosity and treatment of Vincent probably inspired her husband Theo to maintain this support following the father's death. This familial solicitude is an important issue to clarify. Several early historical accounts have claimed that Vincents parents were rigidly pious and austere; that there were continual quarrels between Vincent and his parents, some of the most intense to do with Vincents love of his widowed second cousin, and his rage at her refusal to marry him. But the emergence of Vincents vast body of letters, and the memoirs of Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, refute much of this wrong-headed speculation. We get a truer sense of the parents behavior towards their peculiar son from a childhood event reported by Johanna:
"!A BA8 B9 @4AL <AFG4A68F, ;8 FBH:;G 4 J4L GB E86BA6<?8 ;<F @BG;8E 4A7 J<98 49G8E .<A68AG ;47 588A 5BK87 BA G;8 84EF 9BE FB@8 @<F58;4I<BE 5L G;8 :E4A7@BG;8E: U,;8 G8A78E-;84EG87 @BG;8E J4F FB <A7<:A4AG 4G G;<F G;4G F;8 7<7 ABG FC84> GB ;8E @BG;8E-<A-?4J 9BE 4 J;B?8 74L, 4A7 BA?L G;8 FJ88G-G8@C8E87 6;4E46G8E B9 G;8 LBHA: 94G;8E FH6688787 <A 5E<A:<A: 45BHG 4 E86BA6<?<4G<BAV.
3Table of Contents
35
Johanna consistently paints a very different picture of Vincents childhood than many early historians. Instead of uncompromising rigidity, it is one of tolerance and permissiveness by parents unwilling to be overly punitive with their childrenVincent in particular. Vincents fathers constant efforts to hold the family together and support his sons artistic efforts were, however, not necessarily common in those times.In contrast to the parental support Vincent received, Henri Matisse, one of the foremost painters of the twentieth century, was disowned by his father when he became an artist. Hilary Spurling, in her
The Unknown Matisse (1998) reports:
U!G JBH?7 58 ;4E7 GB 8K4::8E4G8 G;8 F;B6> B9 %4G<FF8XF 78986G<BA <A 4 6B@@HA<GL J;<6; 7<F@<FF87 4AL 9BE@ B9 4EG 4F 4A <EE8?8I4AG, CEB545?L F87<G<BHF 4A7 8FF8AG<4??L 6BAG8@CG<5?8 B66HC4G<BA <A7H?:87 <A 5L ?4L45BHGF, B9 J;B@ G;8 @BFG FH668FF9H? @<:;G 4G 58FG 58 E8:4E787 4F 4 ><A7 B9 6?BJA.S 8AE< J4F 4?E847L J8?? >ABJA <A BB;4<A 4F 4A <AI4?<7, 4 94<?HE8 J;B ;47 CEBI87 HA9<G GB G4>8 BI8E G;<F 94G;8EXF F;BC.S&BJ ;8 ;47 94<?87 4F 4 ?4JL8E GBB, 4A7 J4F 45BHG GB 586B@8 4 CH5?<6 ?4H:;<A: FGB6>. W,;8 4AABHA68@8AG B9 ;<F 78C4EGHE8 J4F 4 F64A74? 9BE %4G<FF8XF C4E8AGF,X JEBG8 4 6BAG8@CBE4EL J;B :E8J HC ;84E<A: G;8 :BFF<C <A BB;4<A 7HE<A: G;8 C4<AG8EXF LBHG;: W,;8L 98?G G;8<E FBAXF 9B??L GB 58 4 64G4FGEBC;8 G;4G 5EBH:;G F;4@8 BA G;8 J;B?8 94@<?L.X W%L 94G;8E GB?7 @8 4 98J 74LF 4:B, I8EL 4A:EL 4A7 ;H@<?<4G87, G;4G 8I8ELBA8 GBB> @8 9BE 4A <@586<?8, 4A7 L8G ! J4FAXG BA8,X %4G<FF8 JEBG8 GB "84A B<8GG8 BA 31 "H?L 219033. W,;8 JBEFG B9 <G <F G;4G ;8 ;8?7 @8 E8FCBAF<5?8.X ,;8 6BA9?<6G 58GJ88A G;8 GJB ;47 E846;87 4 6E<F<F CB<AG. %BE8 G;4A 9BEGL L84EF ?4G8E, 4F 4A B?7 @4A <A ;<F 8<:;G<8F, %4G<FF8 6BH?7 58 @BI87 GB G84EF 5L @8@BE<8F B9 ;<F 94G;8E, WGB J;B@ ;8 ;47 64HF87 4 :E84G FH998E<A:, 4A7 J;B ;47 A8I8E ;47 6BA9<78A68 <A ;<@.XV
Considering the ethos of the late nineteenth century that caused Matisses community and parents to reject and denounce him, Vincents parents emerged as nothing short of beneficent.
36
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;
Over the years, some have discredited Vincent's father in his efforts to have his son sent to a sanitarium, echoing Vincent's violent outrage at the attempt.This psychiatric intervention was in fact consistent with his father's steady compassion for his son. Later, after his own selfconfinement at San Remy Asylum, in 1889, Vincent stated that his fathers earlier efforts to have him confined were justified, and regretted that his fathers wish had not been carried out. Vincent later realized that early intervention might have prevented the extremes his illness was ultimately to take. There is therefore ample documented evidence to show that Theodorus was a major influence in stabilizing and nurturing his troubled son. It was he who rescued Vincent when he became seriously ill as a lay missionary; it was he who supervised Vincents care and recovery; and it was his fathers Bible that Vincent painted, in loving remembrance, open and bathed in Rembrandt-like golden light, following his fathers untimely death. Vincents mother, Anna Cornelia Carbentus, was born in 1819 in Den Haag (The Hague). She was the daughter of a bookbinder who, according to Johanna, had the honor of binding the first Constitution of Holland, thereby earning the title of book-binder to the King.Johanna goes on to say:
U'A8 B9 ;8E DH4?<G<8F, A8KG GB ;8E 788C ?BI8 9BE A4GHE8, J4F G;8 :E84G 946<?<GL J<G; J;<6; F;8 6BH?7 8KCE8FF ;8E G;BH:;GF BA C4C8E; ;8E 5HFL ;4A7F, J;<6; J8E8 4?J4LF JBE><A: 9BE BG;8EF, :E4FC87 84:8E?L, ABG BA?L J<G; A887?8 4A7 >A<GG<A: A887?8, 5HG 4?FB G;8 C8AV. .<A68AGXF @BG;8E ?<I87 GB 58 87 L84EF B?7: 4A7 U49G8E ;4I<A: ?BFG ;8E ;HF54A7 4A7 G;E88 :EBJA FBAF, FG<?? E8G4<A87 ;8E 8A8E:L 4A7 FC<E<G 4A7 5BE8 ;8E FBEEBJ J<G; E4E8 6BHE4:8V.
Anna in turn described her daughter-in-law Johanna as a remarkable, lovable woman possessing a cheerful, lively spirit. Van Gogh biographer and family friend, M.E. Tralbaut, writing about Vincents mother, mentioned her deep love of nature, especially for flowers and plants, and described her love of letter writing which may have directly
3Table of Contents
37
inspired Vincents own passion for the same. Vincents relationship with his brother Theo is well known, but in the following passage, Johanna provides glimpses into his relationships with the rest of his siblings:
U,;8 GJB 5EBG;8EF J8E8 FGEBA:?L 4GG46;87 GB 846; BG;8E 9EB@ 6;<?7;BB7, J;8E84F G;8 8?78FG F<FG8E, E864??<A: G;8<E 6;<?7;BB7, FCB>8 B9 .<A68AGXF G84F<A: J4LF.S,;8B E8@8@58E87 BA?L G;4G .<A68AG 6BH?7 <AI8AG FH6; 78?<:;G9H? :4@8F G;4G BA68 G;8L @478 ;<@ 4 CE8F8AG B9 G;8 @BFG 584HG<9H? EBF85HF; <A G;8<E :4E78A GB F;BJ G;8<E :E4G<GH78.S,;8<E 6;<?7;BB7 J4F 9H?? B9 G;8 CB8GEL B9 BE454AG 6BHAGEL ?<98; G;8L :E8J HC 4@BA: G;8 J;84G 9<8?7F, G;8 ;84G; 4A7 G;8 C<A8 9BE8FGF, <A G;4G C86H?<4E FC;8E8 B9 4 I<??4:8 C4EFBA4:8, G;8 6;4E@ B9 J;<6; E8@4<A87 J<G; G;8@ 4?? G;8<E ?<I8F. !G J4F ABG C8E;4CF G;8 58FG GE4<A<A: GB 9<G G;8@ 9BE G;8 ;4E7 FGEH::?8 G;4G 4J4<G87 G;8@ 5BG;; G;8L J8E8 FG<?? FB I8EL LBHA: J;8A G;8L ;47 GB :B BHG <AGB G;8 JBE?7, 4A7 7HE<A: G;8 L84EF 9B??BJ<A:, J<G; J;4G 5<GG8E @8?4A6;B?L 4A7 <A8KCE8FF<5?8 ;B@8F<6>A8FF 7<7 G;8L ?BA: 9BE G;8 FJ88G ;B@8 <A G;8 ?<GG?8 I<??4:8 BA G;8 ;84G;.V
According to Johanna, Vincent'ssisters (although they clearly loved their brother) had said that at times he could be absolutely dull and unsociable. He apparently practiced self-flagellation as a teenager.His teacher, Dr. Mendes da Costa, was to elaborate on this:
U...J;8A8I8E .<A68AG 98?G G;4G ;<F G;BH:;GF ;47 FGE4L87 9HEG;8E G;4A G;8L F;BH?7 ;4I8, ;8 GBB> 4 6H7:8? GB 587 J<G; ;<@ 4A7 58?45BE87 ;<F 546> J<G; <G; 4A7 J;8A8I8E ;8 J4F 6BAI<A687 G;4G ;8 ;47 9BE98<G87 G;8 CE<I<?8:8 B9 C4FF<A: G;8 A<:;G <A ;<F 587, ;8 F?HA> BHG B9 G;8 ;BHF8 HAB5F8EI87 4G A<:;G, 4A7 G;8A, J;8A ;8 64@8 546> 4A7 9BHA7 G;8 7BBE 7BH5?8-?B6>87, J4F 9BE687 GB :B 4A7 F?88C BA G;8 9?BBE B9 4 ?<GG?8 JBB78A F;87, J<G;BHG 587 BE 5?4A>8G.S 8 CE898EE87 GB 7B G;<F <A J<AG8E, FB G;4G G;8 CHA<F;@8AG, J;<6; ! 4@ 7<FCBF87 GB G;<A> 4EBF8 9EB@ @8AG4? @4FB6;<F@, @<:;G 58 @BE8 F8I8E8.V
The compassionate sheltering of Vincent by his parents, however, could not curb the criticisms of their rural neighbors. The village
38
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;
priest, for instance, was convinced that the fledgling painter was responsible for getting a local peasant woman pregnanta claim vehemently denied by Vincent. Yet, even with the consistent support of his caring family, Vincent seemed to have an uncontrollable need to expend his powerful life-force to the point of collapse and utter exhaustion. Eventually, this hyperactive, intense activity combined with excessive alcohol, nicotine and caffeine consumption, and malnourishment, inevitably was to lead to mental illness. That Vincent was able to stave off utter physical collapse for most of his life was mostly due to his underlying belief system in which he viewed complete diligence and hard work as essential components of a meaningful existence. This heightened work ethicthis relentless drivewas woven deeply into the disposition of the Van Gogh family as a whole, sometimes with dire consequences. Vincents father died early in life, as did Theo, and at least one sister, all of whom pursued their brief lives with dogged determination. The Van Goghs ardently believed in devotion and selfimmolation as a virtue, as it was for many medieval saints such as St. Francis of Assisi who had exhausted himself by the age forty-five. Understanding this family trait of the Van Goghs explains why Vincent believed he could reform Sien Hoornik, the disavowed and pregnant prostitute who lived with him for a year and a half. Vincent had the idea that she could be made into a dependable wife through diligent efforts. Sien loves me and I love Sien; we can and will live together on what I should otherwise have lived on alone, Vincent wrote to Theo, underscoring the basic respect Vincent had for their father and his opinions. This esteem did not ignore his fathers weaknesses, for Vincent mentions in at least one letter his fathers capacity for rage, but he does not say what situations caused the outburst, or how often it flared up. And despite her great love of Vincent's positive qualities, Johanna's sensitive account of the family dynamics in her memoirs makes it clear that he almost always precipitated his fathers wrath with angry, irrational behavior himself.
3Table of Contents
39
Johanna further elucidates this in her recount of Vincents determined attempts to have a relationship with his recently widowed cousin Kee. This single event was to haunt him for the rest of his life, and caused enormous damage to his relationship with his extended family. Vincent exhibited an uncontrollable love and passion for his cousin which truly frightened the young woman. In Johannas words:
",;8 G;BH:;G B9 4 @BE8 <AG<@4G8 E8?4G<BA 7<7 ABG B66HE GB ;8E, 4A7 J;8A .<A68AG 4G ?4FG FCB>8 GB ;8E B9 ;<F ?BI8, 4 I8EL 786<787 AB J4F G;8 <@@87<4G8 E8C?L....<A68AG 6BH?7 ABG 45<78 ;8E 786<F<BA, 4A7 J<G; ;<F <AA4G8 G8A46<GL ;8 >8CG BA C8EF8I8E<A: 4A7 ;BC<A: 9BE 4 6;4A:8 <A ;8E 988?<A:F 9BE ;<@.S /;8A ;<F ?8GG8EF J8E8 ABG 4AFJ8E87, ;8 466HF87 5BG; ;<F 4A7 ;8E C4E8AGF B9 BCCBF<A: G;8 @4G6;..."
Vincents excessiveness and irascibility caused senior members of the family to intercede in order to protect the young woman, which causedVincent to react in a violent manner. But Vincents father was also the town pastor, and Kee one of his flock. Her family brought pressure to bear on him in this capacity. Strong family values were part of the fabric of Dutch middle-class life in the nineteenth century, and disruptive behavior affected the entire community. Vincents father, placed in a decidedly awkward position, was forced to ask his errant son to leave the familys home. Its important to keep in mind that Johanna was herself raised in the patriarchal culture of nineteenth century Holland. She identified with Kee, and understood perfectly why Vincent would have been an unsuitable husband; he was unemployed, living at home, and unable to support the young woman and her child. Johannas own experience later as a widow with her own child (following Theos death in 1891) was to give her, on reflection, a clearer understanding of Kees anxiety over the affair. The intervention by his father and Uncle Stickler (Kee's father and one of Holland's most famous theologians) was seen by Vincent as unwarranted meddling. And because he had earlier been fired as an evangelical lay pastor in the mining communities, his mistrust of the
40
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;
clergy was all the more inflamed by his uncles attitude. It was of course Theo who was to exemplify the Van Gogh familys constancy through his unerring devotion and sustenance of his eccentric brother Vincent. It was Theo, perhaps more than anyone, who recognized that beneath the quirky foibles, there was in Vincent a clear manifestation of genius, and that this needed to be nurtured by the family, especially by Theo himself, in order for it to emerge in all its splendor. As we read from Johannas memoirs:
U...B;, G;8 <A9<A<G8?L 78?<64G8, G8A78E 4A7 ?BI8?LS2DH4?<GL3 B9 G;4G E8?4G<BA.
BJ
G;8L 98?G 9BE 846; BG;8E, ;BJ G;8L HA78EFGBB7 846; BG;8E, 4A7 B;, ;BJ GBH6;<A: .<A68AG'F 78C8A78A68 4G G<@8F - ,;8B A8I8E ?8G ;<@ 988? <G, 5HG ABJ 4A7 G;8A ;8 988?F <G ;<@F8?9, 4A7 G;8A ;<F ?8GG8EF 4E8 I8EL F47...V
Such dedication was to take an enormous toll on the family as a whole. Theo was most like his father in excessive devotion to the needs of others, and to his own neglect. Perhaps bearing the same name had some effect on his own choices and actions. Both were to succumb to illness and early death. Despite, however, the inordinate tension Vincent created within the family, we know from Johannas later accounts that the Van Gogh ethosone which embodied compassion above all elsewas pervasive. This resounded in Vincent who, notwithstanding all the agony and illfeeling he may have engendered by his behavior, retained an abiding love for his father, and deeply regretted the fact that he had never painted his portrait. He was later to pour his regrets by painting (in almost ritualistic deference to his fathers memory) a series of look-alikes. One in particular, his portrait of Patience Escalier, bore a striking resemblance to Theodorus van Gogh. In the last days of his life, Vincent became more and more like his father. It is possible that the portrait of Patience Escalier not only resembled his father; in essence it was a self-portrait of Vincent himself at the end of his journey. The urge to paint his parents seemed to speak of his need for redresshis way of seeking reconciliation from his remaining
3Table of Contents
41
family members for his excessiveness and lack of fair treatment of others earlier in his life. He was to repeatedly maintain that love was not merely a feeling; real love had to be demonstrated with action. From her own perspective as a young widow, Johanna has provided us with remarkable insight into the complexities of the Van Goghs. By sheer necessity, she had to quickly grasp the mindset of this extraordinary family in order to understand her own husband Theo, and his role in the whole dynamic. This understanding evolved even further over the quarter century following his death, with her reading, overseeing, translating and publishing the Van Gogh letters. What has clearly emerged from Johannas careful consideration of those letters, and what is so enduring about the family Van Gogh, regardless of the stresses and strains imposed to almost breaking point by its unconventional son, is how its members remained true to their core principles and spiritual beliefsimbued and evident in the genius of Vincent himself.
'CCBF<G8: .<A68AGXF U(BEGE4<G B9 4 (84F4AG ((4G<8A68 EF64?<8E)V, C4<AG87 <A AH:HFG 1888, 5BE8 4A HA64AAL E8F8@5?4A68 GB ;<F 94G;8E, 4A7 <A @4AL J4LF J4F ;BJ .<A68AG F4J ;<@F8?9.
42
THE INSPIRATION OF CHARLES DICKENS

U+6EBB:8 J4F 58GG8E G;4A ;<F JBE7. 8 7<7 <G 4??, 4A7 <A9<A<G8?L @BE8; 4A7 GB ,<AL ,<@, J;B 7<7 ABG 7<8, ;8 J4F 4 F86BA7 94G;8E. 8 5864@8 4F :BB7 4 9E<8A7, 4F :BB7 4 @4FG8E, 4A7 4F :BB7 4 @4A, 4F G;8 :BB7 B?7 6<GL >A8J, BE 4AL BG;8E :BB7 B?7 6<GL, GBJA, BE 5BEBH:;, <A G;8 :BB7 B?7 JBE?7. +B@8 C8BC?8 ?4H:;87 GB F88 G;8 4?G8E4G<BA <A ;<@, 5HG ;8 ?8G G;8@ ?4H:;, 4A7 ?<GG?8 ;88787 G;8@; 9BE ;8 J4F J<F8 8ABH:; GB >ABJ G;4G ABG;<A: 8I8E ;4CC8A87 BA G;<F :?B58, 9BE :BB7, 4G J;<6; FB@8 C8BC?8 7<7 ABG ;4I8 G;8<E 9<?? B9 ?4H:;G8E <A G;8 BHGF8G; 4A7 >ABJ<A: G;4G FH6; 4F G;8F8 JBH?7 58 5?<A7 4ALJ4L, ;8 G;BH:;G <G DH<G8 4F J8?? G;4G G;8L F;BH?7 JE<A>?8 HC G;8<E 8L8F <A :E<AF, 4F ;4I8 G;8 @4?47L <A ?8FF 4GGE46G<I8 9BE@F. <F BJA ;84EG ?4H:;87: 4A7 G;4G J4F DH<G8 8ABH:; 9BE ;<@.V TFEB@ UA C;E<FG@4F C4EB?V 5L C;4E?8F D<6>8AF, 1843.
Vincent van Gogh and Charles Dickens never met. But throughout his life, Vincent held Dickens in the highest regard using him as a creative example and moral compass. This important spiritual connection with Dickens had been kindled by Vincents avid reading of all Dickenss published works. And Vincent had read the reflections of many of Dickenss close friends and colleagues concerning his philanthropy and his Christian beliefs, and how he put these beliefs not just into his writing but (and most important for Vincent) through actual deeds of benevolence. Dickens funded homes for destitute women. He was an activist in areas of social reform and workers rights. He worked tirelessly at bettering the lives of orphans, the abandoned, and the destitute. Dickenss
Christmas Carol, and its transformation of the fabled Scrooge, addresses

'CCBF<G8 (4:8: C;4E?8F D<6>8AF, 1812-1870. FEB@ 4 74:H8EE8BGLC8 5L "8E8@<4; GHEA8L, 6<E64 1867-1868.
3Table of Contents
45
such themes: unreasonable working hours, poor wages, greed, appalling conditions, the horrible neglect of crippled children, all as part of the moral obligation incumbent upon those who claim to celebrate the kindness, generosity, and munificence of Christian ethics. Dickenss Christmas
Carol indeed the vast majority of his worksembraced all these Christian mores in fictional accounts that continue to speak even today. Vincent's love of this story and of the intrinsic meaning of Christmas was celebrated as an integral part of the Van Gogh familys moral code. When Vincent's excessive behavior caused his eviction from his parents home on Christmas Eve, it was a devastating experience for all concerned. Vincent, himself the son and grandson of welfare activists, was like Dickens committed to bettering the lives of those around him, sharing his own limited food and resources with the needy. The two men shared an extraordinary parallel in their deep compassion for others and an unrelenting desire to offer money, time, talent, help, and encouragement to those less fortunate than themselves. And while the two men were from different cultures, both shared virtually identical moral and aesthetic views. And even though Dickens enjoyed a great deal of public success and notoriety, there was no envy on Vincents part; it went far deeper than that. Although Vincent was born in 1853 and Dickens in 1812, it has been said that Vincent, in his general sentiments, was more a man of the earlier 19th century than of the latter part. He seemed formed by that era, and a steady diet of Dickenss stories provided imaginative nourishment for Vincent. His absorption in the values of those earlier decades can be seen in the timeless themes he chose to depict: families at table, farmers in fields, sunrises, sunsets, fields of corn or wheat, empty chairs and objects of daily use. Like Dickens, he clung to the Golden Rule in an industrialized age rapidly becoming immune to the plight of the less fortunate. His love of physical matter, as noted, was tied to moral values in unique ways, often consistent with those of Dickens. We know for instance that Vincent was upset when renovation projects in Old London destroyed many of the quaint, tottering brick buildings, meandering streets, narrow alleyways, and colorful shop signagethe very back-
46
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 !AFC<E4G<BA B9 C;4E?8F D<6>8AF
A5BI8: UACC?<64AGF 9BE A7@<FF<BA GB 4 C4FH4? /4E7V 5L +<E +4@H8? $H>8 F<?78F (1844-1927). A9G8E F88<A: F<?78FXF JBE>, C;4E?8F D<6>8AF 6B@@<FF<BA87 ;<@ 4F 4A <??HFGE4GBE. 8E8, GBB, G;8E8 <F 4 WFGEH::?8 9BE 8K<FG8A68X. F<?78F F;BJF ;B@8?8FF C8BC?8 J4<G<A: BHGF<78 4 CB?<68 FG4G<BA <A J<AGEL J84G;8E 9BE G<6>8GF G;4G J<?? 47@<G G;8@ GB G;8 64FH4? J4E7 B9 4 JBE>;BHF8 9BE BI8EA<:;G F;8?G8E. AABG;8E I8EF<BA B9 G;<F C4<AG<A: @4L 58 F88A <A G;8 ,4G8 G4??8EL, $BA7BA.
A5BI8: ,;<F J4G8E6B?BE FGH7L B9 4 CH5?<6 ?BGG8EL F;BJF .<A68AG'F FGEBA: 47@<E4G<BA 9BE G;8 JBE> B9 D<6>8AFXF <??HFGE4GBE F<?78F. &BG BA?L J4F G;8 FH5=86G @4GG8E F<@<?4E 5HG .<A68AG 4GG8@CG87 GB HF8 @4AL B9 G;8 F4@8 6B?BEF 4A7 G8KGHE8F 4F 7<7 F<?78F. -A9BEGHA4G8?L, .<A68AG A8I8E CEB7H687 4 F4G<F946GBEL 9<A<F;87 C4<AG<A: B9 G;<F G;8@8. 8 J4F GB 6BA6878 <A ;<F 94<?HE8 G;8 8KGE4BE7<A4EL @4FG8EL B9 G;8 <??HFGE<BHF F<?78F.
47
U,;8 E@CGL C;4<EV 5L +<E +4@H8? $H>8 F<?78F, 4CC84E87 <A G;8 C;E<FG@4F 87<G<BA B9 ,;8 GE4C;<6 <A 1870, 4A7 CB<:A4AG?L F;BJF C;4E?8F D<6>8AFXF 78F> 4A7 6;4<E B@<ABHF?L 454A7BA87 <A ;<F FGH7L 49G8E G;8 JE<G8EXF 784G;.
drop of Dickenss novels. Van Gogh felt that the charisma of his favorite era was being thoughtlessly swept away. He was also convinced that a major moral force in the century disappeared when Dickens died in 1870. Vincent wrote poignantly about an illustration by Fildes entitled The Empty Chair that appeared in an issue of The Graphic of 1870. We see Dickenss desk and chair sitting abandoned in his study after the great writers death. Vincent wondered who would now fill the moral void Dickens had left behind in that room. Vincent seemed to be asking this question constantly in the course of his career. He painted empty chairs many times, and recalled weeping when he saw the empty chair his father had sat in moments after he departed from a lengthy visit, The subject matter of Vincents art, especially that produced between 1878 and 1886, was drawn from his personal experiences but amplified by Dickens. When Vincent was a missionary to the miners in the bleak Borinage region of Belgium, he read and reflected on workers lives through the gritty depictions in Dickenss Hard Times, a stirring novel based on the horrendous lives of men and women lost in the un-
48
3Table of Contents
regulated, dismal, and desolate industrial towns of England at that time. Dickens expressed his wrath at the moral indifference of his era, the inability of newly formed labor unions to curtail the long hours, and inequities in pay and working conditions. He wrote of maimings, ghastly diseases, and the death of children and young adults, all ground like grist in the throats of churning steel mills and quarries. Vincent witnessed such things firsthand, appreciating Dickenss poignant portrayals, and empathizing with the moral outrage he voiced. Vincent took all of this to heart and took action on behalf of the miners, helping to save lives, nurse burn victims, and champion better conditions for victims. And he faithfully documented these unfortunate people in the dozens of charcoal and pencil drawings he created between 1878 and 1885 featuring laborers, diggers, miners, cloth-weavers, and peasants, and illustrating welfare shelters for street children, abandoned women, and the leastfortunate of society. Vincent illustrated the very people of whom Dickens wrote. Vincent continued to dream well after the writers death that one day he might illustrate books like those of Dickens. In readying himself for this, he began to collect hundreds of illustrations found in the pulp-piles of discarded magazines of the era. Whenever possible, he purchased back issues at auctions, pasting the illustrations onto mat boards. He knew his collection so well he could retrieve examples of the top British and American illustrators on demand and with ease. In a very short time he became an expert, all the while continuing to passionately read and reread all of Dickens novels, knowing the characters intimately by name. At the same time, he polished his own writing style by
3Table of Contents
49
sending letters on an almost daily basis to whomever would take the time to read them. Literally thousands of such letters were written over his brief life; most were lost, carelessly tossed into the trash bins and stoves of the 19th century. Correlations between painter and writer extend into many aspects of their upbringing. It is well known that Dickens experienced years of hardship in his childhoodas a child bootblack, for instance, while his father was in debtors prison. Vincent also suffered episodes of extreme peer abuse as a boy at boarding school which may have stimulated (as a means of escape) his own reading and writing abilities an emotional lifeboat. Many letters from his early teens shed light, for example, on the pain of departure, so often a subject of his life, letters and art. These are all themes that are the essence, too, of Charles Dickens. Vincent was able to extract a gritty realism from Dickens that he described as a form of resurrection, his interpretation being that Dickens did not create characters as much as he brought them to life. His was both illustrative writing and writing that transcended into illustration. The motif of resurrection that Vincent applied to Dickenss characters connects us with something even more profoundthat both Dickens and Van Gogh held to the Christian belief in the literal transformation of the body into resurrected form after death. Their conviction of this remained strong even after their involvement with the established church waned. Their belief in the renascence of the corporeal being had a profound impact on their understanding of art.Resurrection deals with the reuniting of the body and spirit; in an artistic sense, it is taking dead matter and investing it with an artists spirit, emotion and vision. The artists physical media is charged with energy and becomes a resurrection in and of itself. Vincent hoped to use his illustrative skills to give visual support to novels such as those of Dickens. He believed that if black letters on a white page can ignite ones imagination, so too can a black and white drawing. Echoing the German philosopher Hegel, Vincent thought that
50
3Table of Contents
all artistic effortsliterary or otherwiselinked the unbounded, inner world of the mind and imagination with the outer world of finite reality. Effectively, the artist or novelist was a mediator between the infinite and finite realms, with the ability to illuminate life's unseen mysteries. Dickenss friend and biographer, John Forster, informs us that Dickens had unusually vivid memories of his early childhood which may have included the memory of his younger brother dying at six months of age of water on the brain. It is possible that Dickens, a little over two years old at the time, found some childish satisfaction in his brothers demise since it resulted in renewed attention for himself. Strong evidence exists that Dickens later suffered from unresolved guilt associated with his brothers death and his lack of normal feelings about it. This may explain the images of dead infants that often appear in his stories. That irrational guilt that haunted Dickens finds its parallel in Vincents early childhood. In Tralbauts (1969) biographical study of Van Gogh, he also notes an early death; eleven months after Vincents parents were married, their first son, Vincent Willem, was stillborn. A year later on the exactly the same day (March 30, 1853), the Van Goghs, still in mourning for the first son, gave birth to their second who was given the same first and middle name: Vincent Willem. The similarities between Vincent and Dickens are unmistakable, in particular the dynamics of guilt and creativity. In a sense, guilt forced them to be acutely aware of their environments and the conditions in which they found themselves. The precariousness of their existence was dependent on unseen forcesthe same forces that took their deceased brothers. In Dickens, this awareness was trained on themes and images of death and desolation, dank alleyways, old and worn steps descending into darkness, funereal scenes and grave sitesthe same themes and images one finds in Vincents letters and paintings.
As Ackroyd noted in his exhaustive biography of Dickens (1990):
3Table of Contents
51
U,;8 4G@BFC;8E8 B9 G;8 64G;87E4? 4A7 B9 G;8 EH<A87 64FG?8 64FG G;8<E BJA F;47BJ; W9EBJA<A: J4??F, F4LF A?9E87 "<A:?8,TGBGG8E<A: 4E6;8FT74E> ABB>FT6EH@5?<A:S FG4<E64F8FT'?7 64G;87E4? GBBT84EG;L F@8??TC<?:E<@FX 988G JBEA 4J4L G;8 B?7 FG8CF...X.S ,;HF <A ;<F 9<EFG 5BB>; 4A7 G;HF 4?FB <A ;<F ?4FG J;8A, <A W,;8 %LFG8EL B9 E7J<A DEBB7X, D<6>8AF 78F6E<58F G;8 4A6<8AG 6<GL <A =HFG FH6; G8E@F ...!A ;<F 58:<AA<A: <F ;<F 8A7 5HG, <A G;8 L84EF 58GJ88A, D<6>8AF 6BAFG4AG?L F88F *B6;8FG8E <A F<@<?4E G8E@F 4F E89?86G<A: WHA<I8EF4? :E4I<GL, @LFG8EL, 7864L 4A7 F<?8A68X 4A7 4F G;HF E89?86G<A: HCBA ;<F BJA CE864E<BHF 8K<FG8A68: W...J;4G 4 5E<89 ?<GG?8 CE46G<64? =B>8 ! F88@87 GB 58, <A 6B@C4E<FBA J<G; <GF FB?<7<GL, FG4GHE8, FGE8A:G;, 4A7 G;8 ?8A:G; B9 ?<98.X A:8; 7HFG; @BEG4?<GL; G<@8. ,;8F8 4E8 G;8 <@4:8F B9 *B6;8FG8E 7E4JA 9EB@ ;<@ 4:4<A 4A7 4:4<A, 4A7 <F <G GBB @H6; B9 4 ;LC8E5B?8 GB ?84C 9EB@ G;8 47H?G D<6>8AF GB G;8 6;<?7 BA68 @BE8 4A7 GB FH::8FG G;4G G;<F ?BJ, @BHEA9H? ABG8 J4F BA8 G;4G FBHA787 9BE ;<@ G;EBH:;BHG ;<F 6;<?7;BB7?
We recall that in Dickenss Christmas Carol, Scrooge was confronted with an eerie scene in which he witnessed his own death and its aftermath. It featured street peddlers bickering over Scrooges clothes and bargaining for his bed sheets. He wrote in the following scene how a city of departed souls, secret crimes, and untold deeds are hinted at by discarded things:
UF4E <A G;<F 78A B9 <A94@BHF E8FBEG, G;8E8 J4F 4 ?BJ-5EBJ87, 588G?<A: F;BC, 58?BJ 4 C8AG-;BHF8 EBB9, J;8E8 <EBA, B?7 E4:F, 5BGG?8F, 5BA8F, 4A7 :E84FL B994?, J8E8 5BH:;G. -CBA G;8 9?BBE J<G;<A, J8E8 C<?87 HC ;84CF B9 EHFGL >8LF, A4<?F, 6;4<AF, ;<A:8F, 9<?8F, F64?8F, J8<:;GF, 4A7 E89HF8 <EBA B9 4?? ><A7F. +86E8GF G;4G 98J JBH?7 ?<>8 GB F6EHG<A<M8 J8E8 5E87 4A7 ;<778A <A @BHAG4<AF B9 HAF88@?L E4:F, @4FF8F B9 6BEEHCG87 94G, 4A7 F8CH?6;8EF B9 5BA8F. +<GG<A: <A 4@BA: G;8 J4E8F ;8 784?G <A, 5L 4 6;4E6B4? FGBI8, @478 B9 B?7 5E<6>F, J4F 4 :E8L-;4<E87 E4F64?, A84E?L F8I8AGL L84EF B9 4:8; J;B ;47 F6E88A87 ;<@F8?9 9EB@ G;8 6B?7 4<E J<G;BHG, 5L 4 9EBHFL 6HEG4<A<A: B9 @<F68??4A8BHF G4GG8EF, ;HA: HCBA 4 ?<A8; 4A7 F@B>87 ;<F C<C8 <A 4?? G;8 ?HKHEL B9 64?@ E8G<E8@8AG.V
In the following letter, we note how similar Vincents words and images are to those in the Dickens story.This again amply demonstrates
52
3Table of Contents
how alike the two men were in their outlooksof how the sacred journey fused the extremes of life and death:
U/8??, GB74L ! J8AG GB I<F<G G;8 C?468 J;8E8 G;8 7HFG@8A 7H@C G;8 :4E54:8, 8G6. $BE7, ;BJ 584HG<9H? G;4G <F...,B@BEEBJ ! F;4?? :8G FB@8 <AG8E8FG<A: B5=86GF 9BE G;<F *89HF8 DH@CT<A6?H7<A: FB@8 5EB>8A FGE88G ?4@CFTEHFG87 4A7 GJ<FG87TBA I<8JTBE GB CBF8 9BE @8, <9 LBH ?<>8 G;8 8KCE8FF<BA 58GG8E. ,;8 7HFG@4A J<?? 5E<A: G;8@ 4EBHA7. ,;4G 6B??86G<BA B9 7<F64E787 5H6>8GF, 54F>8GF, >8GG?8F, FB?7<8EFX @8FF >8GG?8F, B<? 64AF, <EBA J<E8, FGE88G ?4@CF, FGBI8C<C8F J4F FB@8G;<A: BHG B9 4 94<EL G4?8 5L AA78EF8A. ! F;4?? CEB545?L 7E84@ B9 <G GBA<:;G, 5HG LBH @4L 58 FHE8 ! F;4?? JBE> BA <G G;<F J<AG8E... BJ 584HG<9H? G;8 @H7 <F, 4A7 G;8 J<G;8E<A: :E4FF! /<G; 4 ;4A7F;4>8 <A G;BH:;G,SEI8E 0BHEF, .<A68AG.V
Between Dickens and Van Gogh there is a profound embrace of destitution and human suffering, a theme that Dickens used so effectively in A Christmas Carol, where Scrooge confronts his own mortality as he witnesses his clothes callously bargained for. While residing in London, Vincent made some of his strongest, most sympathetic comments about Dickens; his identification with the writer and his characters strengthened by the particulars of the city itself. Yet London was not the only link between these two artists. They were both interested in populist themes which they described in startling ways. Dickens often placed his characters in earlier periods of British history dating back to his childhood. Vincent always remained interested in earlier eras while being fully engaged, at the same time, with contemporary circumstances. Dickenss main characters are more often than not found in the lower stratus of society; Vincent similarly identified with the lower classes. Dickens described things with an uncanny perception making connections between realms of experience far from the ordinary. Vincent had this visionary quality as well, and routinely transformed the everyday into symbols of timeless meaning. Van Gogh and Dickens have remained two of the most popular artists of all time, perhaps because they use a common language, a focus on daily existence and the whole of human experience with which
3Table of Contents
53
we readily identify. Their timeless themes can be discovered throughout their work. Vincent wrote:
U!G <F 4 F47 4A7 I8EL @8?4A6;B?L F68A8, J;<6; @HFG 49986G 8I8ELBA8 J;B >ABJF 4A7 988?F G;4G BA8 74L J8 GBB ;4I8 GB C4FF G;EBH:; G;8 I4??8L B9 G;8 F;47BJ B9 784G;.../;4G ?<8F 58LBA7 <F 4 :E84G @LFG8EL J;<6; BA?L GB7 6B@CE8;8A7F, 5HG 8 ;4F E8I84?87 45FB?HG8?L G;EBH:; <F /BE7 G;4G G;8E8 <F 4 E8FHEE86G<BA B9 G;8 7847V
What allowed Dickens and Vincent to look into the shadowy regions of death was their conviction that it was only the temporary obscuring of an eternal reality. For each of them, life and death comprised a whole, since each of them were born following the demise of another. Haunting as the circumstances of their births were, this drove their unshakable belief in Resurrection. For them, birth and death were inseparably linked. Death seen through resurrection becomes a second birth; mortality transformed into immortality. This fusion of the corporeal world and spirituality will have a profound impact on their aesthetic outlook. Both Dickens and Vincent came to believe that aesthetic thought is the transformation of words and images into spiritualized vision. Van Gogh and Dickens each found their own way to merge the literal and the literary. They express an overt need to paint or put into words the reality of life in order to acknowledge its fragility and, at the same time, to render itat least temporarilypermanent through the tangible substance of art. We see Dickens in an old photo holding an antique writing quill of the sort used centuries earlier by William Shakespeare. While fountain pens existed at the time the picture was taken, Dickens loved the feel and romance of this venerable tool when drafting his novels. There are other details revealed in the photo that offer more insight into this remarkable man. We note his body language as he leans purposefully into his task, lost in thought; his impeccable velvet jacket, indicating the great regard shown for his vocation; the efficiency
54
3Table of Contents
of his writing desk; the poise of his quill pen in readiness for those legendary flights of imagination. From Ackroyds biography, we discover that Dickens kept long lists of odd names such as Blackpool or Copperfield, revealing his attraction for composite names that brought unlikely things together such as black and pool, copper and field. This is unitary vision, like Van Goghs, that fuses together the extremes of human experience. The photograph reveals a highly organized man who understood perfectly his own creative urges and needs. Highly efficient, he had arrived at a point in his life where nothing curtailed his creative flow. We know from Ackroyds research how fanatically Dickens tested, pushed, and plumbed his own depths and skills in order to harness his artistic life in the same relentless manner. He was ever-searching for the kinds of tools and imaginative props he needed to keep that creative flow running at almost fever pitchone that eventually was to destroy his health. Vincent, too, was to conduct his life at this same intensity, to the detriment of his own health. In setting the photo of Dickens alongside Vincents portrait of himself Self-Portrait at the Easel, we see some remarkable similarities between these two very influential men in their facial features, the cropped beards, smallish ears and noses, strong foreheads, resolute, focused eyes, strong shoulders, and an intense aura of thought and nervous energy. Like Dickens, Vincent portrayed himself in a traditional manner; he holds an equivalent to Dickenss venerable quill with the time-honored pallet and brushes, and the stout wooden canvas stretcher seen from behind. The entire painting had a stolid, character, like a wood carving. Van Gogh and Dickens both were known for their love of old things. While Dickens prefered his quill to fountain pen, Vincent preferred to use, rather than the more modern drawing pencils that were
3Table of Contents
55
available to him, raw chunks of soft leadthe sort Dutch masons and carpenters had used for centuries. This love of simple elemental things was true for all his art media. He collected antique items from garbage dumps, and saved old discarded pots, lamps, torn coats, and threadbare jackets to be used as props. Above all, he loved these things because they roused his sympathy and fired his imagination. He would often wear in public some cast-off treasure he had found, much to the discomfort of his respectable parents, And he loved common wisdom in the same way as he loved old well tempered things. He and Dickens were creative soul mates in such matters. For Van Gogh and Dickens, old clothing seemed back-lit with light, like starlight streaming though storm-tossed skies, beckoning to eterniity. In the Gospel, Jesus likened old garments to old wine skins that can no longer stretch as new wine ferments and expands. This image is part of a larger parable or colorful story Jesus tells about redemption. The thesis, taken up later by St. Paul (in Romans), is that death and disintegration must one day be overcome. Mortality must clothe itself in immortalitythe resurrection of the flesh. Both Vincent and Dickens saw the promise of immortality shadowed in old, discarded clothing and its direct bond with its one-time owner...where regeneration is most apparent, it is also most needed. This idea is perfectly expressed by Vincent in the following passage from his letters in which he begins to resurrect the meaning of the lives associated with a cast-off magazine illustration. He talks about a longtime friend of Dickens, Thomas Carlyle. In typical Van Gogh manner, he stacks meaning on top of meaning as he then speaks of Jesus, Dickens, art, redemption, resurrection, all in the space of a few lines:
56
3Table of Contents
UDB LBH ;4I8 G;8 CBEGE4<G B9 C4E?L?8TG;4G 584HG<9H? BA8 <A ,;8 GE4C;<6? AG G;8 @B@8AG ! 4@ E847<A: ;<F +4EGBE *8F4EGHFTXG;8 C;<?BFBC;L B9 B?7 6?BG;8F.X A@BA: G;8 WB?7 6?BG;8FX ;8 <A6?H78F 4?? ><A7F...; <G <F 584HG<9H?T4A7 94<G;9H? GB E84?<GLT4A7 ;H@4A8. 8TC4E?L?8T;4F ?84EA87 @H6; 9EB@ GB8G;8T5HG FG<?? @BE8, ! 58?<8I8 9EB@ 4 68EG4<A @4A J;B 7<7 ABG JE<G8 5BB>F, 5HG J;BF8 JBE7F, G;BH:; ;8 7<7 ABG JE<G8 G;8@ 7BJA ;<@F8?9, ;4I8 8A7HE87TA4@8?L "8FHF...J;B, ?BA: 589BE8 C4E?L?8, <A6?H787 @4AL 9BE@F B9 4?? ><A7F B9 G;<A:F 4@BA: G;8 WB?7 6?BG;8FX GBB...,;8E8 <F AB JE<G8E, <A @L BC<A<BA, J;B <F FB @H6; 4 C4<AG8E 4A7 4 5?46>-4A7-J;<G8 4EG<FG 4F D<6>8AF. <F 9<:HE8F 4E8 E8FHEE86G<BAF.V
At the end of his life, Vincent descended into the darkness of delusion and disorientation, constantly struggling toward the light which, in his own words, he saw as sanity. Long before this, while in a deep mine shaft in Belgiums Borinage, he said he saw daylight from over a thousand feet under the earth...it seemed the size of a star. Luster and light were, to Vincent, the materials of sanity and stability. He tried to focus his mind upon sanity just as a miner, in the very bowels of the earth, was anxious to return to the light of day. Vincent compared daylight and starlight using the phrase like pages of the Gospel. Here, the light of the gospel was a moral imperativeethical light. In using these comparisons, he was referring to the New Testament and Jesuss call to love ones neighbor as oneself, demonstrated by his self-sacrificing love, charity and compassion for the poor and outcast. But Vincent also found his contemporary application of the timeless call of the Gospel in Dickens who expressed these same themes and admonitions in his novels. The tenor of a Dickens novel was deeply spiritual even as secular positivism began to erode and discourage many who lived in those times.Neither Vincent nor Dickens were immune to the tensions of their times; they were objective people troubled and plagued with all of the doubts and tensions that haunted humanity. That both Dickens and Vincent each personally experienced suffering is well documented. That
3Table of Contents
57
they were able to distill value from their suffering provides us with poignant examples by which we too can live. Even considering that Vincent did in the end despair and take his own life, in examining the circumstances and his state of mind at the time, we see that in his last hours he came back to center, sharing his final moments with his brother Theo in a last embrace. This sentiment remained even on his death bed and, like Dickens's Little Nel or the laborer Blackpool, we are left with heroic figures who cling to their values even as they descend into darkness believing that there is always light somewhere above. We can all do well to reflect on the meaning, messages and moral imperative that Dickens and Vincent left for us to ponder. Here we begin to see that their art was one facet of a larger sentiment for humanity. If these men had been unfeeling and uncommitted to the needs of others, we would doubt the truth of their art.When all of the pieces are put together, some stunning conclusions appear which shed light on why these two creative individuals continue to haunt the western mindset and to inspire us to this day. The world view of either of these artistic twins perhaps intensifies not just our understanding of them but of fundamental truths within ourselves.
S
'CCBF<G8: .4A GB:;'F 6;4<E, J<G; ;<F C<C8 E8FG<A: BA <G, J4F BA8 B9 4 F8G B9 ?B64??L ;4A7-@478 EHFG<6 JBB78A 6;4<EF ;8 HF87 GB 9HEA<F; ;<F FGH7<B <A ;<F 94@87 U08??BJ BHF8V <A AE?8F. /<G; JBI8A F84GF 4A7 ;84IL 5E468F, G;8F8 6;4<EF J8E8 F<@C?8 4A7 HA47BEA87, 4CC84?<A: GB .<A68AG'F ?BI8 B9 4?? G;<A:F A4GHE4?. 8 BA68 F4<7 G;4G ;8 CE898EE87 G;4G ;<F 4EG 58 F;BJA <A 4 94E@ ><G6;8A E4G;8E G;4A <A 4A HCF64?8 :4??8EL. $<>8 G;8 G;<A:F 9BHA7 <A 4 94E@ ;BHF8, ;8 58?<8I87 G;4G :BB7 4EG F;BH?7 58 ;BA8FG, J8?? @478 4A7 9E88 9EB@ 49986G4G<BA. .<A68AGXF 6;4<E <F F<@C?8 <A 6BAGE4FG GB G;8 8?8:4A68 B9 D<6>8AFXF 6;4<E. BBG;, ;BJ8I8E, 4E8 F;BJA 8@CGL, E8@<A7<A: HF B9 G;8<E 78C4EG87 BJA8EF, 4A7 G;4G ?<98 <GF8?9 <F 9?88G<A:.
58
3Table of Contents
SORROWFUL BUT ALWAYS REJOICING

&BJ ! 4@ ?BB><A: 46EBFF G;8 I4FG 8KC4AF8 B9 @847BJF, 4A7 8I8ELG;<A: <F I8EL DH<8G; G;8 FHA <F 7<F4CC84E<A: 4:4<A 58;<A7 G;8 :E4L 6?BH7F, 5HG F;87F 4 :B?78A ?<:;G BI8E G;8 9<8?7F. ,;8F8 9<EFG ;BHEF 49G8E BHE C4EG<A:TJ;<6; LBH 4E8 FC8A7<A: <A 6;HE6;, 4A7 ! 4G G;8 FG4G<BA 4A7 BA G;8 GE4<AT;BJ J8 4E8 ?BA:<A: 9BE 846; BG;8E 4A7 ;BJ J8 G;<A> B9 G;8 BG;8EF, B9 ,;8B 4A7 AAA4 4A7 G;8 BG;8E ?<GG?8 F<FG8EF 4A7 G;8 5EBG;8E....'A G;8 FG84@8E ! G;BH:;G B9G8A B9 AAA4T8I8ELG;<A: E8@<A787 @8 B9 BHE =BHEA8L GB:8G;8E. ,;8 J84G;8E J4F 6?84E, 4A7 G;8 E<I8E J4F 8FC86<4??L 584HG<9H?, 4A7 4?FB G;8 I<8J, F88A 9EB@ G;8 F84, B9 G;8 7HA8F, 74MM?<A: J;<G8 <A G;8 FHA. ,;8 ?4FG ! F4J B9 B??4A7 J4F 4 ?<GG?8 :E4L 6;HE6; FC<E8.T.<A68AG I4A GB:;, 1876
The Resurrection had been an important motif throughout the history of Flemish art, appearing in the fifteenth century religious works of Bouts, Memling, and others. But Vincents ideas of resurrection were also in the tradition of the seventeenth-century landscaper painter, Jacob Van Ruisdael, who depicted it occurring in nature. We can also see this in the Revelation of St. John where he says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away...(Revelation 21:1, NIV). Here, "passed away" means transformed or resurrected from temporal to immortal matter.Natural resurrection symbolism in Dutch art is particularly meaningful because of Holland's eternal battle with the sea. For the Dutch, the idea of resurrecting the earth has always been absoluteconcrete and tangible. It is about using windmills to drain sea-soaked pastures, constructing dikes, digging canals, desalinating the land, and making it bountiful. It is about taking
'CCBF<G8: ,;<F C4<AG<A: (ABJ <A G;8 *<=>F@HF8H@, A@FG8E74@) J4F 5L BA8 B9 G;8 9BE8@BFG ?4A7F64C8 C4<AG8EF B9 4?? G<@8, "46B5 I4A *H<F748?, J;B J4F 4?FB I8EL ?<>8?L 4 @87<64? 7B6GBE. 4F ;<F A4@8 4CC84EF BA 4 ?<FG B9 7B6GBEF 46G<I8 <A G;8 17G; 68AGHEL <A G;8 I<6<A<GL B9 44E?8@ J;8E8 ;8 ?<I87 4A7 7<87. 8 <F 5HE<87 <A 44E?8@XF +G. B4IB C;HE6; F88A ;8E8 7B@<A4G<A: G;8 ;BE<MBA.
61
what was uninhabitable or devastated by disaster and converting it into the vital and useful. This reclamation mentality added content to every activityfor Van Ruisdael, for instance, labor was understood as a sacred activity, one by which the land could be sustained through vigilant maintenance of their dikes. As Michael S. Ryan, a gifted Iowa landscape painter, puts it, these are signs of mans hand on the land. It is therefore understandable that Vincents art, and his personal edification and spiritual growth, are linked to labor and the hard work of building a civilization dike-by-dike, brick-by-brick.As a Dutchman, there was for him no separation between personal piety and daily life; they were an inseparable reality as found in every plot of man-handled soil in Holland.This earthy spirituality helps us understand why Vincent could not separate history and the land itself from a call to ministry, the Gospel themes of redemption, compassion, and action directed at the people and their land. It also explains why he sees his artistic vocation as a divine calling. One of Vincents lifelong favorite sayings was taken from St. Paul, "sorrowful but always rejoicing". In the face of such profound imagery, what one notices is that literary media becomes a tool of the imagination in the same way as a brush. Painters and poets must both visualize things in order to render them in words or graphical images. Vincent did not believe there was any real difference between these modes. As Judy Sund demonstrates in her thoughtful analysis of the literal and visual arts, ...when both ocular and literary thinking are united the strongest expression results. This is why Vincent insisted that Dickens was a great black and white painterhe evoked visual images in his novels. Vincent was in his turn a poet-painterhe tells stories in painted words. The word illustrate is derived from the Latin infinitive illustrare to shed light upon a subject. Van Gogh and Dickens illuminate their vision as artist and writer, directing the light into the minds of their respective audience. The best painting or drawing achieves nothing for the unimaginative onlooker. It comes to life and light only by effort on the part of a viewer to meet it with equal intensity and willing receptivity.
62
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 'A8: +BEEBJ9H? BHG A?J4LF *8=B<6<A:
Both making and responding to works of art require enlightened imagination. This is how Vincent's aesthetic outlook applies equally to both his letter writing and his drawing and paintingthey comprise a singular, integrated message. Understanding this aesthetic principle may, for the 21st century art connoisseur, require expanding ones concept of art itself not merely as entertainment alone but as a form of enlightened edification. Vincent first achieved this as a writer well before he ever painted a picture. He used the process of writing as a reflective state of mind to gather together, reflect upon, and record his complex range of observations. This gives depth to Vincents use of the phrase like pages of the Gospel. He writes as a means of weaving together the strands and fibers of his daily experiences. This gathering of meaning is, according to John Roth (1997) ...a sacred attitudea focused, intense, gathering of the pieces of life into a perceived unity or sense of wholeness. A sense of wholeness is another way of defining the word sacred. Mark Roskill (1963) enlarged on Vincents sacred thought process. He described it as rapid and fluidconnecting a past memory as he comes upon a fresh impression: Another most suggestive analogy between the letters and the paintings involves the interplay of past and present. One can look for correspondences in the comparative importance of their roles at different times and in the ways in which they were brought into synthesis with one another. Vincents perceptions are both inward and outward-looking they move Vincent forward. His inimitable way of writing serves to knit together the purpose of his existence. Like a weaver on a loom, his imagination must work the shuttle forward and back, again and again. In writing a letter, he prefers to narrate the events of a full day, reflecting on their collective impact.This weaving together of life and of destiny is given expression in his work: shifting currents of daylight, the intensities ranging from dazzling radiances to dark, fateful, silent elements as they serve to mirror his emotions.He symbolizes his life in the passing of the day, as a light rising and gradually diminishing. It is his sacred way of visualizing existencewithout light there can be no vision. Light has
3Table of Contents
63
often been a universal symbol of divine illumination, a vision that allows one to glimpse the mysterious contours of eternal realms.
",;8 C4G; B9 G;8 E<:;G8BHF <F ?<>8 G;8 9<EFG :?84@ B9 74JA, F;<A<A: 8I8E 5E<:;G8E G<?? G;8 9H?? ?<:;G B9 74L". (Proverbs 4:18 NIV)
Even in the early stages of Vincents life, this forward and backward moving process had begun, and would become permanent features of his thought and art: reflecting upon experiences, and forming and fusing these reflections into a whole, expressed in charged graphic words and literary images.At a later point, he would add another level to this process by fashioning drawings and paintings in which this complex activity was piled up in paint and plunging perspectives. This gathering together of experiences appears again in the letter he wrote to his parents from Ramsgate, where he linked his present journey to an earlier one with his sister: ...everything reminded me of our journey together. His meaning is especially rich when he relates, The last I saw of Holland was a little gray church spire.Here he weaves into his letter a complete love of the very things that have given his short life meaning:Holland, home, land, family, faith. Church spires appeared repeatedly over the next two decades in many of Vincents drawings and paintings. There is one, for example, centrally placed in The Starry Night of 1889, one of his last and most important paintings. In looking back on that early letter from Ramsgate, it is clear how unified and consistent Vincents sacred vision remained all of his life. It demonstrated how literal his pages of the Gospel was for him. Vincent was undoubtedly reminded here of many Dutch seventeenth-centurylandscapes that feature church spires, as found in numerous paintings by Jacob van Ruisdael. In the flatness of Dutch countryside, church spires could be seen for miles. Van Ruisdaels landscapes, like those of many Dutch 17th century paintings, were based on local views. Often these paintings were small, meant for the wall of a modest room, yet they succeed in conveying the vastness of a mural.
64
3Table of Contents
This link between Vincent and Van Ruisdael is an important one.Like the memories of his own childhood, they were also an integral part of Hollands collective memory.Vincent was able to recall these images at any moment for he had an extraordinary visual memory.And he had been raised in a family trained in theology and involved in art sales and distribution.The Van Gogh home was replete with many prints and paintings provided by Goupil & Cie., the art dealers managed by Vincents uncle.Vincent was surrounded by Dutch heritage in vast, visual form. Vincent's letters were spawned from the Van Gogh family's propensity for writing. We know that his mother, a pastor's wife, was a prolific letter writer known for issuing several letters a day. The Ramsgate letter previously mentioned was written from the busy English seaside community in 1876:
D84E F4G;8E 4A7 %BG;8E, *4@F:4G8 17 ACE<? 1876 0BH ;4I8 CEB545?L E868<I87 @L G8?8:E4@, 5HG LBH J<?? 58 :?47 GB ;84E FB@8 @BE8 C4EG<6H?4EF. 'A G;8 GE4<A ! JEBG8 7BJA 4 98J G;<A:F, 4A7 ! 4@ F8A7<A: G;8@ GB LBH, FB G;4G LBH J<?? >ABJ 4?? 45BHG @L =BHEA8L. FE<74L. !A G;BH:;G J8 J<?? FG4L GB:8G;8E GB74L. /;<6; 7B LBH G;<A> <F 58GG8E...G;8 =BL B9 @88G<A: BE G;8 FBEEBJ B9 C4EG<A:? /8 ;4I8 B9G8A C4EG87 4?E847L; G;<F G<@8 G;8E8 J4F @BE8 FBEEBJ <A <G G;4A G;8E8 HF87 GB 58, 5HG 4?FB @BE8 6BHE4:8 5864HF8 B9 G;8 9<E@8E ;BC8, G;8 FGEBA:8E 78F<E8, 9BE GB7XF 5?8FF<A:. AA7 7<7AXG A4GHE8 F88@ GB F;4E8 BHE 988?<A:F, 8I8ELG;<A: ?BB>87 FB :E4L 4A7 7H?? 4 98J ;BHEF 4:B. &BJ ! 4@ ?BB><A: 46EBFF G;8 I4FG 8KC4AF8 B9 @847BJF, 4A7 8I8ELG;<A: <F I8EL DH<8G; G;8 FHA <F 7<F4CC84E<A: 4:4<A 58;<A7 G;8 :E4L 6?BH7F, 5HG F;87F 4 :B?78A ?<:;G BI8E G;8 9<8?7F. ,;8F8 9<EFG ;BHEF 49G8E BHE C4EG<A:TJ;<6; LBH 4E8 FC8A7<A: <A 6;HE6;, 4A7 ! 4G G;8 FG4G<BA 4A7 BA G;8 GE4<AT;BJ J8 4E8 ?BA:<A: 9BE 846; BG;8E 4A7 ;BJ J8 G;<A> B9 G;8 BG;8EF, B9 ,;8B 4A7 AAA4 4A7 G;8 BG;8E ?<GG?8 F<FG8EF 4A7 G;8 5EBG;8E. "HFG ABJ J8 C4FF87 18I8A58E:8A 25B4E7<A: F6;BB?3;
3Table of Contents
65
! G;BH:;G B9 G;8 74L LBH GBB> @8 G;8E8, 4A7 ! FGBB7 BA G;8 FG8CF 4G %E. (EBI<?LXF, ?BB><A: 49G8E LBHE 64EE<4:8 BA G;8 J8G EB47; 4A7 G;8A B9 G;4G 8I8A<A: J;8A @L 94G;8E 64@8 GB I<F<G @8 9BE G;8 9<EFG G<@8. AA7 B9 G;4G 9<EFG ;B@86B@<A: 4G C;E<FG@4F! +4GHE74L 4A7 +HA74L. 'A G;8 FG84@8E ! G;BH:;G B9G8A B9 AAA4T8I8ELG;<A: E8@<A787 @8 B9 BHE =BHEA8L GB:8G;8E. ,;8 J84G;8E J4F 6?84E, 4A7 G;8 E<I8E J4F 8FC86<4??L 584HG<9H?, 4A7 4?FB G;8 I<8J, F88A 9EB@ G;8 F84, B9 G;8 7HA8F, 74MM?<A: J;<G8 <A G;8 FHA. ,;8 ?4FG ! F4J B9 B??4A7 J4F 4 ?<GG?8 :E4L 6;HE6; FC<E8. ! FG4L87 BA 786> HAG<? FHAF8G, 5HG G;8A <G 5864@8 GBB 6B?7 4A7 EBH:;. AG 74JA G;8 A8KG @BEA<A: BA G;8 GE4<A 9EB@ 4EJ<6; GB $BA7BA <G J4F 584HG<9H? GB F88 G;8 5?46> 9<8?7F 4A7 :E88A @847BJF J<G; F;88C 4A7 ?4@5F 4A7 4A B664F<BA4? G;BEA 5HF; 4A7 4 98J ?4E:8 B4> GE88F J<G; 74E> GJ<:F 4A7 :E4L @BFF-6BI8E87 GEHA>F; G;8 F;<@@8E<A: 5?H8 F>L J<G; 4 98J FG4EF FG<??, 4A7 4 54A> B9 :E4L 6?BH7F 4G G;8 ;BE<MBA. B89BE8 FHAE<F8 ! ;47 4?E847L ;84E7 G;8 ?4E>. /;8A J8 J8E8 A84E G;8 ?4FG FG4G<BA 589BE8 $BA7BA, G;8 FHA EBF8. ,;8 54A> B9 :E4L 6?BH7F ;47 7<F4CC84E87 4A7 G;8E8 J4F G;8 FHA, 4F F<@C?8 4A7 :E4A7 4F 8I8E ! F4J <G, 4 E84? E4FG8E FHA. ,;8 :E4FF FC4E>?87 J<G; 78J 4A7 A<:;G 9EBFG. BHG ! FG<?? CE898E G;4G :E4L ;BHE J;8A J8 C4EG87. +4GHE74L 49G8EABBA ! FG4L87 BA 786> G<?? G;8 FHA ;47 F8G. ,;8 J4G8E J4F 94<E?L 74E> 5?H8 J<G; E4G;8E ;<:; J;<G8-6E8FG87 J4I8F 4F 94E 4F BA8 6BH?7 F88. ,;8 6B4FG ;47 4?E847L 7<F4CC84E87 9EB@ F<:;G. ,;8 F>L J4F BA8 I4FG ?<:;G 5?H8, J<G;BHG 4 F<A:?8 6?BH7. AA7 G;8 FHAF8G 64FG 4 FGE84> B9 :?<GG8E<A: ?<:;G BA G;8 J4G8E. !G J4F <A7887 4 :E4A7 4A7 @4=8FG<6 F<:;G, 5HG FG<?? G;8 F<@C?8E, DH<8G8E G;<A:F GBH6; BA8 @H6; @BE8 788C?L.V
In the first paragraph of this letter, we note that Vincent referred to this trip as a journey, probably inspired by Bunyans Pilgrims
Progress, a popular 19th century inspirational work he frequently

quoted. The word appeared quite often in his letters. Under the Friday entry in the third paragraph, Vincent noted that the weather, gray and overcast, reflected the familys mood.The journey began with pangs of departure, Victorian in intensity, words, images and experiences fused
66
3Table of Contents
with intense passion as was Vincents way. And yet, still the simpler, quieter things touch one much more deeply. Between the lines, we sense his desire for permanence, family, and stability; he is haunted by the inevitability of leave-taking, and of lifes impermanence.Such longings will remain strong currents in Vincents life.The fourth paragraph evokes the impression of a vast expanse of meadows and, following his contemplation about his family, these lines carry the idea of distance, the pulling away of what is, to what will be. ...the sun is disappearing again behind the gray clouds, but sheds a golden light over the fields suggests that separation in time and space are blessed and luminous, and while difficult deepen the bonds of love. Distances, gray weather, and separation coalesce as Vincent recalled a childhood memory evoked by something he passed while on the train: I stood on the steps at Mr. Provilys, looking after your carriage on the wet road.He blends another image: the rain-soaked road half seen though tear-blurred eyes. A pang of abandonment surfaces telling us of his love for his father.In later letters, we learn more about this childhood memory, and an unmentioned horror which took place at a boarding school named Zevenbergen.There is good reason to believe that he was abused there, and this may help explain his life-long identification with Charles Dickenss abandoned children, and both Van Gogh's and Dickenss lifelong need to protect the defenseless. Clearly, even in childhood, Vincent linked the conditions of the weather with human emotions, merging the inner and outer realms of experience into emotionally charged vision and detail. We see this in his letter where he makes the connection between the gray clouds and the sadness of departure.This strongly evoked memory is the key feature of his aesthetic outlook and his potent and emotionally charged art.Vincents letters are literally a door that opens onto the workings of his mind. They reveal the ways in which he wove emotional reaction with perception. He was, like Charles Dickens, a master of observation and description. Looking back at the letter from Ramsgate, Vincents memory was like an inventory of centuries of Dutch art: black fields, green
3Table of Contents
67
meadows, sheep, lambs, thorn bushes, oak trees, gray moss-covered trunks, stars shimmering in dark blue skies, banks of gray clouds on distant horizons, sunrises, larks, the grass sparkling with dew and night frost, and especially the sun, as simple and grand as ever I saw it, a real Easter sun. All of these things are illuminated in a dense atmosphere melded with recollections of home and family. The letter ends: At dawn the next morning...I had already heard the lark. This was a recurrent theme in Vincents lifewaiting for lightan indication that his spiritual quest had unseen promises.This was further conveyed by his unmistakable reference to the Resurrection in the phrase a real Easter sun and expressed in his numerous paintings of blazing yellow suns. He continued to conjoin his earliest religious experiences with Christs Resurrection, reminding us that what he understood about nature he first understood in the Bible, fusing sacred perception with personal conviction. As mentioned previously, in comparing Vincents letters to paintings he created within the same timeframe, one is struck by the way the qualities of light he described coincided with his progress through life. Sunrise was the central motif:dawn, a real Easter sun.In his letters a decade later, midday or high noon were mentioned more often, and appeared even more regularly in his paintings. In the last period of his life, he often evoked the setting sun, troubled skies, starlight and moonlight. Vincent would, as in the Ramsgate letter, make a habit of describing an entire day as he moved from one location to another. With its emphasis on the dawn, this early letter shows how Vincent saw the early day as the literal dawning of his adult life. Vincent would later become a landscape painter and he was to produce works like those described in the early dawn Ramsgate letter. His paintings would be pregnant with meaningdeath, suffering and a hard-won resurrection. For the lowlands of Holland were indeed haunted by memories of struggle and sacrifice in each rain-swept mile, fought for, and redeemed not only from the ocean, but also from centuries of domination by Spain and invasion by France.Later, having gained freedom and respite, the bounty and beauty of the land provided a
68
3Table of Contents
quiet peace after the untold suffering of foreign occupation. Vincent identified readily with his own family of 17th century patriots who considered themselves chosen people planted in a Promised Land following a long and arduous journey.The many church spiresupturned nails on a flat horizonwere reminders of safe passage.Vincent made these rich evocations palpable first in his mind, then in his writings, and ultimately in his art. Vincent probably knew from his study of Forsters early biography of Charles Dickens that the famous writer had often vacationed with his family in Ramsgate.Dickens died just six years before Vincent arrived for a teaching assignment in the seaside town. The letters he was to write while in Ramsgate betray strong Dickensian elementshis description, for instance, of little boys pathetic moon-lit faces staring out to sea from dark windows. Nearly identical scenes can be found in Dickenss novels such as Great Expectations or Oliver Twist. The Ramsgate letter is rooted in the dislocated lives of homesick children, reminds us of how strong Vincents ties remained to his own home and countrythe very opposite of fictional accounts of him as fundamentally a loner, self-absorbed, and disaffected.Those family ties would be tested severely in the years that were to follow his sojourn in England, and in some cases (and by Vincent's own account) were to become irreparably broken.Despite or because of these fractures, however, his need for reconciliation and forgiveness remained as terrible pangs in his emotional life.This desire for reunion would eddy beneath the forward-slanting characters of his handwriting, and later break into streams of paint. It would compel himto live with peasants and rural clothweavers, sharing their stolid existence as consolation for his lost home life.His desire for family would make the subject of domesticity a central motif in his literary choices, and later as the subject matter of his art. We learn more from the letter when we consider the circumstances of that journey, and the rich range of historical and familiar things to which Vincent made reference. He wrote the letter in parts, slowly, and in response to his observations and experiences, first from the train, and then aboard the steamship that took him across the
3Table of Contents
69
English Channel where he had been awarded a teaching contract at a boys school in Ramsgate. This was not his first trip to England. He had previously lived in London between 1873 and 1875 as an employee of Goupil & Cie., the international art dealers. Vincents work performance had plummeted, however, due to the heart-wrenching rejection of a woman with whom he had been passionately in love. In an effort to help the young man, his seniors had given him a fresh start by transferring him to the Goupil Gallery in Paris where he worked from 1875 to 1876. It was this branch of the company his brother Theo was eventually to manage.When Vincents performance failed to improve, he was fired. As a member of an otherwise successful family, his dismissal deeply affected his morale. His move to England as a teacher was therefore something of a reprieve. He retained strong associations with London from a previous visit...memories of love, elation and heavy rejection. And it was to be Charles Dickenss benevolent and erudite portrayal of Londons orphans, and the wretched misery of the citys poor that would rub off on Vincent. Much recent research has been devoted to this subject, such as in True to Temperament: Vincent and French Naturalist Literature (Judy Sund, 1992) in which Sund explains how Vincent's love of literature was transferred into visual art. This is not the usual path for the artist who more often than not begins his or her career by drawing from nature...not by reading. In offering an explanation, Sund cites Vincents own account of the process; he frequently said that for him there was no difference between writing and painting. Dickens, in his American Notes of 1842, wrote:
U,;8 E8GHEA B9 74L <F <AF8C4E45?8 9EB@ FB@8 F8AF8 B9 E8A8J87 ;BC8 4A7 :?47A8FF;S5HG G;8 ?<:;G F;<A<A: BA G;8 7E84EL J4FG8 B9 J4G8E, 4A7 F;BJ<A: <G <A 4?? <GF I4FG 8KG8AG B9 ?BA8?<A8FF, CE8F8AGF 4 FB?8@A FC86G46?8, J;<6; 8I8A A<:;G, I8<?<A: <G <A 74E>A8FF 4A7 HA68EG4<AGL, 7B8F ABG FHEC4FF.S,;8 E<F<A: @BBA <F @BE8 <A >88C<A: J<G; G;8 FB?<G4EL B684A; 4A7 ;4F 4A 4<E B9 @8?4A6;B?L :E4A78HE, J;<6;, <A <GF FB9G 4A7 :8AG?8 <A9?H8A68, F88@F GB 6B@9BEG J;<?8 <G F4778AF.S! E8670
3Table of Contents
U*4@F:4G8 +4A7FV 5L /<??<4@ (BJ8?? FE<G;, 4ABG;8E <??HFGE4BE @H6; 47@<E87 5L .<A68AG.
B??86G, J;8A ! J4F 4 I8EL LBHA: 6;<?7, ;4I<A: 4 94A6L G;4G G;8 E89?86G<BA B9 G;8 @BBA BA G;8 J4G8E J4F 4 C4G; GB 84I8A, GEB778A 5L G;8 FC<E<GF B9 :BB7 C8BC?8 BA G;8<E J4L GB GB7.V
When we read Vincent's thoughts from that period, we recognize how clearly his views resembled those of Dickens:
U!G 4?J4LF FGE<>8F @8, 4A7 <G <F I8EL C86H?<4E, G;4G J;8A8I8E J8 F88 G;8 <@4:8 B9 <A78F6E<545?8 4A7 HAHGG8E45?8 78FB?4G<BA B9 ?BA8?<A8FF, CBI8EGL 4A7 @<F8EL, G;8 8A7 BE 8KGE8@8 B9 4?? G;<A:F, G;8 G;BH:;G B9 GB7 6B@8F <AGB BHE @<A7F. AG ?84FG <G 7B8F J<G; @8, 4A7 7B8FAXG F4G;8E 4?FB F4L, W,;8E8 <F AB C?468 ! ?<>8 GB FC84> 58GG8E G;4A 4 6;HE6;L4E7, 9BE J8 4E8 4?? FG4A7<A: BA 8DH4? :EBHA7; 9HEG;8E@BE8, J8 4?J4LF E84?<M8 <G.XV
This passage demonstrates how Vincent was able to express himself in a stylistic sense very much like Dickens. More importantly, it shows how much in common their imaginative and spiritual outlooks allowed them to weave together strands of time, eternity, mortality, and immortality. In their sacred vision, desolation and extreme sadness lead to their exact opposites; to hope, and where death is a glorious path to eternal lifea bridge of light to shining glory. For Vincent, extreme desolation quickened thoughts of consoling transcendence. Similarly, Dick-
3Table of Contents
71
ens spoke of a sad beauty that was comforting. Later, in 1878, while living and working as a missionary in the Borinage mining camps of Belgium, Vincent said that the pages of the Gospel were written all over the landscape, and recorded, like the paragraphs of a tragic story, in the dark lines etched on the faces of starving women and children. This level of meaning refuses to separate aesthetic experience from the larger meanings of lifeantithetical to current ideas that art is for arts sake...that a work of art can be enjoyed simply because it seems beautiful in some nebulous sense. For Van Gogh, Dickens, and other 19th century artists motivated by moral and ethical principles, it was considered immoral to detach beauty from deeper moral and ethical content. Vincent wrote another letter in April, 1877, from Etten in which we see starlight and redemption like shining words breaking through clouds of desolation. This letter takes us into the very soul of his art. Here again we find the Bibles ethical words literally covering the land and filling the heavens. This letter recordeda strenuous, all-night, forced marcha mission to a friends deathbed that took Vincent by starlight through dark forests and shrouded meadows, and over ancient pathways, to a night vigil in a church graveyard.The letter reads like a sacred mystery play, and in a very real sense it is. Vincent's splendidly painted words allow us to literally walk into a painting such as The Starry Night which he actually painted several years later. This letters almost ecstatic vision showed how steady and unshakable his artistic themes, forms and manner of thinking remained throughout his artistic career. Vincent would quote his father (and Charles Dickens) in saying, There is no place I like to speak better than a churchyard, for we are all standing on equal ground." This is certainly not art for arts sake. For Vincent, death and art were both a graphic reality that could not be denied. We see Vincents real view of art in the letter from Etten:.
72
3Table of Contents
D84E ,;8B,SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSS EGG8A, 3 ACE<? 1877 ! @HFG F8A7 LBH 4ABG;8E ?8GG8E; 4F LBH F88, ! 4@ JE<G<A: 9EB@ EGG8A. 08FG8E74L @BEA<A: ! E868<I87 4 ?8GG8E 9EB@ ;B@8 <A J;<6; F4G;8E JEBG8 G;4G A8EFF8A J4F 7L<A: 4A7 G;4G ;8 ;47 588A GB F88 ;<@, 4F A8EFF8A ;47 8KCE8FF87 G;8 J<F; G;4G 94G;8E F;BH?7 I<F<G ;<@.S AG G;<F A8JF @L ;84EG J4F 7E4JA FB FGEBA:?L GBJ4E7 1HA78EG G;4G ! ?BA:87 GB :B G;8E8 4?FB. . . . ,B74L ! E868<I87 4 CBFG64E7 9EB@ AAA4, F4L<A: F;8 4EE<I87 F498?L; @4L F;8 7B J8??.S 4F <G FGEH6> LBH, GBB, G;4G FB@8G;<A: ;4F 6B@8 BI8E ;8E G;4G @4>8F LBH G;<A> B9 G;8 JB@4A J;B ?BI87 "8FHF; B9 J;B@ G;8 B<5?8 FC84>F? AA7 G;<A><A: B9 ;8E, ! 4@ E8@<A787 4:4<A 4A7 4:4<A B9 B8E4A:8EXF JBE7F: !A G;8 (4?468F 4A7 HA78E G;8 G;4G6;, ,;8 .<E:<A F4LF, ! ;4I8 CE8C4E87 /<G; @L BJA ;4A7F G;8 ;BA8L 4A7 54?F4@ FBE ;H@4A FH998E<A:F. AA7 ;BJ FJ88G F;8 J4F J<G; G;4G 94@<?L 4G /8?JLA, F;4E<A: G;8<E ;4CC<A8FF 4A7 @<F9BEGHA8, 4A7 A8I8E J<G;;B?7<A: 4AL ;8?C BE 6B@9BEG G;4G J4F J<G;<A ;8E; 4?FB <A G;8 74LF G;4G 6;<?7 98?? <?? 4A7 7<87.S ! ;4I8 F88A FB 6?84E?L ;BJ G;8L 4?? ?BI87 ;8E.S FEB@ G;8 I8EL 58:<AA<A: F;8 8K8EG87 ;8EF8?9 GB G;8 HG@BFG, E<F<A: 84E?L <A G;8 J<AG8E GB ?<:;G G;8 9<E8 4A7 J<G; ;8E BJA ;4A7F, 8I8A G;BH:; G;8 9<EFG 74LF J8E8 ABG 84FL 9BE ;8E, 4A7 F;8 JEBG8 F;8 B9G8A G;BH:;G, U/<G;BHG ,;BH, ' EG8EA4? B8<A:, A;, J;4G JBH?7 @4A 58 BA G;<F 84EG;; /;B <F G;8E8 <A ;84I8A 5HG ,;BH; &BH:;G 78?<:;GF @8 4AL @BE8 BA 84EG; 5HG ,;BH.VS AA7 ;BJ F;8 ?BB>87 9BEJ4E7 GB CB@@HA<BA, 4A7 J8AG GB <G, 4A7 J4F 9BEG<9<87 5L <G. AA7 ;BJ (4 4A7 %BG;8E ?BI8 ;8E, 4F, <A7887, J8 4?? 7B; 4L, ?8G HF FG4L 6?BF8 GB:8G;8E. +4GHE74L A<:;G ! GBB> G;8 ?4FG GE4<A 9EB@ DBE7E86;G GB 'H78A5BF6;, 4A7 J4?>87 9EB@ G;8E8 GB 1HA78EG. !G J4F FB 584HG<9H? BA G;8 ;84G;; G;BH:; <G J4F 74E>, BA8 6BH?7 7<FG<A:H<F; G;8 ;84G;, 4A7 G;8 C<A8 JBB7F, 4A7 @BBEF 8KG8A7<A: 94E 4A7 J<78...,;8 F>L J4F BI8E64FG, 5HG G;8 8I8A<A: FG4E J4F F;<A<A: G;EBH:; G;8 6?BH7F, 4A7 ABJ 4A7 G;8A @BE8 FG4EF 4CC84E87.S!G J4F I8EL 84E?L J;8A ! 4EE<I87 4G G;8 6;HE6;L4E7 <A 1HA78EG; 8I8ELG;<A: J4F FB DH<8G.S! J8AG BI8E 4?? G;8 784E B?7 FCBGF, 4A7 G;8 ?<GG?8 C4G;F, 4A7 J4<G87 9BE G;8 FHAE<F8 G;8E8. 0BH >ABJ G;8 FGBEL B9 G;8 *8FHEE86G<BAT8I8ELG;<A: E8@<A787 @8 B9 <G G;4G @BEA<A: <A G;8 DH<8G :E4I8L4E7.
3Table of Contents
73
AF FBBA 4F G;8L ;47 :BG HC, A8EFF8A 4A7 %<8AG=8 GB?7 @8 G;4G G;8<E 94G;8E ;47 7<87 G;4G A<:;GTB;! G;8L J8E8 FB :E<8I87, 4A7 G;8<E ;84EGF J8E8 FB 9H??.S 8<A 4?FB 64@8 I8EL 84E?L <A G;8 @BEA<A:.S! J4F :?47 GB 58 J<G; G;8@, 4A7 ! F;4E87 G;8<E 988?<A:F, 9BE ! GBB ?BI87 G;8 @4A. ,;8 4HAGF F8A7 LBH G;8<E ?BI8, 4F J8?? 4F "4A DBB@8, J;B@ ! 4?FB I<F<G87. FEB@ G;8E8 ! J4?>87 J<G; 8<A GB *<=F58E:8A 4A7 FC8AG 45BHG 4A ;BHE <A G;8 ;BHF8; J8 E847 G;8 B<5?8 GB:8G;8E. /BHG=8 (E<AF ;47 4?FB F4G HC J<G; A8EFF8A G;E88 A<:;GF, 4A7 ;47 588A J<G; ;<@ GB G;8 ?4FG.S <F C4FF<A: J4F C84689H?.S! F;4?? A8I8E 9BE:8G G;4G AB5?8 ;847 ?L<A: BA G;8 C<??BJ:S G;8 9468 F;BJ87 F<:AF B9 FH998E<A:, 5HG JBE8 4A 8KCE8FF<BA B9 C8468 4A7 4 68EG4<A ;B?<A8FF.S';! <G J4F FB 584HG<9H?, GB @8 <G J4F 6;4E46G8E<FG<6 B9 4?? G;8 C86H?<4E 6;4E@ B9 G;8 6BHAGEL 4A7 G;8 ?<98 B9 G;8 BE454AG C8BC?8.SAA7 G;8L J8E8 4?? G4?><A: 45BHG F4G;8E, ;BJ :BB7 ;8 ;47 4?J4LF 588A GB G;8@, 4A7 ;BJ @H6; G;8F8 GJB ;47 ?BI87 846; BG;8E.V
In the first paragraph of Vincents letter from Etten, we notice the strong wording, I must send you another letter, expressing his need to remain in close contact with his younger bother Theo. The I must of the letter was deeply felt, and appears many times in future letters. Vincents need to write (and later to paint) would become compulsions, when the bonds between him and his parents would for a period of time be severely strained following a serious family breach of trust and propriety, a separation that would cause all concerned months of profound suffering. Also in the Etten letter, we read a chain of reflections broader in scope than in the letter from Ramsgate; he now addresses primary existential issues: birth, illness, labor, healing, faith, lifes purpose, the mystery of death and eternity. Lit up by the evening star, his personal vision moved into and out of darkness as he rapidly marched in a race against death, contemplating his action, for soon he would summarize it in this letter to Theo. He wove into a single fabric his understanding of the greatest mystery of alldeath. Like so many important letters drafted at critical periods of his life, the one from Etten chronicled a large span of time,
74
3Table of Contents
and the changing light of the hours. It opened at twilight, moved through the blackness of night into a lilac-colored dawn, and yellow daylightappropriate colors symbolically, considering that the theme of the letter was the entirety of a life culminating in eternity. In many ways, this letter was to portend Vincents own life, including the way his deceased friends head rested upon the pillowprecisely the way Theo was one day to describe Vincents head and face at the moment of his death. In the third paragraph, Vincent honors his sister for her steadfast care for the sick. He then quotes from memory a well-known Dutch poem: ...rising early in the winter to light the fire and with her own hands. This, like other poems from his childhood, demonstrated the Dutch moral ideal of love as action. He seemed also to have had in mind Proverbs 31:15 (NASB): She rises also while it is still night and gives food to her household.His sister was clearly someone who took seriously the ideal of love as action. We are also reminded of Vincent's comment that he would not recognize love as anything but an actionfeelings that are not given tangible expression are meaningless. This unswerving conviction grounded his art in an outward-bound core and helps explain why his art was and is always emotionally potent, beautiful, andlike the stars of which he was so enamoredbrilliant. Action taken on behalf of the sick and helpless was a natural thingfor the Van Goghs. Vincent nursed many people over the course of his short lifetime. We are told by numerous sources how he heroically attended injured miners in Belgium as a lay evangelist and nurse.In describing the care Vincent gave his mother, Johanna tells us:
Vincent, who had become an expert nurse in Borinage, helped to nurse his mother with the greatest devotion, and in every letter during that period they praised him for his faithful help. Vincent is untiring, and the rest of the time he devotes to his painting and drawing with the greatest zeal. The doctor praised Vincent for his ability and care. Vincent proves an ideal nurse and at the same time he works with the greatest ambition.
3Table of Contents
75
The fourth paragraph in the letter from Etten contains a cluster of action themes. Like his sister, Vincent also made a life-long habit of rising before daybreak, and of working to the point of exhaustion. He would say, I believe that the more one loves, the more one will act: for love that is only a feeling I would never recognize as love. The entire Van Gogh family embraced with zeal the social obligations of prayer and compassion, and devotion in assisting others. Vincent ended the paragraph with And how Pa and Mother love her, as, indeed we all do; say, let us stay close together. Such strong comments underscored the strong ties the entire family had for one another and their need to act upon such ties. The letter went on to describe Vincents response to learning of the critical illness of Aerssen, a close family friend who resided in Vincent's boyhood home in Zundert, Holland. His immediate response was to embark on an exceedingly long foot journey home, not surprising considering all we know of his deep love for family and friends. Of special interest in the letter is the reference in paragraph five in which he recounted his thoughts as he visited the graveyard where his elder brother (also Vincent but who had been still-born) was buried. We read into this Vincents characteristic response to deathinstead of fear, the promise of resurrection: You know the story of the Resurrection everything reminded me of it that morning in the quiet graveyard. This is a typical, life-long example of how he perceived death as a natural, and supernatural, step into eternity.Death and rebirth were seen as an intrinsic part of the cycle of seasonssowing, growing, and harvesting. Writing in paragraph six, Vincent was filled with awe at what could be a New Testament scene, like the account of the death and resurrection of Lazarus in the Gospel of John or the Acts of the Apostles. One is also reminded of another sacred painting by Jacob van Ruisdael
The Jewish Cemeterywith itsgraves shattered seemingly by a bridge

of lighta rainbow. This work links death to Noahs ark and the rainbow covenant between Creator and man, promising humankind a reprieve from flood and inevitable death. It can be understood as a natural symbol of salvation and transcendence.
76
3Table of Contents
U,;8 *4<F<A: B9 $4M4EHFV 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 .4A GB:; %HF8H@, A@FG8E74@.
In the Bible, God said:
This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creative that is with you, for all successive generations; I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. (Genesis 9:12-17 NASB)
This covenant was especially meaningful to the Dutch who lived at or below sea level, open to constant flooding. Much as the rainbow falls where rain is not too heavy, giving joy because its appearance
3Table of Contents
77
U,;8 "8J<F; C8@8G8ELV 5L "46B5 !F44>FM I4A *H<F748?, 1654-55
was a light-filled reminder that sunshine was on its way, Vincent believed that nature itself revealed the mind of a Creator. In paragraph seven and eight of the Etten letter, Vincent described the face of the dead man, its look of holiness, and how death and life are conjoined because of the presence of living witnesses to his deaththe family and friends who had come to witness the passing of this much loved man. It was a communion with death. And they were all talking about Father, how good he had always been to them, and how much these two had loved each other. Most telling was the way Vincent noticed how this loss was an occasion for a higher gain, like the rainbow after the deluge. Towards the end of his life, as Vincent was recovering from substance abuse and the debauchery of his time in Paris, he noted that his health always improved when he returned to the countryside, and
78
3Table of Contents
painted the bright landscapes, especially those of Holland and his beloved Arles. But before that, Vincent was to descend into the darkness of a sort of living hellthe desolation of Belgiums Borinagewhere he would experience firsthand the dismal plight of the miners and peasant workers who struggled to survive in awful circumstances. There, he would come to knowand tell ofdreadful loss and wretched human conditions. He would say that a careworn face was akin to old clothing. The story of lifes stresses and strains was, to Vincent, left on both skin and cloth. Heavy use left heavy traces. For Vincent, the events that were to unfold in the drudgery and squalor of the Borinage would unequivocally redefine him. He went there to minister to the poor workers and peasants of that horribly depressed region. But the terrible conditions he witnessedwould cause his inner world to stand in stark contrast with the open spaces he had experienced until then. Far from family and all that was familiar, Vincent
CB4? %<A8 <A G;8 BBE<A4:8V 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;. /4G8E6B?BE, C8A6<?, GE4AFC4E8AG J4G8E6B?BE, BA JBI8 C4C8E. CH8F@8F-/4F@8F: 1879. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 .4A GB:; %HF8H@, A@FG8E74@.
3Table of Contents
79
would be forced to re-examine his very soul and to re-assess his core beliefs. Like the miners who sacrificed their health to extract the precious coal from the bowels of the earth, so too Vincent would sacrifice a precious part of his own youth. The lessons he was to learn in the bleakness of the Borinage were to forge a significant part of Vincents fundamental fabric.
S
'CCBF<G8: $8 %BH?<A 78 ?4 G4?8GG8, %BAG@4EG8, 1886. '<? BA 64AI4F.
G?4F:BJ %HF8H@, G?4F:BJ, +6BG?4A7.
80
3Table of Contents
3Table of Contents
EPISODE TWO
DESOLATION & EMERGENCE

BLEAK DAYS IN THE BORINAGE A SPIRITUAL RENASCENCE
3Table of Contents
BLEAK DAYS IN THE BORINAGE

"EI8EL ;H@4A FB6<8GL ;4F J;4G <F 64??87 <A G;8 G;84GE8F 4 G;<E7 FH5FG4:8. ,;8 FB6<4? FB<? <F @<A87 8I8ELJ;8E8, FB@8G<@8F 9BE :BB7, FB@8G<@8F 9BE 8I<?. ,;8F8 JBE>F 4E8 <A FGE4G4; G;8E8 4E8 HCC8E @<A8F 4A7 ?BJ8E @<A8F...,;8 74E> 64I8EAF, G;8F8 :?BB@L CEBG86GBEF B9 CE<@<G<I8 C;E<FG<4A<GL, J8E8 4J4<G<A: BA?L 4A BCCBEGHA<GL GB 8KC?B78 58A84G; G;8 C48F4EF, 4A7 GB 9?BB7 G;8 ;H@4A E468 J<G; ?<:;G. FBE <A G;8F8 F46E87 F;478F G;8E8 <F ?4G8AG ?<:;G.S.B?64AB8F 4E8 9H?? B9 5?46>A8FF, 64C45?8 B9 9?4F;<A: 9?4@8F.SA?? ?4I4 58:<AF 4G @<7A<:;G. ,;8 64G46B@5F, J;8E8 G;8 9<EFG @4FF J4F F4<7, J8E8 ABG @8E8?L G;8 64I8 B9 *B@8; G;8L J8E8 G;8 64I8EA B9 G;8 JBE?7." T.<6GBE H:B, $8F %<F8E45?8F, 1862
The Great Exhibition of 1851 was symbolic of mans progress up to that time in the Industrial Revolution. The extraordinary Crystal Palace was constructed in London using prefabricated iron and glass modules. The colossal ice-like apparition embodied all the inventiveness, skill, engineering prowess, and romanticism of the period. Vincent was born in 1853, just two years after the opening of the Great Exhibition, and in many ways he was to become an archetype of those times with his combination of complicated and contradictory urges. He lived in a far more modern world than we might imagine. There were many advances, for example, in the design and construction of ships which effectively brought the era of sail to a close. In 1836, the 703-ton steamer Sirius sailed with 100 passengers from London to New York, and within a few hours of her arrival, another steamer twice her size, the 1,440-ton Great Western, also arrived in New York after a crossing of only fifteen days from Bristol, England. The year of Vincents birth saw many impressive achievements in engineering including the first railroad tunnel cut right through the Alpsthe Vienna-Trieste Line. In the following year, the first steel street pillars were erected in
'CCBF<G8: U(84F4AG BHEA<A: /887FV 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;. '<? BA C4A8?. '6GB58E, 1883. (E<I4G8 CB??86G<BA.
3Table of Contents
87
Berlin by Ernst Litfass. Then, in 1855, the first iron Cunard steamer crossed the Atlantic in just nine-and-a-half days. In 1856, the Black Forest railroad opened with forty tunnels. By 1859, the construction of the awesome Suez Canel got underway. And by 1865, the first railroad sleeper-cars, designed by George M. Pullman, were in use in the United States. Fifty thousand new miles of railway were laid in Europe alone between 1850 and 1870 to augment over 15,000 miles already built prior to that time. As a consequence of these great achievements, there was an explosion in coal extraction and steel manufacturing, with its resultant wide-spread pollution. Coal production was to rise sharply, particularly in the Ruhr area, continental Europes first great industrial zone. But the extraction of coal from the earth was hazardous to the health of the miners who toiled in dreadful conditions, breathing the treacherous black dust. Charles Dickens was among those who questioned the price in human lives for each ton of coal. And the dire conditions of people in the mining communities were to be the subject of some of Vincents first drawings in which he attempted to capture the lives he saw destroyed
88
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,JB: B?84> D4LF <A G;8 BBE<A4:8
in the coal mining camps. When he had first arrived in the Borinage to minister to its people, the youthful and idealistic Vincent tried sharing the glowing words of the Gospel with the coal miners, hoping they would find solace in the light of revelation through Christs example, in particular His self-sacrificing nature. Vincents hopes were soon to be crushed, however, when he discovered that the sick and starving folk were not interested in light and revelationthey first needed food, water, and warm clothing. He quickly responded to this in a way that was to become the hallmark of his ethos; he gave away everything he had (including his own clothing), ripped up his bedsheets for bandages, and slept on straw.And by such actions, he won the admiration and respect of the workers, and was able to convert some of them. Writing in 1878, Vincent tells us:
U/;8A ! J4F <A EA:?4A7, ! 4CC?<87 9BE 4 CBF<G<BA 4F 8I4A:8?<FG 4@BA: G;8 6B4? @<A8EF, 5HG G;8L CHG @8 B99, F4L<A: ! ;47 GB 58 4G ?84FG GJ8AGL-9<I8 L84EF B?7. 0BH >ABJ G;8 EBBGF BE 9BHA74G<BAF, ABG BA?L B9 G;8 GBFC8?, 5HG B9 G;8 J;B?8 B<5?8 <F U$<:;G G;4G E<F8F <A G;8 74E>A8FF,V 9EB@ 74E>A8FF GB ?<:;G. /8??, J;B A887F G;<F @BFG, J;B J<?? 58 E868CG<I8 GB <G? EKC8E<8A68 ;4F F;BJA G;4G G;8 C8BC?8 J;B J4?> <A 74E>A8FF, <A G;8 68AG8E B9 G;8 84EG;, ?<>8 G;8 @<A8EF <A G;8 5?46> 6B4? @<A8F, 9BE <AFG4A68, 4E8 I8EL @H6; <@CE8FF87 5L G;8 JBE7F B9 G;8 GBFC8?, 4A7 58?<8I8 G;8@, GBB. &BJ <A G;8 FBHG; B9 B8?:<H@, <A 4<A4HG, A84E %BAF, HC GB G;8 FE8A6; 9EBAG<8EFT4L8, 8I8A 94E 46EBFF <GTG;8E8 <F 4 7<FGE<6G 64??87 G;8 BBE<A4:8, J;<6; ;4F 4 HA<DH8 CBCH?4G<BA B9 ?45BE8EF J;B JBE> <A G;8 AH@8EBHF 6B4? @<A8F.S ! 9BHA7 G;8 9B??BJ<A: 45BHG G;8@ <A 4 ?<GG?8 :8B:E4C;L: W,;8 BBE<AF (<A;45<G4AGF B9 G;8 BBE<A4:8, F<GH4G87 J8FG B9 %BAF) 9<A7 G;8<E 8@C?BL@8AG 8K6?HF<I8?L <A G;8 6B4? @<A8F...:EBHCF B9 JBE><A: @8A, JBEG;L B9 BHE E8FC86G 4A7 FL@C4G;L, 74<?L 78F68A7 <AGB G;8@. ,;8 @<A8E <F 4 GLC8 C86H?<4E GB G;8 BBE<A4:8; 9BE ;<@ 74L?<:;G 7B8F ABG 8K<FG, 4A7 ;8 F88F G;8 FHAF;<A8 BA?L BA +HA74L. 8 JBE>F ?45BE<BHF?L 5L G;8 C4?8, 7<@ ?<:;G B9 G;8 ?4@C, <A 4 A4EEBJ GHAA8?, ;<F 5B7L 58AG 7BH5?8, 4A7 FB@8G<@8F ;8 <F B5?<:87 GB 6E4J?. 8 JBE>F GB 8KGE46G 9EB@ G;8 5BJ8? B9 G;8 84EG; G;4G @<A8E4? FH5FG4A68 B9 J;<6; J8 >ABJ G;8 :E84G
'CCBF<G8 (4:8: U,;8 %<A8EXF *8GHEAV 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;. (BFG 1881. (8A6<?, C8A, & 5EHF;. #EQ??8E-%R??8E %HF8H@, 'GG8E?B, ,;8 &8G;8E?4A7F.
3Table of Contents
89
HG<?<GL; ;8 JBE>F <A G;8 @<7FG B9 G;BHF4A7F B9 8I8E-E86HEE<A: 74A:8EF; 5HG G;8 B8?:<4A @<A8E ;4F 4 ;4CCL 7<FCBF<G<BA, ;8 <F HF87 GB G;8 ?<98, 4A7 J;8A ;8 :B8F 7BJA <AGB G;8 F;49G, J84E<A: BA ;<F ;4G 4 ?<GG?8 ?4@C GB :H<78 ;<@ <A G;8 74E>A8FF, ;8 8AGEHFGF ;<@F8?9 GB GB7, /;B F88F ;<F ?45BE 4A7 CEBG86GF ;<@, ;<F J<98 4A7 6;<?7E8A.XV
Some of Vincents traits were remembered vividly.When the miners of Wasmes went to the pits, they pulled vests made of old sacking over their linen work clothes, using them like pea-jackets to protect themselves from the freezing water that spurted from the cracked walls of the mine shafts as they descended in the clanking cages of the elevators. On one occasion, Vincent saw the word fragile stenciled on the sackcloth on a miners back.This touched him deeply. An eyewitness to Vincents life in the Borinage, later wrote to Johanna:
UAA 8C<78@<6 B9 GLC;B<7 98I8E 5EB>8 BHG <A G;8 7<FGE<6G. .<A68AG J4F 78FG<GHG8 ;<@F8?9, ;4I<A: :<I8A 8I8ELG;<A: ;8 BJA87, <A6?H7<A: @BA8L 4A7 6?BG;8F, GB G;8 CBBE. AA <AFC86GBE B9 G;8 UEI4A:8?<M4G<BA CBHA6<?V 64@8 GB G;8 6BA6?HF<BA G;4G .<A68AGXF U8K68F 78 M8?8V 5BE78E87 BA G;8 F64A74?BHF, 4A7 F;4E87 ;<F BC<A<BA G;8 6;HE6; 6BHA6<? <A /4F@8F. 'A ?84EA<A: B9 G;<F, .<A68AGXF 94G;8E J8AG 9EB@ &H8A8A GB /4F@8F, BA?L GB 9<A7 ;<F FBA ?L<A: BA 4 F46> 9<??87 J<G; FGE4J, 8K;4HFG87, 4A7 8@46<4G87. !A G;8 EBB@ J;8E8 ;8 ?4L, ?<G 7<@?L 5L 4 F<A:?8 ;4A:<A: ?4@C, FB@8 @<A8EFTG;8<E 9468F C<A6;87 J<G; FG4EI4G<BA 4A7 FH998E<A:, J8E8 6EBJ787 4EBHA7 .<A68AG. .<A68AG ;47 @478 4 F<:A<9<64AG AH@58E B9 6BAI8EGF 4@BA: G;8 (EBG8FG4AGF B9 /4F@8F.S <F 7887F J8E8 ?8:<BA. (8BC?8 G4?>87 B9 G;8 @<A8E J;B@ ;8 J8AG GB F88 49G8E 4A 466<78AG <A G;8 %4E64FF8 @<A8...G;8 @4A J4F 4 ;45<GH4? 7E<A>8E, U4A HA58?<8I8E 4A7 5?4FC;8@8E,V 466BE7<A: GB G;8 C8BC?8 J;B GB?7 G;8 FGBEL.S/;8A .<A68AG 8AG8E87 ;<F ;BHF8 GB ;8?C 4A7 6B@9BEG ;<@, ;8 J4F E868<I87 J<G; 4 IB??8L B9 45HF8.S 8 J4F 64??87 4 W@46;8HK 7X64C8?8GFX 24 EBF4EL 6;8J8E3, 58<A: @<FG4>8A 9BE 4 *B@4A C4G;B?<6 (E<8FG.SBHG .<A68AGXF 8I4A:8?<64? G8A78EA8FF JBA G;8 @4A BI8E.V
90
3Table of Contents
However, one of the hardest lessons Vincent was to learn from his time in the Borinage was that humankind can be capable of blind indifference to, or at least apathy toward, the suffering of others. He would fall victim to this mentality himself when he was abandoned by the organized churchby a synod committee of tradition-bound clergymen who fired him as a missionary because he did not dress and preach eloquently. It did not seem to matter to them that he literally poured out his life in sacrifice and service on behalf of the diseased and destitute.In one case, he spent over forty days devoting himself to saving the life of a horribly burned, disfigured miner who had been given up for dead. His greatest acts of mercy were to be rejected by those he firmly believed would value them the most. He revered his pious parents, wanting to emulate their example, but he never once imagined that his hard-earned efforts would be dismissed because of non-conformity with traditional religious mores and methods. This crushing rejection caused
3Table of Contents
91
him to become disoriented, and even undergo a temporary loss of faith. But in the long term it would prepare him to withstand further rejection in his strenuous efforts to become a painter. The Church, however, saw things differently. In its 1879-80 report of the Union of Protestant Churches in Belgium, chapter Wasmes [twenty-third report of the Synodal Board of Evangelization (1879-80)] it stated:
U,;8 8KC8E<@8AG B9 4668CG<A: G;8 F8EI<68F B9 4 LBHA: DHG6;@4A, %E. .<A68AG .4A GB:;, J;B 98?G ;<@F8?9 64??87 GB 58 4A 8I4A:8?<FG <A G;8 BBE<A4:8, ;4F ABG CEB7H687 G;8 4AG<6<C4G87 E8FH?GF.S !9 4 G4?8AG 9BE FC84><A:, <A7<FC8AF45?8 GB 4ALBA8 C?4687 4G G;8 ;847 B9 4 6BA:E8:4G<BA, ;47 588A 47787 GB G;8 47@<E45?8 DH4?<G<8F ;8 7<FC?4L87 <A 4<7<A: G;8 F<6> 4A7 JBHA787, GB ;<F 78IBG<BA GB G;8 FC<E<G B9 F8?9-F46E<9<68, B9 J;<6; ;8 :4I8 @4AL CEBB9F 5L 6BAF86E4G<A: ;<F A<:;GXF E8FG GB G;8@, 4A7 5L FGE<CC<A: ;<@F8?9 B9 @BFG B9 ;<F 6?BG;8F 4A7 ?<A8A <A G;8<E 58;4?9, %E. .<A68AG JBH?7 68EG4<A?L ;4I8 588A 4A 466B@C?<F;87 8I4A:8?<FG. -A7BH5G87?L <G JBH?7 58 HAE84FBA45?8 GB 78@4A7 8KGE4BE7<A4EL G4?8AGF. BHG <G <F 8I<78AG G;4G G;8 45F8A68 B9 68EG4<A DH4?<G<8F @4L E8A78E G;8 8K8E6<F8 B9 4A 8I4A:8?<FGXF CE<A6<C4? 9HA6G<BA J;B??L <@CBFF<5?8. -A9BEGHA4G8?L G;<F <F G;8 64F8 J<G; %E. .<A68AG. ,;8E89BE8, G;8 CEB54G<BA4EL C8E<B7TFB@8 @BAG;FT;4I<A: 8KC<E87, <G ;4F 588A A868FF4EL GB 454A7BA G;8 <784 B9 E8G4<A<A: ;<@ 4AL ?BA:8E. ,;8 8I4A:8?<FG, %. HGGBA (F<6), J;B <F ABJ <AFG4??87, GBB> BI8E ;<F 6;4E:8 BA '6GB58E 1, 1879."
The irony of the phrase which Vincent loved to associate with aiding minerslight that rises in the darknessis that his ardent effort to spread light plunged him into a darkness of anger and despair. He used his letters to rage, revile, and to dig himself out of the pit of disillusion and disappointment he felt over his dismissal, and was forced to re-examine his views of God, finding some comfort in Christs parables about blindness: "If you were blind, you would have no sin, but since you say, 'we see', your sin remains." John 9:41.
92
3Table of Contents
In 1880, he was to write:
"! @HFG G8?? LBH G;4G J<G; 8I4A:8?<FGF <G <F G;8 F4@8 4F J<G; 4EG<FGF.S,;8E8 <F 4A B?7 46478@<6 F6;BB?, B9G8A 78G8FG45?8, GLE4AA<64?, G;8 466H@H?4G<BA B9 ;BEEBEF, @8A J;B J84E 4 6H<E4FF, 4 FG88? 4E@BE, B9 CE8=H7<68F 4A7 6BAI8AG<BAF; J;8A G;8F8 C8BC?8 4E8 <A 6;4E:8 B9 4994<EF, G;8L 7<FCBF8 B9 CBF<G<BAF, 4A7 5L 4 FLFG8@ B9 E87 G4C8 G;8L GEL GB >88C G;8<E CEBGN:NF <A G;8<E C?468F 4A7 GB 8K6?H78 G;8 BG;8E @4A. ,;8<E GB7 <F ?<>8 G;8 GB7 B9 +;4>8FC84E8XF 7EHA>8A F4?FG499...G;8F8 8I4A:8?<64? :8AG?8@8A 9<A7 G;8@F8?I8F J<G; G;8 F4@8 CB<AG B9 I<8J BA FC<E<GH4? G;<A:F 4F G;4G 7EHA>8A 6;4E46G8E (C8E;4CF G;8L JBH?7 58 FB@8J;4G FHECE<F87 GB 7<F6BI8E G;<F <9 G;8L J8E8 64C45?8 B9 ;H@4A 8@BG<BAF). BHG G;8E8 <F ?<GG?8 984E B9 G;8<E 5?<A7A8FF 8I8E 6;4A:<A: GB 6?84E-F<:;G87A8FF <A FH6; @4GG8EF. A 64:87 5<E7 <A FCE<A: >ABJF DH<G8 J8?? G;4G ;8 @<:;G F8EI8 FB@8 8A7; ;8 <F J8?? 4J4E8 G;4G G;8E8 <F FB@8G;<A: 9BE ;<@ GB 7B, 5HG ;8 64AABG 7B <G. /;4G <F <G? 8 7B8F ABG DH<G8 E8@8@58E.S,;8A FB@8 I4:H8 <784F B66HE GB ;<@, 4A7 ;8 F4LF GB ;<@F8?9, WG;8 BG;8EF 5H<?7 G;8<E A8FGF 4A7 ?4L G;8<E 8::F 4A7 5E<A: HC G;8<E ?<GG?8 BA8FX; 4A7 ;8 >AB6>F ;<F ;847 4:4<AFG G;8 54EF B9 G;8 64:8. BHG G;8 64:8 E8@4<AF, 4A7 G;8 5<E7 <F @4778A87 5L 4A:H<F;. W$BB> 4G G;4G ?4ML 4A<@4?,X F4LF 4ABG;8E 5<E7 <A C4FF<A:, W;8 F88@F GB 58 ?<I<A: 4G 84F8.X 08F G;8 CE<FBA8E ?<I8F, ;8 7B8F ABG 7<8; G;8E8 4E8 AB BHGJ4E7 F<:AF B9 J;4G C4FF8F J<G;<A ;<@...BHG G;8A G;8 F84FBA B9 @<:E4G<BA 6B@8F, 4A7 4GG46>F B9 @8?4A6;B?<4...XBHG ;8 ;4F 8I8ELG;<A: ;8 J4AGF,X F4L G;8 6;<?7E8A G;4G G8A7 ;<@ <A ;<F 64:8.S 8 ?BB>F G;EBH:; G;8 54EF 4G G;8 BI8E64FG F>L J;8E8 4 G;HA78EFGBE@ <F :4G;8E<A:, 4A7 <AJ4E7?L E858?F 4G ;<F 94G8. W! 4@ 64:87, ! 4@ 64:87, 4A7 LBH G8?? @8 ! 7B ABG J4AG 4ALG;<A:, 9BB?F! 0BH G;<A> ! ;4I8 8I8ELG;<A: ! A887! ';! ! 58F886; LBH ?<58EGL, G;4G ! @4L 58 4 5<E7 ?<>8 BG;8E 5<E7F!X A 68EG4<A @4A E8F8@5?8F G;<F <7?8 5<E7. AA7 6<E6H@FG4A68F B9G8A CE8I8AG @8A 9EB@ 7B<A: G;<A:F, CE<FBA8EF <A ! 7B ABG >ABJ J;4G ;BEE<5?8, ;BEE<5?8, @BFG ;BEE<5?8 64:8.S,;8E8 <F 4?FBT! >ABJ <GTG;8 78?<I8E4A68, G;8 G4E7L 78?<I8E4A68.SA =HFG?L BE HA=HFG?L EH<A87 E8CHG4G<BA, CBI8EGL, HA4IB<745?8 6<E6H@FG4A68F, 47I8EF<GLTG;4G <F J;4G @4>8F @8A CE<FBA8EF...DB LBH >ABJ J;4G 9E88F
3Table of Contents
93
BA8 9EB@ G;<F 64CG<I<GL? !G <F 8I8EL 788C, F8E<BHF 49986G<BA. B8<A: 9E<8A7F, 58<A: 5EBG;8EF, ?BI8, G;4G <F J;4G BC8AF G;8 CE<FBA 5L FB@8 FHCE8@8 CBJ8E, 5L FB@8 @4:<6 9BE68. /<G;BHG G;<F, BA8 E8@4<AF <A CE<FBA. /;8E8 FL@C4G;L <F E8A8J87, ?<98 <F E8FGBE87.V
The caged bird of the 1880 letter stands in sharp contrast with his 1878 letter, with its image of descending light. Now it was Vincent who was caged, a prisoner, a man with an unjustly ruined reputation. He compared the prejudices of the evangelical brotherhood that dismissed him to a cage, metal bars, steel armor, and tradition-bound blindness, and compares himself to the canary victim. He now knew that the Gospel was not always easy to share especially if those in authority did not heed its message. When, in addition to starvation, disease and the diabolical explosions of the mines, an evangelist had to deal with compromised union officials, red tape, rulebound committees, and indifference, the light was not only eclipsed but contradicted and discredited by the very men one would hope heeded it the most. However strong his condemnation of the Synod of Elders, Vincent did not believe that all professional clergy were corrupt: I must tell you that with evangelists it is the same as with artists.There is an old academic school, often detestable.... He did not class the good Reverend Pietersen, who helped and encouraged him, as detestable. In fact, throughout his later life he will be shown kindness, concern and be aided by several pastors. This is important to bear in mind because it has been suggested by some historians that, after the Borinage, Vincent no longer believed in God which was not the case. From that time forward, Vincent was to acknowledge his belief in God but harbor strong misgivings about power-blinded institutions, religious, artistic or otherwise.And from Vincents angry response, it is clear that he had not fully absorbed all of the lessons he should, especially lessons about humility and correction. Perhaps his wrath was not entirely misplaced when we consider how the miners themselves admired and trusted him because of his acts of true compassion.
94
3Table of Contents
Despite the disappointments arising from his dismissal, and just at the moment of his greatest need, there came a guide to help him find his way. The Reverend Pietersen, a kind pastor and painter, stood up for Vincent, and took a fatherly interest in him, patiently encouraging him. Reverend Pietersen had good reason to be impressed by the intensity and empathy he felt for Vincents efforts, and asked him for a sketch. It would be more than a year before Vincent transformed himself from pastor to serious painter, but the seed had been sewn by the kindly Pietersen in those bleak days in the Borinage. Vincent recorded his thoughts at the time:
"$4G8?L ! ;4I8 588A 4G 4 FGH787 @8 9BE BA8 B9 @L F>8G6;8F, 4 @<A8E GLC8. '9G8A ! 7E4J 94E <AGB G;8 A<:;G, GB >88C FB@8 FBHI8A<E 4A7 GB FGE8A:G;8A G;8 G;BH:;GF E4<F87 <AIB?HAG4E<?L 5L G;8 4FC86G B9 G;<A:F ;8E8."
Pietersen was a living bridge linking religion and art, embodying art as a sacred calling. Before Vincent could clamber over this bridge, however, he had to exhaust his role as the epitome of a 19th century missionary. What he did not realize, as he moved along the narrow tunnels of the mines amid the stench of misery, was how similar in many ways his mission as a sacred artist would become. Artists venture into lesser known places and, like missionaries, are often harassed by those closest to them who view their career choice as vapid, and discourage them on the basis of financial uncertainty. For Vincent, the choice of art as a career was far more complicated. His personal expectation had been to emulate his pastor father. But his failure in the eyes of the Church had shattered that cherished dream. The descent into the mines was equally a descent into his own naked humanity. Forced to surrender his identity as a provider to the unfortunate, he saw in art a way to emerge from all the confusion and darkness. His drawings and paintings would come to portray human suffering with a radiant glow of authenticity gleaned from real, empirical
3Table of Contents
95
experienceits simple truth engraving the hearts of those who came in sight of it. His life in itself would become an honest journey, stripped of pretense and false expectations, and forged from a deep understanding of humankind. The Borinage mining episode was also, for Vincent, a transition into adulthoodan important step for his innately dependent personality, even though it took a significant physical toll on him. For some months after his work ended in the Borinage, he suffered from what seemed to have been a nervous breakdown. But from then on, he began to think and act out of inner conviction rather than on the expectations of others. A transformed and enlightened Vincent emerged with a more worldly view, yet no less Gospel-minded. His vocation had evolved from preacher to painter, but his motivation to serve humankind remained intact.
S
U+HE8?L G;8E8 <F 4 @<A8 9BE F<?I8E 4A7 4 C?468 J;8E8 G;8L E89<A8 :B?7.S!EBA <F G4>8A 9EB@ G;8 7HFG 4A7 6BCC8E <F F@8?G87 9EB@ EB6>. %4A CHGF 4A 8A7 GB 74E>A8FF, 4A7 GB G;8 94EG;8FG ?<@<G ;8 F84E6;8F BHG G;8 EB6> <A :?BB@ 4A7 788C F;47BJ.S 8 F<A>F 4 F;49G 94E 9EB@ ;45<G4G<BA, 9BE:BGG8A 5L G;8 9BBG; G;8L ;4A: 4A7 FJ<A: GB 4A7 9EB 94E 9EB@ @8A... 8 ;8JF BHG 6;4AA8?F G;EBH:; G;8 EB6>F, 4A7 ;<F 8L8 F88F 4ALG;<A: CE86<BHF. 8 74@F HC G;8 FGE84@F 9EB@ 9?BJ<A:, 4A7 J;4G <F ;<778A ;8 5E<A:F BHG GB G;8 ?<:;G.V Job. 28:1-11
U,;8 !EBA %<?? <A ,;8 4:H8V 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;. C;E<FG<8XF. GBH46;8, J4G8E6B?BHE, J4F;, C8A 4A7 !A7<4 <A> 4A7 C8A6<? BA C4C8E. EK86HG87 <A ,;8 4:H8 <A "H?L 1882. (4<AG87 =HFG 9BHE L84EF 49G8E ;<F 64?4@<GBHF @<A<A: 7<F@<FF4? G;<F F68A8 B9 4 54E:8 A8KG GB 4 6;HEA<A: <EBA 946GBEL HA7BH5G87?L 8IB>87 @8@BE<8F B9 G;8 BBE<A4:8. !G 4?FB @HFG ;4I8 E8@<A787 ;<@ B9 D<6>8AF' ABI8? 4E7 ,<@8F 4A7 <GF ?8:8A74EL "CB>8GBJA," 4 6<GL B9 ;8??<F; 9HEA468F 4A7 F@B>8 FG46>F J<G; G;8<E FGE4A:?<A:, 6;B><A: F@B>8.
96
3Table of Contents
A SPIRITUAL RENASCENCE
U...! B9G8A E847 <A -A6?8 ,B@XF C45<A G;8F8 74LF.S,;8E8 <F FB @H6; F?4I8EL <A G;8 JBE?7, 4A7 <A G;<F E8@4E>45?L JBA78E9H? 5BB> G;4G <@CBEG4AG DH8FG<BA <F GE84G87 J<G; FB @H6; J<F7B@, FB @H6; ?BI8, 4A7 FH6; M84? 4A7 <AG8E8FG <A G;8 GEH8 J8?94E8 B9 G;8 CBBE BCCE8FF87 G;4G BA8 6B@8F 546> GB <G 4:4<A 4A7 4:4<A, 4?J4LF 9<A7<A: FB@8G;<A: A8J...! FG<?? 64A 9<A7 AB 58GG8E 789<A<G<BA B9 G;8 JBE7 4EG G;4A G;<F, U$X4EG 6X8FG ?X;B@@8 4=BHG8 4 ?4 A4GHE8V 24EG <F @4A 47787 GB A4GHE83TA4GHE8, E84?<GL, GEHG;, 5HG J<G; 4 F<:A<9<64A68, 4 6BA68CG<BA, 4 6;4E46G8E, J;<6; G;8 4EG<FG 5E<A:F BHG <A <G, 4A7 J;<6; ;8 :<I8F 8KCE8FF<BA, UDHX<? 78:4:8,V J;<6; ;8 7<F8AG4A:?8F, F8GF 9E88 4A7 <AG8ECE8GF...<A -A6?8 ,B@XF C45<A 8FC86<4??L, G;8 4EG<FG ;4F CHG G;<A:F <A 4 A8J ?<:;G; <A G;<F 5BB>, G;BH:; <G <F 586B@<A: 4A B?7 5BB> 4?E847LTG;4G <F, JE<GG8A L84EF 4:BT4?? G;<A:F ;4I8 586B@8 A8J...V T.<A68AG I4A GB:;
The abject misery of the time he spent in the Borinage had a profound impact on Vincents approach to his life and art. He underwent a spiritual renascence. He had been so sure of his purpose when he first had arrived in the Borinage. But reality had not lived up to his expectations which were largely constructed from the moral underpinnings of his family and their religious premises. Vincents state of mind at that moment in his life was described in his own words:
U&BG ?BA: 4:B ! @478 4 I8EL <AG8E8FG<A: 8KC87<G<BA, FC8A7<A: F<K ;BHEF <A 4 @<A8.S!G J4F %4E64FF8, BA8 B9 G;8 B?78FG 4A7 @BFG 74A:8EBHF @<A8F <A G;8 A8<:;5BE;BB7.S!G ;4F 4 547 E8CHG4G<BA 5864HF8 @4AL C8E<F; <A <G, 8<G;8E :B<A: 7BJA BE 6B@<A: HC, BE G;EBH:; CB<FBA87 4<E, 9<E874@C 8KC?BF<BA, J4G8E F88C4:8, 64I8-<AF, 8G6. !G <F 4 :?BB@L FCBG, 4A7 4G 9<EFG 8I8ELG;<A: 4EBHA7 ?BB>F 7E84EL 4A7 78FB?4G8.S%BFG B9 G;8 @<A8EF 4E8 G;<A 4A7 C4?8 9EB@ 98I8E; G;8L ?BB> G<E87
'CCBF<G8: UB46>L4E7F B9 '?7 BHF8 <A AAGJ8EC <A G;8 +ABJV 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;. '<? BA C4AI4F, AAGJ8EC, B8?:<H@. D868@58E, 1885. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 .4A GB:; %HF8H@, A@FG8E74@
3Table of Contents
99
4A7 8@46<4G87, J84G;8E-584G8A 4A7 4:87 589BE8 G;8<E G<@8.S'A G;8 J;B?8 G;8 JB@8A 4E8 94787 4A7 JBEA.SAEBHA7 G;8 @<A8 4E8 CBBE @<A8EFX ;HGF, 4 98J 7847 GE88F 5?46> 9EB@ F@B>8, G;BEA ;87:8F, 7HA:;<??F, 4F; 7H@CF, ;84CF B9 HF8?8FF 6B4?, 8G6.... ...,;8 @<A8 ;4F 9<I8 ?8I8?F, 5HG G;8 G;E88 HCC8E BA8F ;4I8 588A 8K;4HFG87 4A7 454A7BA87; G;8L 4E8 AB ?BA:8E JBE>87 5864HF8 G;8E8 <F AB @BE8 6B4?. A C<6GHE8 B9 G;8 @4<AG8A4:8F JBH?7 58 FB@8G;<A: A8J 4A7 HA;84E7 B9TBE E4G;8E, A8I8E 589BE8 F88A.S!@4:<A8 4 EBJ B9 68??F <A 4 E4G;8E A4EEBJ, ?BJ C4FF4:8, F;BE87 HC J<G; EBH:; G<@58E.S!A 846; B9 G;BF8 68??F 4 @<A8E <A 4 6B4EF8 ?<A8A FH<G, 9<?G;L 4A7 5?46> 4F 4 6;<@A8L FJ88C, <F 5HFL ;8J<A: 6B4? 5L G;8 C4?8 ?<:;G B9 4 F@4?? ?4@C.S,;8 @<A8E 64A FG4A7 8E86G <A FB@8 68??F; <A BG;8EF, ;8 ?<8F BA G;8 :EBHA7 ...,;8 4EE4A:8@8AG <F @BE8 BE ?8FF ?<>8 G;8 68??F <A 4 588;<I8, BE ?<>8 4 74E>, :?BB@L C4FF4:8 <A 4A HA78E:EBHA7 CE<FBA, BE ?<>8 4 EBJ B9 F@4?? J84I<A: ?BB@F, BE E4G;8E @BE8 ?<>8 4 EBJ B9 54><A: BI8AF FH6; 4F G;8 C84F4AGF ;4I8, BE ?<>8 G;8 C4EG<G<BAF <A 4 6ELCG.S,;8 GHAA8?F G;8@F8?I8F 4E8 ?<>8 G;8 5<: 6;<@A8LF B9 G;8 BE454AG 94E@F. ,;8 J4G8E ?84>F G;EBH:; <A FB@8, 4A7 G;8 ?<:;G B9 G;8 @<A8EXF ?4@C @4>8F 4 6HE<BHF 89986G, E89?86G87 4F <A 4 FG4?46G<G8 64I8.S+B@8 B9 G;8 @<A8EF JBE> <A G;8 @4<AG8A4:8F, BG;8EF ?B47 G;8 6HG 6B4? <AGB F@4?? 64EGF G;4G EHA BA E4<?F, ?<>8 4 FGE88G64E.S,;<F <F @BFG?L 7BA8 5L 6;<?7E8A, 5BLF 4F J8?? 4F :<E?F.S,;8E8 <F 4?FB 4 FG45?8 L4E7 7BJA G;8E8, 700 @8G8EF HA78E:EBHA7, J<G; 45BHG F8I8A B?7 ;BEF8F J;<6; CH?? 4 :E84G @4AL B9 G;BF8 64EGF GB G;8 FB-64??87 466EB6;4:8, G;8 C?468 9EB@ J;<6; G;8L 4E8 CH??87 HC GB G;8 FHE9468...,;8 I<??4:8F ;8E8 ?BB> 78FB?4G8 4A7 7847 4A7 9BEF4>8A; ?<98 :B8F BA HA78E:EBHA7 <AFG847 B9 45BI8.S'A8 @<:;G ?<I8 ;8E8 9BE L84EF 4A7 A8I8E >ABJ G;8 E84? FG4G8 B9 G;<A:F HA?8FF BA8 J8AG 7BJA <A G;8 @<A8F. (8BC?8 ;8E8 4E8 I8EL <:ABE4AG 4A7 HAG4H:;GT@BFG B9 G;8@ 64AABG E847T5HG 4G G;8 F4@8 G<@8 G;8L 4E8 <AG8??<:8AG 4A7 DH<6> 4G G;8<E 7<99<6H?G JBE>; 5E4I8 4A7 9E4A>, G;8L 4E8 F;BEG 5HG FDH4E8 F;BH?78E87, J<G; @8?4A6;B?L 788CF8G 8L8F.S,;8L 4E8 F><??9H? 4G @4AL G;<A:F, 4A7 JBE> G8EE<5?L ;4E7.S,;8L ;4I8 4 A8EIBHF G8@C8E4@8AGT! 7B ABG @84A J84>, 5HG I8EL F8AF<G<I8.S,;8L ;4I8 4A <AA4G8, 788C-EBBG87 ;4GE87 4A7 4 FGEBA: @<FGEHFG B9 4ALBA8 J;B <F 7B@<A88E<A:. /<G; @<A8EF BA8 @HFG ;4I8 4 @<A8EXF 6;4E46G8E 4A7 G8@C8E4@8AG, 4A7 AB
100
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,JB: A +C<E<GH4? *8A4F68A68
CE8G8AG<BHF CE<78 BE @4FG8EL, BE BA8 J<?? A8I8E :8G 4?BA: J<G; G;8@ BE :4<A G;8<E 6BA9<78A68. D<7 ! G8?? LBH 4G G;8 G<@8 45BHG G;8 @<A8E J;B J4F FB 547?L ;HEG 5L 4 9<E874@C 8KC?BF<BA? ,;4A> GB7, ;8 ;4F E86BI8E87 4A7 <F :B<A: BHG 4:4<A, 4A7 <F 58:<AA<A: GB J4?> FB@8 7<FG4A68 =HFG 9BE 8K8E6<F8; ;<F ;4A7F 4E8 FG<?? J84> 4A7 <G J<?? 58 FB@8 G<@8 589BE8 ;8 64A HF8 G;8@ 9BE ;<F JBE>, 5HG ;8 <F BHG B9 74A:8E.S+<A68 G;4G G<@8 G;8E8 ;4I8 588A @4AL 64F8F B9 GLC;B<7 4A7 @4?<:A4AG 98I8E, B9 J;4G G;8L 64?? ?4 FBGG8 9<8IE8, J;<6; :<I8F G;8@ 547 7E84@F ?<>8 A<:;G@4E8F 4A7 @4>8F G;8@ 78?<E<BHF.S+B 4:4<A G;8E8 4E8 @4AL F<6>?L 4A7 587E<778A C8BC?8T8@46<4G87, J84>, 4A7 @<F8E45?8. !A BA8 ;BHF8 G;8L 4E8 4?? <?? J<G; 98I8E 4A7 ?<GG?8 BE AB ;8?C, FB G;4G G;8 C4G<8AGF ;4I8 GB AHEF8 G;8 C4G<8AGF. U!6< 6X8FG ?8F @4?47<8F DH< FB<:A8AG ?8F @4?47<8FV 2;8E8 G;8 F<6> G8A7 G;8 F<6>3, F4<7 4 JB@4A, ?<>8, U$8 C4HIE8 8FG ?X4@< 7H C4HIE8V 2G;8 CBBE @4A <F G;8 CBBE @4AXF 9E<8A73... ...GB<A: 7BJA <AGB 4 @<A8 <F 4 I8EL HAC?84F4AG F8AF4G<BA.S'A8 :B8F <A 4 ><A7 B9 54F>8G BE 64:8 ?<>8 4 5H6>8G <A 4 J8??, 5HG <A 4 J8?? 9EB@ 500-700 @8G8EF 788C, FB G;4G J;8A ?BB><A: HCJ4E7 9EB@ G;8 5BGGB@, G;8 74L?<:;G <F 45BHG G;8 F<M8 B9 4 FG4E <A G;8 F>L. !G 988?F ?<>8 58<A: BA 4 F;<C 4G F84 9BE G;8 9<EFG G<@8, 5HG <G <F JBEF8; 9BEGHA4G8?L <G 7B8F ABG ?4FG ?BA:. ,;8 @<A8EF :8G HF87 GB <G, L8G G;8L >88C 4A HA6BADH8E45?8 988?<A: B9 ;BEEBE 4A7 984E J;<6; E84FBA45?L 4A7 =HFG<9<45?L FG4LF J<G; G;8@. BHG BA68 7BJA, G;8 JBEFG <F BI8E, 4A7 BA8 <F E<6;?L E8J4E787 9BE G;8 GEBH5?8 5L J;4G BA8 F88F.V
Vincent noted that the miners were prematurely aged, tired and ill, and he was horrified by the plight of the children, both boys and girls, many of whom were abused in the unsupervised isolation of their dismal underground world. He experienced firsthand the very settings depicted by Dickens. The miners, child-like themselves, were victims of greed and indifference, ignored and unprotected like Little Nell in The
Old Curiosity Shop.

Vincents moral emergencehis spiritual revivalfused lessons learned from literature with those gleaned from his experiences in the Borinage. He came to integrate the inspiring messages of Dickenss writing
3Table of Contents
101
into his thought process. And he was to draw similar meaning from the writings of many other poets and essayists. This state of suffocating darkness and despair so prevalent in those times was captured perfectly by Dickens in the following passage from The Old Curiosity Shop:
U,;8E8XF 4A B?7 J8?? G;8E8,V F4<7 G;8 F8KGBA, 2GB $<GG?8 &8??3 UE<:;G HA78EA84G; G;8 58?9EL; 4 788C, 74E>, 86;B<A: J8??...<9 LBH ?BJ8E G;8 5H6>8G G<?? LBHE 4E@F 4E8 G<E87 4A7 ?8G BHG A84E?L 4?? G;8 6BE7, LBHX?? ;84E <G B9 4 FH778A 6?4A><A: 4A7 E4GG?<A: BA G;8 :EBHA7 58?BJ, J<G; 4 FBHA7 B9 58<A: FB 788C 4A7 FB 94E 7BJA, G;4G LBHE ;84EG ?84CF <AGB LBHE @BHG;, 4A7 LBH FG4EG 4J4L 4F <9 LBH J8E8 94??<A: <A.VS UA 7E8479H? C?468 GB 6B@8 BA <A G;8 74E>!V 8K6?4<@87 G;8 6;<?7, J;B ;47 9B??BJ87 G;8 B?7 @4AXF ?BB>F 4A7 JBE7F HAG<? F;8 F88@87 GB FG4A7 HCBA <GF 5E<A>. V/;4G <F <G 5HG 4 :E4I8!V F4<7 G;8 F8KGBA. U/;4G 8?F8! AA7 J;<6; B9 BHE B?7 9B?>F, >ABJ<A: 4?? G;<F, G;BH:;G, 4F G;8 FCE<A: FH5F<787, B9 G;8<E BJA 94<?<A: FGE8A:G;, 4A7 ?8FF8A<A: B9 ?<98?S&BG BA8!V
The dry well the sexton showed Little Nell was like the mine shaft Vincent described so powerfully. Wells, graves, or mines were used by Dickens to symbolize death.Little Nell, in the above passage, and later Stephen Blackpool in Hard Times, were both innocent victims whose fate was death. Little Nell was forewarned of her imminent and untimely death by looking into a well, while Blackpool died after falling into an abandoned mine shaft. The miners with whom Vincent identified were, in his estimation, doomed in just the same way as were Nell and Blackpool. The workers in the Borinage were constantly reassured by their overseers that the mines were safe. But this was far from the truth. Vincent told of an explosion underground where a man was badly injured, suffering terrible burns, and Vincent was compelled to nurse him back to life. The mines were in fact a living nightmare for the workers, where life was regularly snuffed out like a candle by explosions, or by the collapse of tunnels and shafts.
102
3Table of Contents
The image of the shining starhope eternalwas to appear often in Vincents letters and art: ...when looking upward from the bottom, the daylight is about the size of a star in the sky. His early letters described stars shimmering in black skies, eternity embodied in glowing points. This glimmering vision and its heavenly message was to reappear at the end of his life in one of his best-loved paintings The Starry Night of
1889. A star, too, transfigured the tragic Stephen Blackpool who, crushed
and broken at the bottom of a mine shaft, was consoled by its glowing light above.Dickens likened it to the star of Bethlehem announcing the birth of Christ, the Light of the World. Vincents image of the cage was to become a symbol of impotence and rage in his later letters: And circumstances often prevent men from doing things, prisoners in I do not know what horrible, horrible, most horrible cage. Canaries were kept in small cages throughout the mines. They were highly susceptible to the toxic and volatile fumes that were the harbinger of regular explosions and the resultant human carnage. The tiny yellow birds quivering in the gloomy underworld were a surreal comfort to the tottering ghosts who toiled within the dripping caverns. Wraith-like horses, crumpled, dejected miners in damp, sackcloth jackets, thorns, the frozen earth, snow, ashes, black dust, and everominous shadows, were the potent images Vincent assimilated into the core of his being. Shared vicariously with Dickens, Vincent would, in some ways unwittingly, merge these somber yet powerful impressions into a personal epic that, through art, would rival the words of Charles Dickens who wrote:
UEI8ELG;<A: <A BHE ?<I8F, J;8G;8E B9 :BB7 BE 8I<?, 49986GF HF @BFG 5L 6BAGE4FG. !9 G;8 C8468 B9 4 F<@C?8 I<??4:8 ;47 @BI87 G;8 6;<?7 2$<GG?8 &8??3 @BE8 FGEBA:?L, 5864HF8 B9 G;8 74E> 4A7 GEBH5?87 J4LF G;4G ?4L 58LBA7 4A7 G;EBH:; J;<6; F;8 ;47 =BHEA8L87 J<G; FH6; 94<?<A: 988G, J;4G J4F G;8 788C <@CE8FF<BA B9 9<A7<A: ;8EF8?9 4?BA8 <A G;4G FB?8@A 5H<?7<A:; J;8E8 G;8 I8EL ?<:;G, 6B@<A: G;EBH:; FHA>8A J<A7BJF, F88@87 B?7 4A7 :E8L; 4A7 G;8 4<E, E87B?8AG B9 84EG; 4A7 @BH?7, F88@87 ?478A J<G; 7864L CHE<9<87 5L G<@8 B9 4?? <GF :EBFF8E C4EG<6?8F, 4A7 F<:;87
3Table of Contents
103
G;EBH:; 4E6; 4A7 4<F?8 4A7 6?HFG8E87 C<??4EF, ?<>8 G;8 5E84G; B9 4:8F :BA8! 8E8 J4F G;8 5EB>8A C4I8@8AG, JBEA FB ?BA: 4:B 5L C<BHF 988G, G;4G ,<@8, FG84?<A: BA G;8 C<?:E<@FX FG8CF, ;47 GEB778A BHG G;8<E GE46>, 4A7 ?89G 5HG 6EH@5<A: FGBA8F.VTC;4E?8F D<6>8AF
Of this mysterious play of shadows and human destiny Dickens described, David Levin (1999) offers these reflections:
U,;8E8 <F 4 68EG4<A 499<A<GL 58GJ88A F;47BJF 4A7 4F;8F.S$<>8 4F;8F, F;47BJF 4E8 GE468F G;4G 64A FC84> B9 8I<?T5HG 4?FB B9 G;8 CE864E<BHFA8FF, G;8 6BAG<A:8A6L, G;8 94G4? ;<778A 7BH5G, B9 4?? BHE ;BC8F. (;<?BFBC;8EF J<G; GBG4? I<F<BAF B9 ;BC8 @HFG 58 64E89H?: G;BF8 J;B 4IB<7 BE 78AL G;8 GE468JBE> CE8F8A68 GE468EL B9 F;47BJF 4E8 ?<>8?L GB 8A7 HC <A B8A=4@<AXF JBE7F, 4F UF88EF J;BF8 I<F<BAF 4CC84E BI8E 7847 5B7<8F,V 9BE8I8E ;4HAG87 5L F;47BJF G;4G J<?? E8?8AG?8FF?L CHEFH8 G;8@TF;47BJF 64FG <A :;BFG?L 9BE@F 9EB@ G;8 E84?@ B9 784G;.S'A 9E<8A7?L G8E@F J<G; 784G;, <A7887 <GF @8FF8A:8EF, F;47BJF F<?8AG?L @BI8 G;EBH:; G;8 JBE?7, GBH6;<A: G;<A:F ?<:;G?L 4A7 J<G;BHG I<B?8A68T4F <9 GB E8@<A7 HF G;4G 466BHAGF 4E8 7H8 <A G;8 G<@8 B9 =HFG<68.V
In describing the miners, Vincent described himself and his sympathy for their suffering:
U,;8L 4E8 F><??9H? 4G @4AL G;<A:F, 4A7 JBE> G8EE<5?L ;4E7. ,;8L ;4I8 4 A8EIBHF G8@C8E4@8AGT! 7B ABG @84A J84>, 5HG I8EL F8AF<G<I8.S,;8L ;4I8 4A <AA4G8, 788C-EBBG87 ;4GE87 4A7 4 FGEBA: @<FGEHFG B9 4ALBA8 J;B <F 7B@<A88E<A:.V
The passionate way that Vincent applied the ideology of Uncle
Toms Cabin to his own experience proved his link to the wisdom, faithfulness, love, humility, and simplicity he found in Harriet Beecher Stowes book. It was words like these that helped Vincent to symbolically resurrect his missionary zeal through his art.
UA 98J 74LF 4:B J8 ;47 4 I8EL ;84IL G;HA78EFGBE@ 4G 45BHG 8?8I8A BX6?B6> <A G;8 8I8A<A:.S)H<G8 A84E BHE ;BHF8 G;8E8 <F 4 FCBG 9EB@ J;<6; BA8 64A F88, 94E 58?BJ, 4 ?4E:8 C4EG B9 G;8 BBE<A4:8, J<G; G;8 6;<@A8LF, G;8 @BHA7F B9
104
3Table of Contents
6B4?, G;8 ?<GG?8 @<A8EFX 6BGG4:8F, G;8 F6HEEL<A: ?<GG?8 5?46> 9<:HE8F 5L 74L, ?<>8 4AGF <A 4 A8FG; 4A7 94EG;8E BA, 74E> C<A8 JBB7F J<G; ?<GG?8 J;<G8 6BGG4:8F F<?;BH8GG87 4:4<AFG G;8@, 4 98J 6;HE6; FC<E8F 4 J4L B99, 4A B?7 @<??, 8G6. G8A8E4??L G;8E8 <F 4 ><A7 B9 ;4M8 ;4A:<A: BI8E <G 4??, BE 4 94AG4FG<6 6;<4EBF6HEB 89986G 9BE@87 5L G;8 F;47BJF B9 G;8 6?BH7F, E8@<A7<A: BA8 B9 C<6GHE8F 5L *8@5E4A7G BE %<6;8? BE *HLF748?...! B9G8A E847 <A -A6?8 ,B@XF C45<A G;8F8 74LF.S,;8E8 <F FB @H6; F?4I8EL <A G;8 JBE?7, 4A7 <A G;<F E8@4E>45?L JBA78E9H? 5BB> G;4G <@CBEG4AG DH8FG<BA <F GE84G87 J<G; FB @H6; J<F7B@, FB @H6; ?BI8, 4A7 FH6; M84? 4A7 <AG8E8FG <A G;8 GEH8 J8?94E8 B9 G;8 CBBE BCCE8FF87 G;4G BA8 6B@8F 546> GB <G 4:4<A 4A7 4:4<A, 4?J4LF 9<A7<A: FB@8G;<A: A8J. ! FG<?? 64A 9<A7 AB 58GG8E 789<A<G<BA B9 G;8 JBE7 4EG G;4A G;<F, U$X4EG 6X8FG ?X;B@@8 4=BHG8 4 ?4 A4GHE8V 24EG <F @4A 47787 GB A4GHE83TA4GHE8, E84?<GL, GEHG;, 5HG J<G; 4 F<:A<9<64A68, 4 6BA68CG<BA, 4 6;4E46G8E, J;<6; G;8 4EG<FG 5E<A:F BHG <A <G, 4A7 J;<6; ;8 :<I8F 8KCE8FF<BA, UDHX<? 78:4:8,V J;<6; ;8 7<F8AG4A:?8F, F8GF 9E88 4A7 <AG8ECE8GF...<A -A6?8 ,B@XF C45<A 8FC86<4??L, G;8 4EG<FG ;4F CHG G;<A:F <A 4 A8J ?<:;G; <A G;<F 5BB>, G;BH:; <G <F 586B@<A: 4A B?7 5BB> 4?E847LT G;4G <F, JE<GG8A L84EF 4:BT4?? G;<A:F ;4I8 586B@8 A8J.V T.<A68AG I4A GB:;
Uncle Toms Cabin was, as Vincent said, an explanation of slavery, exploitation and death through the voice of a woman whose writing depicted the sordid practice in all of its vicious extremes. Harriet Beecher Stowe examined the ceaseless brutality of slavery with heart-rending compassion, trying to humanize what to many was perfectly acceptable. In telling the story of Uncle Toms Cabin through the eyes of a slave rather than a slave owner, Stowes message played a significant part in stemming the growth of slavery in America and positioned her among the greatest writers of all time, proving that artin its many forms could accomplish extraordinary things. She had with her pen achieved far more than did legions of politicians and pundits. Stowe was not alone. The slavery issue was to a very large degree fought through literature. Charles Dickens was universally read. His books sold extremely well in America, although much to his dismay they were often sold without his royalties being paid. Nevertheless, Dickens made several trips to the United States, and was met by surging crowds in Boston and New York. The messages in his novels were clear:
3Table of Contents
105
it was time for more humane treatment of ones fellow man. While Dickenss writing predated the Civil War in America, Harriet Stowe effectively emulated and amplified the same message which embraced so much of what civilized society needed to reform: pollution of the environment, political corruption, greed, the abuse of animals, and above all inhumanity and moral blindness, especially with regard to children. Dickens and Hugo had both been eminently vociferous as champions of the destitute and the disavowed. So many had become mere phantoms, lost forever in the cultural quagmire left by the Industrial Revolution. Harriet Beecher Stowe, using the impetus of Dickens and Hugo, would propagate the same powerful message. Perhaps this emergencethis connection between spiritual revival, religion, and artprompted Vincent when he wrote:
U!A BHE BE454AG J8 ;4I8 G;8 HA78E5EHF; B9 B4> 4A7 <A B??4A7, G;8 CB??4E7 J<??BJF; ;8E8 2<A G;8 BBE<A4:83 G;8 5?46>G;BEA ;87:8F FHEEBHA7 G;8 :4E78AF, 9<8?7F 4A7 @847BJF. &BJ, J<G; G;8 FABJ, G;8 89986G <F ?<>8 5?46> 6;4E46G8EF BA J;<G8 C4C8ET?<>8 C4:8F B9 G;8 GBFC8?.V
Vincent wrote of his favorite author, There is no writer, in my opinion, who is so much a painter and a black-and-white artist as Dickens. His figures are resurrections. Greatly influenced by Dickens, Vincent's notebooks and letters overflow with Gospel words, many of which will be transformed into paintings. Some images were taken directly out of the pages of the Gospel, as in The Good Samaritan, but in the early stages, his ideals were rooted in local hovels, fields, and hedgerows. We read of his early efforts:
U,;BH:; 8I8EL 74L 7<99<6H?G<8F 6EBC HC 4A7 A8J BA8F J<?? CE8F8AG G;8@F8?I8F, ! 64AABG G8?? LBH ;BJ ;4CCL ! 4@ GB ;4I8 G4>8A HC 7E4J<A: 4:4<A.S ! ;47 588A G;<A><A: B9 <G 9BE 4 ?BA: G<@8, 5HG ! 4?J4LF 6BAF<78E87 G;8 G;<A: <@CBFF<5?8 4A7 58LBA7 @L E846;. BHG ABJ, G;BH:; ! 988? @L J84>A8FF 4A7 @L C4<A9H? 78C8A78A68 <A @4AL G;<A:F, ! ;4I8 E86BI8E87 @L @8AG4? 54?4A68, 4A7 74L 5L 74L @L 8A8E:L <A6E84F8F.V
106
3Table of Contents
He pictured lean miners and the forbidding mines they inhabited like so many ants in an anthill. In the early 1880s, the pages of his sketchbooks overflowed with passionate depictions of miners who were, as John K. Roth would say, concrete universals, real people who embody real messages. They would soon be joined by other workers: reapers, diggers, field-hands, peasants, and an army of impoverished beings all in need of Vincents graphic resurrection:
U! ;4I8 F>8G6;87 4 7E4J<A: E8CE8F8AG<A: @<A8EF, @8A 4A7 JB@8A, :B<A: GB G;8 F;49G <A G;8 @BEA<A: G;EBH:; G;8 FABJ, 5L 4 C4G; 4?BA: 4 G;BEA ;87:8: C4FF<A: F;47BJF, 7<@?L I<F<5?8 <A G;8 GJ<?<:;G. !A G;8 546>:EBHA7 G;8 ?4E:8 @<A8 5H<?7<A:F 4A7 ;84CF B9 6?<A>8EF FG4A7 BHG I4:H8?L 4:4<AFG G;8 F>L...V
And if the identification with the Gospel in snow and thorns was not complete enough, he now used the image of childbirth:
U +B LBH F88 ! 4@ <A 4 E4:8 B9 JBE>, G;BH:; 9BE G;8 @B@8AG <G 7B8F ABG CEB7H68 I8EL 5E<??<4AG E8FH?GF.SBHG ! ;BC8 G;8F8 G;BEAF J<?? 584E G;8<E J;<G8 5?BFFB@F <A 7H8 G<@8, 4A7 G;4G G;<F 4CC4E8AG?L FG8E<?8 FGEH::?8 <F AB BG;8E G;4A G;8 ?45BE B9 6;<?75<EG;.SF<EFG G;8 C4<A, G;8A G;8 =BL.V
Vincent knew that the novels of Dickens and Hugo helped to force reforms for the poor. But the fact that Van Gogh actually assisted suffering people was to make his art all the more potent. His depictions of laborers have often been called the most convincing in the history of art. It was not reproductive skill that made his figures resonate with life; it was his passionate identification as a fellow being that would animate the bent bodies of fragile humankind, drawn in charcoal. As previously noted, the psychological parallels of Van Gogh and Dickens during their childhoods are unmistakable. They deepen graphically when we read from Peter Ackroyds seminal biography of Charles Dickens:
U 8 ;47 4 FHEC?HF B9 8A8E:L, GB 58 FHE8, @BE8 8A8E:L G;4A @BFG ;H@4A 58<A:F CBFF8FF, 5HG ;8 J4F 8@C?BL<A: <G 4?? G;8 G<@8. 8 F88@87, G;EBH:; HA;4CC<A8FF BE HA68EG4<AGL (5BG; B9 J;<6; DH4?<G<8F, GB =H7:8 9EB@ ;<F ?8GG8EF, ;8 CBFF8FF87
3Table of Contents
107
8KG8AF<I8?L), GB J<F; GB G<E8 ;<@F8?9, GB B66HCL ;<@F8?9 FB @H6; G;4G ;8 7<7 ABG ;4I8 G<@8 GB G;<A> BE 6BAG8@C?4G8 G;8 6BHEF8 B9 ;<F ?<98; G;8E8 J4F 4?@BFG 4 A887 GB CHA<F; ;<@F8?9.SAF ;<F 9<6G<BA4? ;8EB, D4I<7 CBCC8E9<8?7, CHGF <G 4G 4 F<@<?4E CB<AG <A ;<F BJA ?<98: U! @478 <G 4 EH?8 GB G4>8 4F @H6; BHG B9 @LF8?9 4F ! CBFF<5?L 6BH?7, <A @L J4L B9 7B<A: 8I8ELG;<A: GB J;<6; ! 4CC?<87 @L 8A8E:<8F. ! @478 4 C8E986G I<6G<@ B9 @LF8?9.V And then again, in the same narrative, U! 94G<:H87 @LF8?9 4F @H6; 4F ! CBFF<5?L 6BH?7...V.
Dickens, too, could not bear to relax. All of this was true, too, of Vincent, as his own words would confirm time and again. This overwhelming urge to push beyond his physical limits occurred first in the mining camps. But therein lies a paradox: his passion to alleviate the fatigue of others did not extend to himself, exploiting his own health to an alarming degreethe very thing he tried to prevent in others.Van Gogh biographers A. M. Hammacher and Renilde Hammacher (1982) make the following observations about Vincent that are nearly identical to those made about Dickens:
U,;8 >ABJA 946GF 4E8 GBB AH@8EBHF 9BE BA8 ABG GB 4:E88 J<G; .<A68AG ;<@F8?9, J;B F4<7 G;4G G;8 BHGCHG J;<6;, 49G8E G8A L84EF B9 CE8C4E4G<BA, ;8 9<A4??L CEB7H687 4G FC887 <A G;8 FC468 B9 G8A L84EF @84AG 8K;4HFG<A: ;<F C;LF<64? 4A7 CFL6;<6 FGE8A:G; 4A7 78FGEBL<A: ;<F ;84?G;.S <F CFL6;B?B:<64? 7<FCBF<G<BAT<A6?H7<A: ;<F HA6BAF6<BHFTCBFF8FF87 4 E8F8EIB<E B9 8A8E:L 6B@C4E45?8 GB G;8 98EG<?8 9<8?7 J;<6; ;4F GB 58 C?BJ87, FBJA, @4AHE87, 4A7 E4<A87 BA, 589BE8 <GF ?4G8AG 9BE68F 64A 58 E84?<M87.S+H6; 9BE68F <A6?H787 G;8 F<6>A8FF J;<6; 6BH?7 ABG 94<? GB @4>8 <GF8?9 98?G 49G8E .<A68AG ;47 J;<CC87 HC 4?? ;<F A8EI8F <AGB 4 C4EBKLF@ <A BE78E GB CEB7H68 ;<F JBE>. ,8AF87 58LBA7 G;8 ?<@<GF, ;8 6BH?7 ABG 58 F4I87 5L 4AL E8?4K4G<BA B9 G8AF<BA. *8?4K4G<BA 5864@8 7<FBE<8AG4G<BA.V
The forsaken region of Belgium where Vincent ministered was analogous with Dickenss Coketown, his fictional city described in Hard
Times, wherein was the home of the laborer Stephen Blackpool. Vincent
saw clearly how this fictional character was the portrait of any of the thousands of real, nameless men, women and children he met in the Borinage.
108
3Table of Contents
U...4@BA: G;8 @H?G<GH78 B9 CB>8GBJA, :8A8E4??L 64??87 UG;8 4A7FVT 4 E468 J;B JBH?7 ;4I8 9BHA7 @BE8 94IBE J<G; FB@8 C8BC?8 <9 (EBI<78A68 ;47 F88A 9<G GB @4>8 G;8@ BA?L ;4A7F, BE, ?<>8 G;8 ?BJ8E 6E84GHE8F B9 G;8 F84F;BE8, BA?L ;4A7F 4A7 FGB@46;FT?<I87 4 68EG4<A +G8C;8A B?46>CBB?, 9BEGL L84EF B9 4:8. +G8C;8A ?BB>87 B?78E, 5HG ;8 ;47 ;47 4 ;4E7 ?<98.S!G <F F4<7 G;4G 8I8EL ?<98 ;4F <GF EBF8F 4A7 G;BEAF; G;8E8 F88@87 ;BJ8I8E, GB ;4I8 588A 4 @<F47I8AGHE8 BE @<FG4>8 <A +G8C;8AXF 64F8, J;8E85L FB@85B7L 8?F8 ;47 586B@8 CBFF8FF87 B9 ;<F EBF8F, 4A7 ;8 ;47 586B@8 CBFF8FF87 B9 G;8 F4@8 FB@85B7L 8?F8XF G;BEAF <A 477<G<BA GB ;<F BJA. 8 ;47 >ABJA, GB HF8 ;<F JBE7F, 4 C86> B9 GEBH5?8. 8 J4F HFH4??L 64??87 '?7 +G8C;8A, <A 4 ><A7 B9 EBH:; ;B@4:8 GB G;8 946G. A E4G;8E FGBBC<A: @4A, J<G; 4 >A<GG87 5EBJ, 4 CBA78E<A: 8KCE8FF<BA B9 9468, 4A7 4 ;4E7-?BB><A: ;847 FH99<6<8AG?L 64C46<BHF BA J;<6; ;<F <EBA-:E8L ;4<E ?4L ?BA: 4A7 G;<A, '?7 +G8C;8A @<:;G ;4I8 C4FF87 9BE 4 C4EG<6H?4E?L <AG8??<:8AG @4A <A ;<F 6BA7<G<BA. 08G ;8 J4F ABG. 8 GBB> AB C?468 4@BA: G;8 E8@4E>45?8 U 4A7F,V J;B, C<86<A: GB:8G;8E G;8<E 5EB>8A <AG8EI4?F B9 ?8<FHE8 G;EBH:; @4AL L84EF ;47 @4FG8E87 7<99<6H?G F6<8A68F 4A7 46DH<E87 4 >ABJ?87:8 B9 @BFG HA?<>8?L G;<A:F. 8 ;8?7 AB FG4G<BA 4@BA: G;8 4A7F J;B 6BH?7 @4>8 FC886;8F 4A7 64EEL BA 7854G8F. ,;BHF4A7F B9 ;<F 6B@C88EF 6BH?7 G4?> @H6; 58GG8E G;4A ;8, 4G 4AL G<@8. 8 J4F 4 :BB7 CBJ8E-?BB@ J84I8E, 4A7 4 @4A B9 C8E986G <AG8:E<GL. /;4G @BE8 ;8 J4F, BE J;4G 8?F8 ;8 ;47 <A ;<@, <9 4ALG;<A:, ?8G ;<@ F;BJ 9BE ;<@F8?9.VTC;4E?8F D<6>8AF, <A 4E7 ,<@8F
Note how easily one can transition from Stephen Blackpool to a description of Van Gogh at that time who found in Dickenss fiction a person who was so characteristic," so much like himself. Vincent was comforted to find so much of his own immediate reality in Dickens. In fact, Blackpool's physical description could have been of Vincent himself; Blackpool was forty, but looked much older, with stooping posture, knitted brow, and pensive expression, all very much like Vincents own traits. The name Blackpool may be synonymouswith someone lost in a dark pool of ignorance and indifference, leading perhaps to the darkness of death itself. Both men, in their fictional as well as their real personas, were dedicated to giving of themselves in order to improve the lives of the downtrodden.
3Table of Contents
109
Vincent did not seek reward for his actions; he aspired to illuminate needy people through his art. Like Dickens, he would bring their troubling reality before us, demanding our acknowledgment. As a missionary, Vincent quickly discovered that he could not save the many Blackpools of nameless origin who were victims of greed and indifference. As an artist with a mission, Vincent could only try to give graphic form to their silent struggle in an unseeing, uncaring world.
U,;8L J4?>87, 4A7 <A G;8<E G4?> B9 G;8 584HGL B9 G;8 84EG; 7B ABG ABG<68 G;8 9E4<? ?<GG?8 58::4E :<E? GE<CC<A: 49G8E G;8@V. (C;8>;BI 1947)
Dickenss character Stephen Blackpool would die as a result of his fall into an abandoned coal mine known as Old Hell Shaft. Vincent had also descended into the Marcasse mine, one of the most dangerous in Europe. The name is evocative since its French meaning suggests a wild boar (marcassin). Old Hell Shaft was perhaps like a wild boar who attacks and harms those who fall victim to its rage.Stephens final words, spoken in a humble dialect, expressed the cry for all who fell prey to the hideous place that was the Borinage.
U! ;4X 98?? <AGB G;X C<G, @L 784E, 4F ;4I8 6BFG, J<X<A G;8 >ABJ?87:8 BX B?7 9BX> ABJ ?<I<AX, ;HA7E87F 4A7 ;HA7E87F BX @8AXF ?<I8FT94G;8EF, FBAF, 5EBG;8EF, 784E GB G;BHF4A7F 4AX G;BHF4A7F, 4AX >88C<A: W8@ 9EBX J4AG 4A7 ;HA:8E. ! ;4X 98?? <AGB 4 C<G G;4G ;4X 588A J<X G;X 9<E8-74@C 6EH8?8E G;4A 54GG?8. ! ;4X E847 BA WG <A G;8 CH5?<6 C8G<G<BA, 4F BAALBA8 @4L E847, 9EBX G;8 @8A G;4G JBE>F <A C<GF, <A J;<6; G;8L ;4X CE4LXA 4A7 CE4LXA G;8 ?4J@4>8EF 9BE C;E<FGXF F4>8 ABG GB ?8G G;8<E JBE> 58 @HE78E GB W8@, 5HG GB FC4E8 W8@ 9BE G;X J<I8F 4A7 6;<?7E8A G;4G G;8L ?BI8F 4F J8?? 4F :8AG?89BX> ?BI8F G;8<EF.S/;8A <G J8E8 <A JBE>, <G ><??87 J<XBHG A887; J;8A WG<F ?8G 4?BA8, <G ><??F J<XBHG A887.S+88 ;BJ J8 7<8 4AX AB A887, BA8 J4L 4AX 4ABG;8ET<A 4 @H77?8T8I8EL 74L!V TC;4E?8F D<6>8AF.S
Dickenss Blackpool said everything essential about mines in both a metaphorical and actual sense. The lawmakers and unions were called upon to stop the needless death of innocent people, countless
110
3Table of Contents
thousands of whom had by then lost their lives. The general indifference to their fate was too much for Vincent, and in the end it crushed him emotionally. Dickens relates how as Blackpool lay dying outside Old Hell Shaft, he looked up and said:
UW!9 %E. BBHA78E5L ;47 8I8E >ABJX7 @8 E<:;GT<9 ;8X7 8I8E >ABJX7 @8 4G 4JT ;8 JBH?7XA ;4X GBB>XA B998A68 J<X@8. 8 JBH?7XA ;4X FHFC86GXA @8. BHG ?BB> HC LBA78E, *46;8? ! $BB> 45BI8! FB??BJ<A: ;<F 8L8F, F;8 F4J G;4G ;8 J4F :4M<A: 4G 4 FG4E. W!G ;4X F;<A87 HCBA @8,X ;8 F4<7 E8I8E8AG?L, W<A @L C4<A 4A7 GEBH5?8 7BJA 58?BJ. !G ;4X F;<A87 <AGB @L @<A7...J<X <G F;<A<AX BA @8T! ;4 F88A @BE8 6?84E, 4A7 ;4X @478 <G @L 7L<AX CE4L8E G;4G 4J G;X JBE?7 @4L BAXL 6BB@ GBB:8G;8E @BE8, 4AX :8G 4 58GG8E HAA8EFG4AX<AX BX BA8 4ABG;8E, G;4A J;8A ! J8E8 <A WG @L BJA J84> F8?A.X ,;8 584E8EF 58<A: ABJ E847L GB 64EEL ;<@ 4J4L, 4A7 G;8 FHE:8BA 58<A: 4AK<BHF 9BE ;<F E8@BI4?, G;BF8 J;B ;47 GBE6;8F BE ?4AG8EAF CE8C4E87 GB :B <A 9EBAG B9 G;8 ?<GG8E. B89BE8 <G J4F E4<F87, 4A7 J;<?8 G;8L J8E8 4EE4A:<A: ;BJ GB :B, ;8 F4<7 GB *46;8?, ?BB><A: HCJ4E7 4G G;8 FG4E: W'9G8A 4F ! 6BB@ GB @LF8?A, 4A7 9BHA7 <G F;<A<AX BA @8 7BJA G;8E8 <A @L GEBH5?8, ! G;BJG <G J8E8 G;8 FG4E 4 :H<787 GB 'HE +4I<BEXF ;B@8. ! 4J@HFG G;<A> <G 58 G;8 I8EL FG4E!X ,;8L ?<9G87 ;<@ HC, 4A7 ;8 J4F BI8E=BL87 GB 9<A7 G;4G G;8L J8E8 45BHG GB G4>8 ;<@ <A G;8 7<E86G<BA J;<G;8E G;8 FG4E F88@87 GB ;<@ GB ?847. W*46;8?, 58?BI87 ?4FF! DBAXG ?8G :B @L ;4A7. /8 @4L J4?> GBB:8G;8E GXA<:;G, @L 784E!X W! J<?? ;B?7 G;L ;4A7, 4A7 >88C 58F<78 G;88, +G8C;8A, 4?? G;8 J4L.X WB?8FF G;88! /<?? FB@85B7L 58 C?84F87 GB 6BBI8E @L 9468! ,;8L 64EE<87 ;<@ I8EL :8AG?L 4?BA: G;8 9<8?7F, 4A7 7BJA G;8 ?4A8F, 4A7 BI8E G;8 J<78 ?4A7F64C8; *46;8? 4?J4LF ;B?7<A: G;8 ;4A7 <A ;8EF. .8EL 98J J;<FC8EF 5EB>8 G;8 @BHEA9H? F<?8A68. !G J4F FBBA 4 9HA8E4? CEB68FF<BA.S,;8 FG4E ;47 F;BJA
3Table of Contents
111
;<@ J;8E8 GB 9<A7 G;8 GB7 B9 G;8 CBBE; 4A7 G;EBH:; ;H@<?<GL 4A7 FBEEBJ, 4A7 9BE:<I8A8FF, ;8 ;47 :BA8 GB ;<F *8788@8EXF E8FG.V TC;4E?8F D<6>8AF
Mines appear as a central motif in the Dickens novel working as powerful symbols of stifling social conventionpits from which painters, among others, try to ascend and escape. For Vincent, the mining experience not only symbolized broader public themes; it also allowed him to personally understand how humanizing moral beliefs could be expressed through an artistic and religious vocation. There could, in his view, no longer be a separation. Consoling words and comforting deeds would now become embodied in transforming images. This is so evident that when a passage is read, such as the effect is like black characters on white paperlike pages of the Gospel one realizes how thorns, snow, landscape, and desolate mines can be given visibility, all taking part in a sacred whole that is redeemed and resurrected within the Gospel. This can also be graphically evident in redemptive stage plays, like Victor Hugos Les Miserables: ...passing shadows, dimly visible in the twilight". As the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty put it in discussing words and meaning in The Visible and the Invisible, the whole landscape is overrun with words (using nearly the same words as Vincents). Here there is no ambiguity between language, art and image; signified and signifierthey are both an expression of experience by experience:
UAA7, <A 4 F8AF8, GB HA78EFG4A7 4 C;E4F8 <F ABG;<A: 8?F8 G;4A GB 9H??L J8?6B@8 <G <A <GF FBABEBHF 58<A:, BE, 4F J8 CHG <G FB J8??, GB ;84E J;4G <G F4LF (?X8AG8A7E8). ,;8 @84A<A: <F ABG BA G;8 C;E4F8 ?<>8 G;8 5HGG8E BA G;8 5E847, ?<>8 4 F86BA7 ?4L8E B9 UCFL6;<6 E84?<GLV FCE847 BI8E G;8 FBHA7; <G <F G;8 GBG4?<GL B9 J;4G <F F4<7, G;8
'CCBF<G8: U+ABJL $4A7F64C8 J<G; AE?8F <A G;8 B46>:EBHA7V, F85EH4EL 1888. '<? BA 64AI4F. (E<I4G8 CB??86G<BA.
3Table of Contents
113
<AG8:E4? B9 4?? G;8 7<998E8AG<4G<BAF B9 G;8 I8E54? 6;4<A; <G <F :<I8A J<G; G;8 JBE7F 9BE G;BF8 J;B ;4I8 84EF GB ;84E.S AA7 6BAI8EF8?L G;8 J;B?8 ?4A7F64C8 <F BI8EEHA J<G; JBE7F 4F J<G; 4A <AI4F<BA, <G <F ;8A689BEG; 5HG 4 I4E<4AG B9 FC886; 589BE8 BHE 8L8F, 4A7 GB FC84> B9 <GF UFGL?8V <F <A BHE I<8J GB 9BE@ 4 @8G4C;BE.S !A 4 F8AF8 G;8 J;B?8 B9 C;<?BFBC;L, 4F HFF8E? F4LF, 6BAF<FGF <A E8FGBE<A: 4 CBJ8E GB F<:A<9L, 4 5<EG; B9 @84A<A:, BE 4 J<?7 @84A<A:, 4A 8KCE8FF<BA B9 8KC8E<8A68 5L 8KC8E<8A68, J;<6; <A C4EG<6H?4E 6?4E<9<8F G;8 FC86<4? 7B@4<A B9 ?4A:H4:8.V T%8E?84H-(BAGL
We are reminded here again of what Mark Roskill (1991) said about Vincents thought:
U,;8 6B4?8F68A68 G;4G ;8 @478 58GJ88A G;8 I<F<5?8 4FC86GF B9 8KC8E<8A68 4A7 G;8<E <AG8EA4? BE C;<?BFBC;<6 @84A<A: J4F FHCE8@8?L <AG8AF8.V.
Kathleen Powers Erickson (1998) has carefully reported these connections and their impact on Vincents artistic visions:
U.<A68AGXF :8A<HF ?<8F ABG FB @H6; <A G;8 BE<:<A4?<GL B9 ;<F I<F<BA, 5HG <A ;<F HA<DH8 FLAG;8F<F B9 G;8 GE47<G<BA4? 4A7 G;8 @B78EA, 5BG; <A 4EG 4A7 E8?<:<BA. EFF8AG<4? GB G;8 A<A8G88AG;-68AGHEL *B@4AG<6 48FG;8G<6 J4F G;8 58?<89 G;4G 4EG 4A7 E8?<:<BA 4E8 <A8KGE<645?L ?<A>87.V
During his time in the Borinage, Vincent had nursed many men back to life, specifically those suffering from third-degree burns. Covered with perspiration, these men were caked with fine, black coal dust which, when ignited, turned them into terrifying human torches, their coal-soaked bodies aflame like candles in the dark. Vincent discovered that the charred limbs of those who survived needed to be softened and oiled in order to regain suppleness. He would administer cloth compresses soaked in olive oil to their blackened skin, a restorative balm that also helped stave off disease. Years later in his studio, he would soak chunks of charcoal in oil to make powerful composite drawings of anonymous laborers, finding his own graphic balm to wage war on the
114
3Table of Contents
.<6GBE H:B 9EB@ 4 C;BGB:E4IHE8 5L CB@G8 +G4A<FY4J "H?<4A 'FGEBEP: 7<G /4?8EL, 1875
disease of human indifference, and to assuage his own anger at the things he had seen. This concept of beauty falls far outside our traditional understanding of the word. But for Vincent, beauty was truth-telling first and foremost. Like a wound slowly healing, beauty was the outward proof of inner regeneration. Vincent could no longer view the miners as different than himself, nor could he think of their experience in any manner other than with compassionate solidarity. Having experienced public rejection as a missionary, he was now able to commiserate with them, and become one of them himself.
3Table of Contents
115
U,;8 @<A8EF 4A7 G;8 J84I8EF FG<?? 6BAFG<GHG8 4 E468 4C4EG 9EB@ BG;8E ?45BE8EF 4A7 4EG<F4AF, 4A7 ! 988? 4 :E84G FL@C4G;L 9BE G;8@.S ! F;BH?7 58 I8EL ;4CCL <9 FB@874L ! 6BH?7 7E4J G;8@, FB G;4G G;BF8 HA>ABJA BE ?<GG?8->ABJA GLC8F JBH?7 58 5EBH:;G 589BE8 G;8 8L8F B9 G;8 C8BC?8.S ,;8 @4A 9EB@ G;8 78CG; B9 G;8 45LFF, 78SCEB9BHA7<FTG;4G <F G;8 @<A8E; G;8 BG;8E J<G; ;<F 7E84@L 4<E, FB@8J;4G 45F8AG-@<A787, 4?@BFG 4 FB@A4@5H?<FGTG;4G <F G;8 J84I8E.S ! ;4I8 588A ?<I<A: 4@BA: G;8@ 9BE GJB L84EF, 4A7 ;4I8 ?84EA87 4 ?<GG?8 B9 G;8<E HA<DH8 6;4E46G8E, 4G ?84FG G;4G B9 G;8 @<A8EF 8FC86<4??L.S AA7 <A6E84F<A:?L ! 9<A7 FB@8G;<A: GBH6;<A: 4A7 4?@BFG F47 <A G;8F8 CBBE, B5F6HE8 ?45BE8EFTB9 G;8 ?BJ8FG BE78E, FB GB FC84>, 4A7 G;8 @BFG 78FC<F87TJ;B 4E8 :8A8E4??L E8CE8F8AG87 4F 4 E468 B9 6E<@<A4?F 4A7 G;<8I8F 5L C8E;4CF I<I<7 5HG I8EL 94?F8 4A7 HA=HFG <@4:<A4G<BA.V T.<A68AG I4A GB:;
And then there was Gauguin. Paul Gauguin, the great Post Impressionist painter, recognized the symbolic power of Vincent's experiences in the mines, and the role it took in shaping his life and opinions. Gauguin was somewhat of a cynical extremistself-promoting, egotistical and preoccupied with himself to an inordinate degree. We find in Gauguins letters, and those of his wife, a real perspective of how he contrasted with Vincent. While there is still controversy over the reasons behind Gauguins Essais dArt Libre, (Still Life) was written in 1894, four years after Vincents death. Nonetheless it reveals far more than it conceals:
U!A @L L8??BJ EBB@ G;8E8 J4F 4 F@4?? FG<?? ?<98: G;<F BA8 <A I<B?8G.S,JB 8ABE@BHF F;B8F, JBEA, @<FF;4C8A.S,;8 F;B8F B9 .<A68AG.S,;BF8 G;4G, J;8A A8J, ;8 CHG BA BA8 A<68 @BEA<A: GB 8@54E> BA 4 =BHEA8L 5L 9BBG 9EB@ B??4A7 GB B8?:<H@.S,;8 LBHA: CE846;8E (;8 ;47 =HFG 9<A<F;87 ;<F G;8B?B:<64? FGH7<8F GB 586B@8, ?<>8 ;<F 94G;8E, 4 C4FGBE) J4F BA ;<F J4L GB F88 G;BF8 <A G;8 @<A8F J;B@ ;8 64??87 ;<F 5EBG;8EF, ?<>8 G;8 F<@C?8 JBE>8EF, FH6; 4F ;8 ;47 E847 B9 <A G;8 B<5?8, BCCE8FF87 9BE G;8 ?HKHEL B9 G;8 :E84G. CBAGE4EL GB G;8 G846;<A:F B9 ;<F <AFGEH6GBEF, G;8 J<F8 DHG6;@8A, .<A68AG
116
3Table of Contents
58?<8I87 <A "8FHF J;B ?BI87 G;8 CBBE; ;<F FBH?, 8AG<E8?L FH99HF87 J<G; 6;4E<GL, 78F<E87 5L @84AF B9 6BAFB?<A: JBE7F 4A7 F8?9-F46E<9<68 GB ;8?C G;8 J84>, GB 6B@54G G;8 :E84G. D86<787?L, 786<787?L, .<A68AG J4F 4?E847L @47. <F G846;<A: B9 G;8 B<5?8 <A G;8 @<A8F J4F, ! 58?<8I8, CEB9<G45?8 GB G;8 @<A8EF 58?BJ, 5HG 7<F4:E8845?8 GB G;8 4HG;BE<G<8F BA ;<:;, 45BI8 :EBHA7. 8 J4F DH<6>?L E864??87, 7<F@<FF87, 4A7 4 94@<?L 6BHA6<? 6BAI8A87 G;4G =H7:87 ;<@ @47, 4A7 47I<F87 E8FG 4G 4 F4A4GBE<H@. 5EBG;8E ,;8B. 'A8 74L G;8 FB@58E 5?46> @<A8 J4F 9?BB787 5L 6;EB@8 L8??BJ, G;8 9<8E68 9?4F; B9 9<E874@C 9<E8, 4 @<:;GL 7LA4@<G8 G;4G A8I8E @<F9<E8F.S,;8 58<A:F J;B J8E8 6E4J?<A: 4A7 G88@<A: 45BHG <A 9<?G;L 64E5BA J;8A G;<F B66HEE87 5<7, BA G;4G 74L, 94E8J8?? GB ?<98, 94E8J8?? GB @8A, J<G;BHG 5?4FC;8@L. 'A8 B9 G;8@, G8EE<5?L @HG<?4G87, ;<F 9468 5HEAG, J4F G4>8A <A 5L .<A68AG. UAA7 L8G,V G;8 6B@C4AL 7B6GBE ;47 F4<7, U;8 <F 4 9<A<F;87 @4A, 54EE<A: 4 @<E46?8 B9 I8EL 6BFG?L AHEF<A:. &B, <G JBH?7 58 9B??L GB 4GG8A7 GB ;<@.V .<A68AG 58?<8I87 <A @<E46?8F, <A @4G8EA<GL. ,;8 @47 @4A (786<787?L ;8 J4F @47) >8CG J4G6; 9BE 9BEGL 74LF 4G G;8 587F<78 B9 G;8 7L<A: @4A; ;8 CE8I8AG87 G;8 4<E 9EB@ EHG;?8FF?L C8A8GE4G<A: <AGB ;<F JBHA7F 4A7 C4<7 9BE G;8 @87<64G<BAF.S 8 FCB>8 4F 4 6BAFB?<A: CE<8FG (786<787?L ;8 J4F @47). ,;8 JBE> B9 G;<F @47@4A ;47 E8I<I87 4 C;E<FG<4A 9EB@ G;8 7847. /;8A G;8 JBHA787 @4A, 9<A4??L F4I87, 78F68A787 <AGB G;8 @<A8 4:4<A GB E8FH@8 ;<F JBE>, LBH 6BH?7 ;4I8 F88A, F4<7 .<A68AG, G;8 ;847 B9 "8FHF G;8 @4EGLE, 64EEL<A: BA ;<F 9BE8;847 G;8 ;4?B 4A7 G;8 =4::87 6EBJA B9 G;BEAF, E87 F645F BA G;8 7<EGL L8??BJ 9BE8;847 B9 4 @<A8E. AA7 @8...! C4<AG87 ;<@T.<A68AGTJ;B GE4687 J<G; ;<F L8??BJ 5EHF; BA G;8 FH778A?L I<B?8G J4??:S! 4@ G;8 B?L +C<E<G. .S . FBHA7 B9 +C<E<G.SS S D86<787?L, G;<F @4A J4F @47.VT(4H? G4H:H<A
Having shared the famous Yellow House in Arles, France, with Vincent in 1889, Gauguin had many opportunities to discuss Vincents early life with him. He noted in his essay the humble subject of discarded shoes, ripped, and as unappealing as blackthorn and sackcloth, the
8 J4F ABG, ;BJ8I8E, 6BA9<A87, G;4A>F GB ;<F
3Table of Contents
117
castoffs in an age of recycled things. In art history, these subjects are lower than the most humble still life of the French 18th century painter Chardin, for instance, with his focus on pots, pans, and kitchen items dented and stained with age. Gauguin was drawn to the shoes and their link with the mines as a place of devastation. The shoes were ruined by misuse like the miners themselves. Gauguin used the shoes as a metaphor for the mines as a place of destruction. He symbolized the danger of explosion as fire emitting a chrome yellow flame, which can be interpretedas redemption. Gauguin suggested that Vincents life and work were important for the redemption of art itself, moving away from mere entertainment and back to real life-enhancing content, all in a way that Gauguin often did not emulate himself. But in tribute to Vincent, Gauguins admiration of his compassionate nature is more than evident. The overall thrust of Gauguins essay carried many important
(BEGE4<G 78 ?'4EG<FG8 (+8?9-CBEGE4<G) 5L (4H? G4H:H<A, 6. 1893-94. '<? BA 64AI4F
118
3Table of Contents
references to those experiences as part of Vincents development. At the same time, Gauguin purposely began to contribute to the myth of Vincent as a mad and accursed artist. Gauguin came across in his essay as a somewhat self-serving and duplicitous friend who, while claiming to applaud Vincents work in the mines, and the art that resulted, also did not want to be sullied by his friendship with the Van Gogh brothers, especially after Vincents suicide and Theos descent into mental turmoil and subsequent death some months later. In the essay, he appeared to be distancing himself from them in claiming that all artists have a madness, in a general sense rather than a clinical one. He used Vincents insanity metaphorically to elicit compassion for artists like himself. Vincent was quite aware of Gauguins back-stabbing. Victor Hugo also used the mine as a metaphor for layers of social stratification, as in a social ladder, a phrase which Vincent used to describe the motives of Gauguin, the schemer, the upward climbing man who was more than willing to use the Van Gogh brothers as long as they were advantageous to him:
U! 988? <AFG<A6G<I8?L G;4G G4H:H<A <F 4 F6;8@8E J;B, F88<A: ;<@F8?9 4G G;8 5BGGB@ B9 G;8 FB6<4? ?4778E, J4AGF GB E8:4<A 4 CBF<G<BA...4G G;8 F4@8 G<@8 I8EL CB?<G<6.V
Gauguin was well-read, knowing that the theme of the mine was often used by the authors of the time, as an image of human degradation. Victor Hugos novel Les Miserables was widely read, and Vincent, Gauguin, Bernard and others in their group used it almost as a muse. Gauguin gave Vincent a self-portrait, referring to himself as the main character in the novel, Jean Valjean. Gauguin, like Hugo, understood the layers of society signified by the cave and the mine, and ones acceptance or rejection within these complex and shadowy zones. Gauguin, in the third section of his essay, compared the social disconnection and scorn of those authorities on high, with the isolation and neglect of the miners deep in the caves of the earth.
3Table of Contents
119
It was clear from Gauguins essay that Vincent was not mad in a conventional sense but rather the reverse. The way Gauguin used madness is similar to the way in which Jesus speaks of blindness and sight: If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, We see, your sin remains (John 9:41 NASB). To better understand the madness to which Gauguin alludes, one finds an answer in LesMisrables where Hugo considers the plight of the downtrodden, lost in the caves of society:
U,;<F 64I8 <F 58A84G; 4??, 4A7 <F G;8 8A8@L B9 4??. !G <F ;4G8 HA<I8EF4?. ,;<F 64I8 >ABJF AB C;<?BFBC;8EF; <GF CBA<4E7 ;4F A8I8E @478 4 C8A. !GF 5?46>A8FF ;4F AB E8?4G<BA GB G;8 FH5?<@8 5?46>A8FF B9 F6E<CG. &8I8E ;4I8 G;8 9<A:8EF B9 A<:;G, J;<6; 4E8 6?HG6;<A: 58A84G; G;<F 4FC;LK<4G<A: I4H?G, GHEA87 G;8 ?84I8F B9 4 5BB>, BE HA9B?787 4 =BHEA4?.... '9 4?? G;<A:F, <A6?H7<A: G;8E8<A G;8 HCC8E F4CF, J;<6; <G 8K86E4G8F. !G 7B8F ABG HA78E@<A8, <A <GF ;<78BHF 6E4J?, @8E8?L G;8 FB6<4? BE78E B9 G;8 G<@8; <G HA78E@<A8F C;<?BFBC;L, <G HA78E@<A8F F6<8A68, <G HA78E@<A8F ?4J, <G HA78E@<A8F ;H@4A G;BH:;G, <G HA78E@<A8F 6<I<?<M4G<BA, <G HA78E@<A8F E8IB?HG<BA, <G HA78E@<A8F CEB:E8FF.S!G :B8F 5L G;8 A4>87 A4@8F B9 G;89G, CEBFG<GHG<BA, @HE78E, 4A7 4FF4FF<A4G<BA. !G <F 74E>A8FF, 4A7 <G 78F<E8F 6;4BF. !G <F I4H?G87 <A J<G; <:ABE4A68. A?? G;8 BG;8EF, G;BF8 45BI8 <G, ;4I8 5HG BA8 B5=86GTGB FHCCE8FF <G.S,B G;4G 8A7 C;<?BFBC;L 4A7 CEB:E8FF JBE> G;EBH:; 4?? G;8<E BE:4AF 4G G;8 F4@8 G<@8, G;EBH:; 4@8?<BE4G<BA B9 G;8 E84? 4F J8?? 4F G;EBH:; 6BAG8@C?4G<BA B9 G;8 45FB?HG8.SD8FGEBL G;8 64I8 !:ABE4A68, 4A7 LBH 78FGEBL G;8 @B?8 CE<@8... ... H@4A<GL <F <78AG<GL. A?? @8A 4E8 G;8 F4@8 6?4L. &B 7<998E8A68, ;8E8 58?BJ 4G ?84FG, <A CE878FG<A4G<BA. ,;8 F4@8 74E>A8FF 589BE8, G;8 F4@8 9?8F; 7HE<A:, G;8 F4@8 4F;8F 49G8E ?<98. BHG <:ABE4A68, @<K87 J<G; G;8 ;H@4A 6B@CBF<G<BA, 5?46>8AF <G. ,;<F <A6HE45?8 <:ABE4A68 CBFF8FF8F G;8 ;84EG B9 @4A, 4A7 G;8E8 586B@8F EI<?.V T.<6GBE H:B
120
3Table of Contents
One immediately sees the connection between Van Gogh, Hugo, Dickens, and even to some extent Gauguin. The literal and metaphorical aspect of the mines pertains not only to death but also to ignorance, hate, and neglect for all misunderstood and abandoned madmenespecially artists. Line by line, the Gauguin account resonated with irony, anger and incomprehension at the 19th century upper classes living thoughtlessly above the wasted souls beneath the earth. As Victor Hugo described it in Les Misrables, class can equally become caste. These themes were often the concern of Realist or Naturalist writers such as Hugo and Dickens. More than mere concerns expressed in words, they were bolstered by the actual experiences of these writers. Dickens, Hugo, and Stowe with Uncle Toms Cabin, had achieved what Vincent believed great art could also accomplish. He had studied, too, some of the best illustrators of the time including Samuel Luke Fildes, who had made Dickenss characters come so alive. Art could, in Vincents view, disentangle the web of expediency that was so prevalent in those dark times, and to which he had been an eyewitness in the mining camps of the Borinage. He believed he could send the same message by appealing to the deepest sympathy of humankind through his art. And he clearly saw that his zeal and true interest in the welfare of others was the literal fulfillment of the Gospels most demanding request that one love another as if that person were oneself. All lava begins at midnight, said Victor Hugo.Desolation leads to redemption, as Dickens, Hugo, and Van Gogh insisted.A star appeared in the night to lead the way for Vincent in his darkest hours. And later in life, his horrible mental suffering and confinement in the Hospital of San Remy would give way to the elegiac Starry Night. The fragile, sackclothed land of suffering would overflow with words and whiteblossomed drawings, spread over blackthorn hedges that twisted and entwined human existence. His art would blanket the landscape like a
3Table of Contents
121
snow-stormed invasion of healing Gospel pages, flowing like lava at midnight.
Vincents moral actions in the mining camps were to provide sustenance for his spiritual renascence. And the lessons of the Borinage, and the wisdom learned from kindred spirits in the literary realm, would forge Vincents transformation into an artist with an intensity of compassion and purpose seldom seen in the history of mankind.
S
'CCBF<G8: U+G<?? $<98 J<G; B<5?8V, .<A68AG I4A GB:;, 1885. '<? BA C4AI4F. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 .4A GB:; %HF8H@, A@FG8E74@. (4<AG87 BA?L 4 98J J88>F 49G8E G;8 784G; B9 ;<F 94G;8E, .<A68AG CBEGE4LF G;8 94@<?L B<5?8, 54G;87 <A ?<:;G E8@<A<F68AG B9 4 *8@5E4A7G. ,;<F J4F .<A68AGXF J4L B9 ;BABE<A: ;<F 94G;8EXF FC<E<GH4? ?8:46L.
122
3Table of Contents
3Table of Contents
EPISODE THREE
A CALM ARDOR FOR WORK

HEALING THEMES DOMESTIC DREAMS
HEALING THEMES
",;BH:; 8I8EL 74L 7<99<6H?G<8F 6EBC HC 4A7 A8J BA8F J<?? CE8F8AG G;8@F8?I8F, ! 64AABG G8?? LBH ;BJ ;4CCL ! 4@ GB ;4I8 G4>8A HC 7E4J<A: 4:4<A...!9 ! FG4L <A :BB7 ;84?G;, J8??, G;8A ! F;4?? 9<:;G @L 54GG?8 DH<8G?L <A G;<F J4L 4A7 AB BG;8ET5L 64?@?L ?BB><A: G;EBH:; @L J<A7BJ 4G G;8 G;<A:F B9 A4GHE8 4A7 7E4J<A: G;8@ 94<G;9H??L 4A7 ?BI<A:?L...AA7 G;8 B?7 DHG6; C<6GHE8F 4A7 7E4J<A:F CEBI8 6?84E?L 8ABH:; G;4G G;BF8 G;<A:F 7B ABG FG4A7 <A G;8 J4L B9 C4<AG<A: 4A7 7E4J<A:. ,;8 @<KGHE8 B9 FGH7, 8FC86<4??L 9BE 4 C4<AG8E B9 G;8 9<:HE8. ! E8@8@58E C8E986G?L <AG8E<BEF B9 FGH7<BF 5L 'FG478TF@4?? C8A 7E4J<A:F, CEB545?L B9 6BEA8EF B9 ;<F BJA ;BHF8TJ;<6; F;BJ 6?84E?L 8ABH:;, G;8 'FG478XF FGH787 I8EL ?<GG?8 ?<>8 G;BF8 FGH7<BF J;8E8 BA8 9<A7F 'E<8AG4? J84CBAF 4A7 I4F8F 4A7 (8EF<4A EH:F, 8G6.V T.<A68AG I4A GB:;
Following his dire but formative time spent in the Borinage and his subsequent emotional collapse, the twenty-eight year old Vincent slowly recovered his equilibrium. His relentless energy began to flow in the direction of his art. He started to draw daily, calmly, and with patient deliberation. He needed healing and said:
U!G @4L 58 98I8E<F;A8FF, BE A8EI8F, BE FB@8G;<A: 8?F8, ! 7BAXG >ABJ, 5HG ! 7BAXG 988? J8??....BA8 988?F BA8XF E8F<FG4A68 855<A:, 4A7 <F BI8E6B@8 5L 4 C8EI47<A: 988?<A: B9 J84E<A8FF....<G FH778A?L F88@87 4F <9 4?? @L GEBH5?8F 6EBJ787 GB:8G;8E GB BI8EJ;8?@ @8 4A7 <G 5864@8 GBB @H6; 9BE @8 5864HF8 ! 6BH?7 AB ?BA:8E ?BB> 6?84E?L <AGB G;8 9HGHE8V.
Perhaps for the first time, the nurturing that he had given to others he applied to himself. He had a good deal of healing to do in mind and body. But a very important insight into Vincent needs to be drawn from this outlook which offers a rare view into his artistic mindset. In counter-balance to the hard-driven aspect of his personality, there was
'CCBF<G8: UBBJ? /<G; (8BA<8F AA7 *BF8FV 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;. 1886 - '<? BA C4AI4F. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 #EQ??8E-%R??8E %HF8H@, 'GG8E?B, ,;8 &8G;8E?4A7F.
3Table of Contents
129
a tender, gentle side. Johanna spoke of this with a sense of awe, reiterating how Vincent patiently and tenderly nursed his mother for weeks on end following a serious injury. What she noted above all was his sensitivity to the healing process. Vincent had become an accomplished nurse in the Borinage caring for burn victims. Vincent continually mentioned in his letters the consoling influences of the landscape and the healthful effects of working outdoors. He was convinced that the making of art was in itself a restorative. The therapeutic qualities of painting and drawing combined with a robust home life induced an entirely different Vincent. The Potato Eaters of 1885, for instance, depicted a family of peasants huddled around a table eating a frugal meal. Family, nature and nurture were all given graphic expression in every aspect of this work. It deliberately depicted the rustic crudeness of the peasants dwellings. Vincent said his intention was to evoke the smell of coffee, boiled potatoes, bacon grease, and dung in this portrayal of simple reward for a hard days work: a meal, and quiet rest at the end of an exhausting day. The heavily-piled paint, the somber earthen pallette, and above all the spareness of the peasants themselves succeeded saying in paint what only a Dickens could achieve in words. Visually evoking smell was typical of Vincent; he always saw things from a unique perspective. Van Gogh was extremely systematic in everything he did, and was a careful planner throughout his short life. Notwithstanding the (often spurious) aura that has come to surround him, he was in fact as inventive in technical matters as he was in visual imagination. He was not at all impulsive. He was by nature pragmatic and resolute. He brought all these traits to bear when he set up his efficient studio-apartment in The Hague. Serenity, art and healing convened in the cozy home he now furnished with a most improbable family.
U$4FG J<AG8E ! @8G 4 CE8:A4AG JB@4A, 78F8EG87 5L G;8 @4A J;BF8 6;<?7 F;8 64EE<87. A CE8:A4AG JB@4A J;B ;47 GB J4?> G;8 FGE88GF <A J<AG8E, ;47 GB 84EA ;8E 5E847, LBH HA78EFG4A7 ;BJ.S! GBB> G;<F JB@4A 9BE 4 @B78?, 4A7 ;4I8 JBE>87
130
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,;E88:
84?<A: ,;8@8F
J<G; ;8E 4?? J<AG8E.S! 6BH?7 ABG C4L ;8E G;8 9H?? J4:8F B9 4 @B78?, 5HG G;4G 7<7 ABG CE8I8AG @L C4L<A: ;8E E8AG, 4A7, G;4A> GB7, FB 94E ! ;4I8 588A 45?8 GB CEBG86G ;8E 4A7 ;8E 6;<?7 9EB@ ;HA:8E 4A7 6B?7 5L F;4E<A: @L BJA 5E847 J<G; ;8E. /;8A ! @8G G;<F JB@4A, F;8 4GGE46G87 @L 4GG8AG<BA 5864HF8 F;8 ?BB>87 <??.S! @478 ;8E G4>8 54G;F 4A7 4F @H6; ABHE<F;<A: 9BB7 4F ! 6BH?7 499BE7, 4A7 F;8 ;4F 586B@8 @H6; FGEBA:8E.S! J8AG J<G; ;8E GB $8L78A, GB G;8 @4G8EA<GL ;BFC<G4? J;8E8 F;8 J<?? 58 6BA9<A87. (&B JBA78E F;8 J4F <??, G;8 6;<?7 J4F ABG <A G;8 E<:;G CBF<G<BA, 4A7 F;8 ;47 GB ;4I8 4A BC8E4G<BATG;8 6;<?7 ;47 GB 58 GHEA87 J<G; 9BE68CF. BJ8I8E, G;8E8 <F 4 :BB7 6;4A68 B9 ;8E CH??<A: G;EBH:;. +;8 J<?? 58 6BA9<A87 <A "HA8.)S!G F88@F GB @8 G;4G 8I8EL @4A JBEG; 4 FGE4J JBH?7 ;4I8 7BA8 G;8 F4@8 <A FH6; 4 64F8.V
He then shared his feelings about women and children:
UAF 9BE @8, ! 7B ABG 988? FGE4A:8 <A G;8 6B@C4AL B9 G;8 JB@4A 4A7 G;8 6;<?7E8A, 5HG @BE8 <A @L 8?8@8AG, 4A7 4F <9 J8 ;47 588A GB:8G;8E 4 ?BA: G<@8. -F<A: @L ;4A7F GB 7B G;<A:F J;<6; +<8A <F GBB J84> GB 7B, 9BE <AFG4A68 @4><A: G;8 587F BE 4 G;BHF4A7 BG;8E G;<A:F, <F ABG HAHFH4? 9BE @8. ! ;4I8 B9G8A 7BA8 G;<A:F ?<>8 G;4G, 8<G;8E 9BE @LF8?9 BE 9BE F<6> C8BC?8, 8G6. 'A68 ! AHEF87 9BE F<K J88>F BE GJB @BAG;F 4 CBBE @<F8E45?8 @<A8E J;B ;47 588A 5HEA87. ! F;4E87 @L 9BB7 9BE 4 J;B?8 J<AG8E J<G; 4 CBBE B?7 @4A, 4A7 ;84I8A >ABJF J;4G 8?F8, 4A7 ABJ G;8E8 <F +<8A. BHG FB 94E ! ;4I8 A8I8E G;BH:;G 4?? G;<F 9BB?<F; BE JEBA:.S! G;<A> <G FB A4GHE4? 4A7 E<:;G G;4G ! 64AABG HA78EFG4A7 C8BC?8 58<A: FB <A7<998E8AG GB 846; BG;8E <A :8A8E4?. ! @HFG 477 G;4G <9 ! J8E8 JEBA: <A 7B<A: G;<F, LBH J8E8 4?FB JEBA: <A ;8?C<A: @8 FB 94<G;9H??LT<G JBH?7 58 GBB 45FHE7 <9 G;<F J8E8 JEBA:. ! ;4I8 4?J4LF 58?<8I87 G;4G W?BI8 G;L A8<:;5BE 4F G;LF8?9X <F AB 8K4::8E4G<BA, 5HG 4 ABE@4? 6BA7<G<BA. +B 58 <G...V.
Vincent's letter became a literary tour. The brothers had been perfecting their writing skills since childhood, trying to outdo one another with word pictures. In this, Vincent was perhaps more successful than Theo, though there are letters written by Theo that have great expressive
3Table of Contents
131
force. But there is little doubt that Theo must have been moved by Vincent's words for they were as poignant as they were confident...just as well, for Theo needed reassurance that his financial support for Vincent was not being frittered away. Theo was also the only family member corresponding with Vincent at this time. The family was shocked and bewildered that Vincent was living with a prostitute and had for the time being given up on him. Theo consoled his father and mother. An expert negotiator, he eventually managed to get everyone speaking again. Soon little boxes began to arrive, tiny clothes for the infant, gloves, and one of Vincent's mothers expertly knitted scarves for the little girl. Then, dishes and silverware were lovingly sent by his parents. Vincent was greatly touched by the gesture, and wrote tenderly of it: No mystical or mysterious studio but one that is rooted in real lifea studio with a cradle, a babys crapperwhere there is no stagnation, but where everything pushes and urges and stirs to activity. In the end, Sien (whose name in English sounded like "sin") returned to her old lifestyle on the streets, abandoning Vincent. He was later to describe the heart-rending scene of their separation: Sien passed her two-year-old boy to Vincent already seated in a train car. The little boy played with the buttons of Vincent's corduroy coat. Suddenly a whistle blew and Vincent reluctantly passed the precious child back to Sien through the window. The train jerked forward, gradually pulling away as he leaned out of the window to wave until they were no longer visible. He never saw them again. He wept often, recalling tender moments with the toddler, and regularly mailed letters and money to Sien. But weeks later, the letters were returned unopened. Some years later, in all probability pregnant again, she leapt from a bridge into the dark water. Her seductive black dress pulled her under, and she was gone. Earlier Vincent had predicted it would one day happen. Severely ill himself, and prior to his hospitalization, he wrote:
132
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,;E88:
84?<A: ,;8@8F
UD84E ,;8B, !G <F 8I8A<A: 589BE8 ! :B 546> GB G;8 ;BFC<G4?, 4A7 ! 7B ABG >ABJ J;4G G;8L J<?? G8?? @8 G;8E8; C8E;4CF ! F;4?? BA?L 58 G;8E8 9BE 4 F;BEG G<@8, C8E;4CF ! F;4?? ;4I8 GB FG4L <A 587 9BE 74LF.S ,;8E89BE8, ! 4@ JE<G<A: LBH BA68 @BE8 9EB@ ;B@8.S !G <F 4?E847L ?4G8, 4A7 <G <F FB DH<8G 4A7 64?@ ;8E8 <A G;8 FGH7<B; 5HG BHGF<78 <G <F FGBE@<A: 4A7 E4<A<A:, J;<6; @4>8F G;8 64?@ <AF<78 8I8A :E84G8E. BJ ! J<F; LBH 6BH?7 58 J<G; @8, 5EBG;8E, G;<F DH<8G ;BHE, ;BJ @H6; ! F;BH?7 ;4I8 GB F;BJ LBH.S,;8 FGH7F FB E84?, ! G;<A>TC?4<A :E4L<F;5EBJA C4C8E, 4 F6EH5587 JBB78A 9?BBE, J;<G8 @HF?<A 6HEG4<AF 4G G;8 J<A7BJF, 8I8ELG;<A: 6?84A.SAA7 B9 6BHEF8, FGH7<8F BA G;8 J4??, 4A 84F8? BA 5BG; F<78F, 4A7 4 ?4E:8 J;<G8 JBE><A: G45?8.SA ><A7 B9 4?6BI8 47=B<AF G;8 FGH7<B, G;8E8 ! >88C 4?? G;8 7E4J<A: 5B4E7F, CBEG9B?<BF, 5BK8F, FG<6>F, 8G6., 4A7 4?FB G;8 JBB7 8A:E4I<A:F.SAA7 <A G;8 6BEA8E 4 6?BF8G J<G; 4?? G;8 5BGG?8F 4A7 CBGF, 4A7 G;8A 4?? @L 5BB>F. ,;8A G;8 ?<GG?8 ?<I<A: EBB@ J<G; 4 G45?8, 4 98J ><G6;8A 6;4<EF, 4A B<?FGBI8, 4 ?4E:8 J<6>8E 84FL 6;4<E 9BE G;8 JB@4A <A G;8 6BEA8E, A84E G;8 J<A7BJ G;4G BI8E?BB>F G;8 J;4E9 4A7 G;8 @847BJF, J;<6; LBH >ABJ 9EB@ G;8 7E4J<A:.S AA7 58F<78 <G 4 F@4?? <EBA 6E47?8 J<G; 4 :E88A 6BI8E. ! 64AABG ?BB> 4G G;<F ?4FG C<868 B9 9HEA<GHE8 J<G;BHG 8@BG<BA, 9BE <G <F 4 FGEBA: 4A7 CBJ8E9H? 8@BG<BA J;<6; :E<CF 4 @4A J;8A ;8 F<GF 58F<78 G;8 JB@4A ;8 ?BI8F J<G; 4 545L <A G;8 6E47?8 A84E G;8@. AA7 G;BH:; <G J4F BA?L 4 ;BFC<G4? J;8E8 F;8 J4F ?L<A: 4A7 J;8E8 ! F4G A84E ;8E, <G <F 4?J4LF G;8 8G8EA4? CB8GEL B9 G;8 C;E<FG@4F A<:;G J<G; G;8 545L <A G;8 FG45?8T4F G;8 B?7 DHG6; C4<AG8EF F4J <G, 4A7 %<??8G 4A7 BE8GBAT4 ?<:;G <A G;8 74E>A8FF, 4 FG4E <A G;8 74E> A<:;G.S +B ! ;HA: G;8 :E84G 8G6;<A: B9 *8@5E4A7G BI8E <G, G;8 GJB JB@8A 5L G;8 6E47?8, BA8 B9 J;B@ <F E847<A: 9EB@ G;8 B<5?8 5L G;8 ?<:;G B9 4 64A7?8, J;<?8 :E84G F;47BJF 64FG 4 788C 6;<4EBF6HEB 4?? BI8E G;8 EBB@.S ! ;4I8 ;HA: 4 98J BG;8E CE<AGF G;8E8, GBB, 4?? I8EL 584HG<9H? BA8FTXC;E<FGHF CBAFB?4GBEX 2C;E<FG BHE 6BAFB?4G<BA3 5L +6;8998E; 4 C;BGB:E4C; B9 4 C<6GHE8 B9 BBH:;GBA; W,;8 +BJ8EX 4A7 W,;8 D<::8EFX 5L %<??8G; W,;8 BHF;X 5L *H<F748?; 584HG<9H? ?4E:8 JBB7 8A:E4I<A:F 5L 8E>B@8E 4A7 FE4A> B??; 4A7 W$8 B4A6 78F (4HIE8FX 5L D8 GEBHK. /8??, 4A7 G;8A <A G;8 ><G6;8A G;8E8 <F G;8 FGE<6G?L A868FF4EL, FB G;4G <9 G;8 JB@4A 6B@8F 546> 589BE8 @8, F;8 J<?? 9<A7 8I8ELG;<A: F;8 A887F, 4A7 64A
3Table of Contents
133
CE8C4E8 FB@8 7<AA8E <A G8A @<AHG8F; FB G;4G F;8 64A 988? G;4G ! ;4I8 G;BH:;G B9 ;8E J;8A F;8 6B@8F <AGB 4 ;BHF8 J<G; 9?BJ8EF <A 9EBAG B9 G;8 J<A7BJ J;8E8 F;8 J<?? F<G.S AA7 HC <A G;8 ?4E:8 4GG<6, 4 ?4E:8 587 9BE HF; 4A7 @L B?7 BA8 9BE G;8 6;<?7, J<G; 4?? G;8 5877<A: A84G?L 4EE4A:87.S BHG LBH @HFG ABG G;<A> G;4G ! 5BH:;G 4?? G;<F 4G BA68; G;<F J<AG8E J8 4?E847L FG4EG87 5HL<A: G;<A:F 5<G 5L 5<G, G;BH:; ! 7<7 ABG >ABJ G;8A ;BJ G;<A:F JBH?7 :B 4A7 J;8E8 J8 F;BH?7 ;4I8 GB ?<I8.S AA7 ABJ, G;4A> GB7, G;8 E8FH?G <F G;4G G;<F ?<GG?8 A8FG <F E847L 9BE ;8E 4A7 49G8E 4?? ;8E C4<A.S BHG J8 ;4I8 588A 5HFL G;8F8 74LF, ;8E @BG;8E 4A7 !, 8FC86<4??L G;8 9BE@8E. ,;8 @BFG 7<99<6H?G G;<A: J4F G;8 5877<A:; J8 @478 4A7 4?G8E87 8I8ELG;<A: BHEF8?I8F, 5BH:;G FGE4J, F84J887, 587-G<6><A:, 4A7 9<??87 G;8 @4GGE8FF8F BHEF8?I8F <A G;8 4GG<6.S 'G;8EJ<F8 <G JBH?7 ;4I8 588A GBB 8KC8AF<I8. AA7 ABJ, ;4I<A: C4<7 @L B?7 ?4A7?BE7, ! F;4?? ;4I8 40 :H<?78EF ?89G BHG B9 J;4G LBH F8AG @8.S !G <F GEH8 G;4G GB@BEEBJ ! F;4?? ;4I8 GB C4L 10 :H<?78EF GB G;8 ;BFC<G4?, 5HG G;4G :<I8F @8 GJB J88>F B9 9BB7 4A7 @87<64? GE84G@8AG, FB G;4G ! F;4?? ;4I8 8ABH:; @BA8L J<G;BHG LBHE F8A7<A: @BE8 G;4A HFH4? G;<F @BAG;, G;BH:; 7HE<A: <G ! ;47 G;8 8KC8AF8 B9 @BI<A:, B9 :8GG<A: F8GG?87, 4A7 +<8AXF E8GHEA 49G8E ;8E 6BA9<A8@8AG, 4A7 5HL<A: G;8 6E47?8, 8G6. W'A 8FG FHE 78 C8E<E 4 C4EG, BA A8 F8 F4HI8 DHX 8AF8@5?8.X (W0BH 4E8 FHE8 GB C8E<F; 4?BA8, BA?L GB:8G;8E LBH 64A F4I8 LBHEF8?9). ! G;<A> G;<F F4L<A: <F GEH8, 4A7 ! 54F8 @L ?<98 HCBA <G; 6BH?7 G;<F 58 JEBA: BE 4 @<F64?6H?4G<BA? +88, 5EBG;8E, ! G;<A> B9 LBH FB B9G8A, FB I8EL, I8EL, B9G8A G;8F8 74LF; <A G;8 9<EFG C?468, 5864HF8 4?? ! CBFF8FF, 4?? G;4G ! E84??L ;4I8 58?BA:F GB LBHT8I8A @L BJA 8A8E:L 4A7 ?BI8 B9 ?<98, 9BE ABJ J<G; LBHE ;8?C ! 64A :B 9BEJ4E7, 4A7 ! 988? G;8 CBJ8E GB JBE> :EBJ<A: J<G;<A @8. BHG G;8E8 <F 4ABG;8E E84FBA J;L ! G;<A> B9 LBH FB B9G8A. ! >ABJ ;BJ BA?L 4 F;BEG G<@8 4:B ! 64@8 ;B@8 GB 4 ;BHF8 G;4G J4F ABG 4 E84? ;B@8 J<G; 4?? G;8 8@BG<BAF 6BAA86G87 J<G; <G ABJ, J;8E8 GJB :E84G IB<7F FG4E87 4G @8 A<:;G 4A7 74L. ,;8E8 J4F AB J<98, G;8E8 J4F AB 6;<?7. ! 7B ABG G;<A> G;8E8 J8E8 98J8E 64E8F 9BE 4?? G;4G, 5HG 68EG4<A?L G;8E8 J4F ?8FF ?BI8.SAA7 G;BF8 GJB IB<7F 466B@C4A<87 @8, BA8 BA 8<G;8E F<78, <A G;8 FGE88G 4A7 4G JBE>, 8I8ELJ;8E8 4A7 4?J4LF. ,;8E8 J4F AB J<98, G;8E8 J4F AB 6;<?7. +88, ! 7B ABG >ABJ J;8G;8E LBH ;47 G;4G 988?<A: J;<6; 9BE68F 4 :EB4A
134
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,;E88:
84?<A: ,;8@8F
BE 4 F<:; 9BE HF 4G @B@8AGF J;8A J8 4E8 4?BA8:S %L GB7, J;8E8 <F @L J<98: @L GB7, J;8E8 <F @L 6;<?7?S !F ?<I<A: JBEG; J;<?8? /;8A ! G;<A> B9 LBH, ! FHCCBF8, ! 4@ ABG @<FG4>8A <A 58?<8I<A: FB@8G;<A: B9 G;8 F4@8 @8?4A6;B?L <F <A LBH, G;BH:; ?8FF C4FF<BA4G8?L 4A7 A8EIBHF?L G;4A <A @8, 5HG 4G ?84FG GB FB@8 8KG8AG 4A7 4G FB@8 @B@8AGF. AA7 ! 7B ABG >ABJ J;8G;8E LBH 4CCEBI8 B9 <G BE ABG, J;8G;8E LBH G;<A> <G E<:;G BE JEBA:, J;8A ! G8?? LBH G;4G ! FB@8G<@8F G;<A> B9 LBH G;<F J4L. BHG G;<F @H6;, ! 58?<8I8 45BHG LBH, 4A7 G;<F @H6; ! >ABJ B9 @LF8?9, ABGJ<G;FG4A7<A: @L A8EIBHFA8FF, G;4G G;8E8 68EG4<A?L <F 4 9BHA74G<BA B9 F8E8A<GL <A 5BG; BHE 6;4E46G8EFTF8E8A<GL DH4A7 5<8A @8@8TFB G;4G A8<G;8E B9 HF <F HA;4CCL, 5864HF8 G;8 F8E8A<GL <F 54F87 BA BHE BJA GEH8 4A7 F<A68E8 ?BI8 9BE BHE CEB98FF<BA 4A7 JBE>, 4EG G4>8F 4 :E84G C?468 <A BHE @<A7F 4A7 @4>8F ?<98 <AG8E8FG<A:.S+B ! 68EG4<A?L 7B ABG J4AG GB @4>8 LBH @8?4A6;B?L, 5HG BA?L GB GEL GB 8KC?4<A @L 7887F 4A7 G;BH:;GF 5L @84AF B9 FB@8G;<A: <A LBHE BJA G8@C8E4@8AG. &BJ FC84><A: B9 F4G;8ET7B LBH G;<A> F4G;8E JBH?7 E8@4<A <A7<998E8AG 4A7 @4>8 B5=86G<BAFTA84E 4 6E47?8? 0BH F88, 4 6E47?8 <F ABG ?<>8 4ALG;<A: 8?F8TG;8E8 <F AB 9BB?<A: J<G; <GT4A7 J;4G8I8E G;8E8 @4L 58 <A +<8AXF C4FGT! >ABJ AB BG;8E +<8A G;4A G;8 BA8 B9 G;<F J<AG8ETG;4A G;4G @BG;8E <A G;8 ;BFC<G4? J;BF8 ;4A7 CE8FF87 @<A8 J;8A J8 5BG; 98?G G84EF <A BHE 8L8F 4F J8 ?BB>87 4G G;8 ?<GG?8 545L 9BE J;B@ J8 ;47 588A JBE><A: 4?? J<AG8E.SAA7 =HFG ?<FG8A, 8AGE8 ABHF FB<G 7<GTJ<G;BHG CE846;<A: 4 F8E@BA, <G @4L 58 GEH8 G;4G G;8E8 <F AB GB7 ;8E8, 5HG G;8E8 @HFG 58 BA8 ABG 94E B99, 4A7 4G FH6; 4 @B@8AG BA8 988?F <F CE8F8A68.S/;<6; <F G;8 F4@8 4F F4L<A:, 4A7 ! E847<?L :<I8 G;<F F<A68E8 CEB98FF<BA B9 94<G;:S! 58?<8I8 <A GB7, 4A7 G;4G <G <F <F J<?? G;4G @4A 7B8F ABG ?<I8 4?BA8, 5HG J<G; 4 J<98 4A7 4 6;<?7, J;8A 8I8ELG;<A: <F ABE@4?. AA7 ! ;BC8 G;4G LBH J<?? HA78EFG4A7 J;4G ! ;4I8 7BA8, 4A7 G4>8 <G 4F FH6;, A4@8?L 4F 4 A4GHE4? G;<A:, 4A7 G;4G LBH J<?? ABG G;<A> B9 @8 4F 9BB?<A: BE 58<A: 9BB?87.SAA7, 5EBG;8E, J;8A LBH 6B@8, 4A7 ! ;BC8 LBH J<?? 6B@8 FBBATG;8A F88 +<8A BA?L 4F 4 @BG;8E 4A7 4A BE7<A4EL ;BHF8J<98, 4A7 ABG;<A: 8?F8.SFBE G;4G <F J;4G F;8 E84??L <F, 4A7 ! 988? F;8 >ABJF G;<F 4?? G;8 58GG8E 9BE >ABJ<A: G;8 WBG;8E F<78 B9 G;8 6B<A.XS,;8 ?4FG G;<A: ! 5BH:;G J4F 4 98J C?4G8F, 9BE>F, FCBBAF 4A7 >A<I8F, 9BE A8<G;8E +<8A ABE ! CBFF8FF87 G;8@ 589BE8; 4A7 ! G;BH:;G, 4ABG;8E F8G 9BE ,;8B BE 9BE F4G;8E
3Table of Contents
135
J;8A G;8L 6B@8 GB I<F<G @8. +B LBHE C?468 4G G;8 J<A7BJ 4A7 LBHE C?468 4G G;8 G45?8 4E8 E847L 4A7 J4<G<A: 9BE LBH. +B ! BA?L J4AG GB 4F>TLBH J<?? 68EG4<A?L 6B@8, JBAXG LBH? ! G;BH:;G <G J<F8 4A7 7<F6E88G B9 LBH ABG GB ;4I8 FCB>8A GB F4G;8E 4A7 %BG;8E 45BHG <G.S&BJ G;4G G;8 6BA9<A8@8AG <F BI8E, G;8 9?BJ8EF 4E8 5?BB@<A: 4:4<A, 4A7 <G J4F 58GG8E GB J4<G HAG<? ABJ GB G8?? F4G;8E 4A7 %BG;8E. ! @84A, ! G;BH:;G <G 58GG8E GB >88C G;8 G;BEAF GB @LF8?9 4A7 F;BJ G;8@ BA?L 4 EBF8.S,;8E89BE8, J;8A +<8A 6B@8F 546> 4A7 ! 4@ 58GG8E, ! J4AG GB G8?? <G <A G;8 J4L ! @8AG<BA87 <G GB LBH, FB J;8A G;8L 4F> LBH 45BHG <G, LBH 64A =HFG :<I8 4 ;<AG. A7<8H, :BB7 A<:;G. 0BHEF F<A68E8?L, .<A68AG.
Vincent's letter revealed so much. But above all it showed that his portrayals of everyday lifebirth, nursing, sewing, family meals, soup kitchens, welfare centers, and prayer meetingswere far from arbitrary choices. He drew everything familiar with great affection and passion. He actually amplified his devotion to these themes by depicting them using unorthodox media: egg, coffee, milk combined with oil, watercolor, ink, and charcoal. He even discovered that bread could be used as an eraser. His descriptions of his studio showed how diligent he was with everything he tackled. He had easels set up on each side of the room, and carefully organizedboxes, portfolios, bottles, linseed oil, charcoal sticks, pencils, and paints for maximum efficiency. He preoccupied himself with finding artistic uses for kitchen materials in general. Vincent devised inventive solutions for controlling the flood of light in his studio:
U0BH >ABJ G;8E8 4E8 G;E88 J<A7BJF <A G;8 FGH7<B. ,;8L ?8G <A 94E GBB @H6; ?<:;G, 8I8A J;8A ! 6BI8E G;8@, 4A7 9BE 4 ?BA: G<@8 ! ;4I8 588A G;<A><A: 45BHG ;BJ GB E8@87L G;<F... ...BHG ABJ, 49G8E 4 A8J 4GG46>, ! ;4I8 F<K F;HGG8EF 4A7 45BHG F<K ?BA: 5B4E7F.
136
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,;E88:
84?<A: ,;8@8F
,;BF8 F;HGG8EF 4E8 F4J87 <A GJB ABJ, FB G;4G 5BG; G;8 HCC8E 4A7 ?BJ8E ;4?I8F 64A 58 BC8A87 BE 6?BF87 4G J<??, 4A7 G;8 ?<:;G ?8G <A BE F;HG BHG 9BE 8<G;8E 45BI8 BE 58?BJ...0BH HA78EFG4A7 G;4G ! 64A 4?FB F;HG BA8 BE GJB B9 G;8 J<A7BJF ABJ, 4A7 FB :8G BA8 :8A8E4? ?<:;G J;<6; J<?? @4>8 G;8 89986GF @H6; FGEBA:8E; G;8L HF87 GB 58 A8HGE4?<M87 5L E89?86G<BAF BE 7<99HF8 ?<:;G.V
He demonstrated great sensitivity to materials for the cultivation of his art down to the most humble of physical substances. He understood the innate properties of matter in the same way that he understood the mysterious light that played in the corner of his studio.
WBHG <G B66HEE87 GB @8 GB @4>8 4 7E4J<A: 9<EFG J<G; 64EC8AG8EXF C8A6<? 4A7 G;8A GB JBE> <A 4A7 BI8E <G J<G; ?<G;B:E4C;<6 6E4LBA, J;<6; (5864HF8 B9 G;8 :E84F<A8FF B9 G;8 @4G8E<4?) 9<K8F G;8 C8A6<?, 4 G;<A: BE7<A4EL 6E4LBA 7B8F ABG 7B, BE, 4G ?84FG, 7B8F I8EL 547?L.S A9G8E 7B<A: 4 F>8G6; <A G;<F J4L, BA8 64A, J<G; 4 9<E@ ;4A7, HF8 G;8 ?<G;B:E4C;<6 6E4LBA J;8E8 <G <F A868FF4EL, J<G;BHG @H6; ;8F<G4G<BA BE 8E4F<A:.S+B ! 9<A<F;87 @L 7E4J<A:F CE8GGL J8?? <A C8A6<?, <A7887, 4F @H6; 4F CBFF<5?8. ,;8A ! 9<K87 G;8@, 4A7 7H??87 G;8@ J<G; @<?>.SAA7 G;8A ! JBE>87 <G HC 4:4<A J<G; ?<G;B:E4C;<6 6E4LBA J;8E8 G;8 788C8FG GBA8F J8E8, E8GBH6;87 G;8@ ;8E8 4A7 G;8E8 J<G; 4 5EHF; BE C8A, J<G; ?4@C5?46>, 4A7 JBE>87 <A G;8 ?<:;G8E C4EGF J<G; J;<G8 5B7L 6B?BE... ...'A G;8 546> B9 G;8 C4:8 LBH J<?? 9<A7 4 F>8G6; B9 G;8 ?<GG?8 6;HE6;L4E7. ,;8 6B?BE<A: G;8E8 <F I8EL HAHFH4?.S!G <F I8EL 584HG<9H? GB F88 G;8 E84? ;84G;8E BA G;8 :E4I8F.S,;8 F@8?? B9 GHEC8AG<A8 ;4F FB@8G;<A: @LFG<64? 45BHG <G, G;8 74E> FGE8G6; B9 9<A8 JBB7 5BE78E F8C4E4G8F 4 FC4E>?<A: F>L 9EB@ G;8 EH::87 84EG;, J;<6; ;4F 4 :8A8E4??L EH77L ;H8T94JAT5EBJA<F;, L8??BJ<F;, 5HG 8I8ELJ;8E8 J<G; ?<?46 GBA8F.V
The lure of the heather, the scent of turpentineincense-like amid churchyard graves, reverberated with the mystery of death, overlit by starlight tosafe passageways. In stressing his aesthetic of simplicity,
3Table of Contents
137
he told us how he preferred a rough scrubbed floor to the popular Turkish carpets of upscale Parisian ateliers. He dulled his drawing with the simplest of washes with milk taken from the pantry. As mentioned, the scent of turpentine, the traditional thinner for oil paint derived from pine resins, connoted incense, and had profound religious associations for Vincent. And he delighted in the blackness of charcoal, graphite and ink, and deplored ostentation in the tools of his trade just as he did in people.
U!9 BA8 J4AGF GB JBE> J<G; G;8 C8A 4A7 4HGB:E4C;<6 <A>, G;8A ! 4@ B9 G;8 BC<A<BA G;4G BA8 F;BH?7 <A AB 64F8 G4>8 4 9<A8E C8A G;4A 4A BE7<A4EL JE<G<A: C8A.S.8EL 9<A8 C8AF, ?<>8 I8EL 8?8:4AG C8BC?8, 4E8 FB@8G<@8F 4@4M<A:?L HF8?8FF; 4A7, 4F ! F88 <G, G;8L B9G8A ?46> 8?4FG<6<GL J;<6; G;8 @BFG BE7<A4EL C8AF =HFG A4GHE4??L ;4I8 GB 4 68EG4<A 8KG8AG... ...,;<F <F ;BJ ! E84FBA 45BHG 64EC8AG8EXF C8A6<?.S/;4G 7<7 G;8 B?7 @4FG8EF HF8 9BE 7E4J<A:? C8EG4<A?L ABG F458E B, BB, BBB, 8G6., 8G6. 264?<5E4G87 CEB98FF<BA4? 4EG<FGXF C8A6<?F B9 6BEE8FCBA7<A: <AG8AF<GL3 5HG 4 C<868 B9 EBH:; :E4C;<G8. (8E;4CF G;8 <AFGEH@8AG J;<6; %<6;8?4A:8?B 4A7 DHE8E HF87 FB@8J;4G E8F8@5?87 4 64EC8AG8EXF C8A6<?. BHG ! J4F ABG G;8E8 GB F88 9BE @LF8?9, FB ! 7BAXG >ABJ; ! BA?L >ABJ G;4G J<G; 4 64EC8AG8EXF C8A6<? BA8 64A :8G 89986GF DH<G8 7<998E8AG G;4A G;BF8 J<G; G;<A F458EF, 8G6.V
Vincent demonstrated his understanding of the use of all art media, the fat or lean properties of substances(a term used by professional artists in applying oily over non-oily media)in everyday use, which either fused, or resisted adhering to one another. This fusion of form and content was made evident in his ink drawings of Siens infant son which Vincent demi-toned by absorbing black pools of ink with breadcrumbs to lighten them. Similarly, Rembrandt was equally inventive, adding egg to his oil paint.Dutch painters preferred to use their homes as studios, unlike the Italian artists whose studios were usually in a commercial quarter of the city. This might explain their use of everyday things such as egg, milk and coffee, in their artthings that were
138
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,;E88:
84?<A: ,;8@8F
ready at hand. The Dutch culinary tradition was carried into the nineteenth century at the RijkHBS Konig Willem II Upper School which Vincent attended in the 1860s.According to Silverman (2000), his drawing teacher Cornelius C. Huysmanss mission was to reclaim his students so that they might learn how to see and learn to integrate beauty into objects of daily use.Silverman goes on to note:
U'A8 <AFG4A68 B9
HLF@4AFXF CE4:@4G<6 4CCEB46; J4F ;<F E86B@@8A74G<BA
G;4G FGH78AGF CBHE @<?> BI8E G;8<E 9<A<F;87 C8A6<? 7E4J<A:F GB WCE8F8EI8 @4E>F 4A7 E8@BI8 G;8 F;<A8,X C8E;4CF 477<A: 4 ?<GG?8 6B9988 GB G;8 @<?> 4F 4 WI4EA<F;X GB :<I8 G;8 7E4J<A: WG;8 6B?BE B9 !A7<4 C4C8EX. .<A68AG ;<@F8?9 JBH?7 ?4G8E CHEFH8 ;<F BJA U><G6;8A 6E49GV 4CCEB46; GB G;8 4EG B9 7E4J<A: 4A7 6B?BE, J;4G ;8 E898EE87 GB 4F ;<F 6H<F<A8 78 ?X4EG.V
Regarding the natural beauty of such substances and his delight in the natural origins of things Vincent wrote:
UC;4E6B4? <F :BB7, 5HG <9 BA8 JBE>F 4G <G GBB ?BA:, <G ?BF8F <GF 9E8F;A8FF, 4A7 BA8 @HFG 9<K <G <@@87<4G8?L GB CE8F8EI8 G;8 78?<646L B9 GBH6;.S!A ?4A7F64C8 GBB, ! F88 G;4G 7E49GF@8A ?<>8, 9BE <AFG4A68, *HLF748? 4A7 .4A GBL8A, 4A7 C4?4@8 4A7 *B8?B9F GBB 4@BA: G;8 @B78EAF, HF87 <G GB :E84G 47I4AG4:8... ...'A8 64A 7B :E84G G;<A:F J<G; 6;4E6B4? FB4>87 <A B<?, ! ;4I8 F88A /8<FF8A5EH6; 7B <G; G;8 B<? 9<K8F G;8 6;4E6B4? 4A7 4G G;8 F4@8 G<@8 G;8 5?46> 586B@8F J4E@8E 4A7 788C8E...,B74L ! J<?? F8A7 LBH 5L C4E68? CBFG G;E88 FGH7<8F J;<6; ! ;BC8 4E8 7EL 8ABH:;; ;BJ8I8E, <9 G;8L FG<6> GB G;8 F;88G B9 C4C8E ! CHG BI8E G;8@ 4F 4 CE864HG<BA, FCBA:8 G;8@ B99 J<G; G8C<7 J4G8E.S ,;8 C4<AG BA G;8 F@4??8FG BA8 8FC86<4??L ;4F FHA> <A 4 ?BG.S !A 4 J88> BE FB 5EHF; <G BI8E J<G; G;8 J;<G8 B9 4A 8::, BE J<G; 4 ?<GG?8 I4EA<F; <A 4 @BAG;, GB E8FGBE8 G;8 6B?BE.S ! F8A7 G;8@ GB LBH GB :<I8 LBH 4A <784 B9 G;8 JBE>, J;<6; J<?? 58 58GG8E 4F ! :B 4?BA:, LBH >ABJ... ...! JEBG8 *4CC4E7 45BHG G;8 6E4LBA L8FG8E74L, 5864HF8 ! ;47 GB JE<G8 ;<@ 45BHG I4E<BHF G;<A:F 6BA68EA<A: ?<G;B:E4C;L; 4F ! J4AG87 GB F8A7 ;<@ 4 98J F>8G6;8F
3Table of Contents
139
7BA8 J<G; <G, ! HF87 <G 9BE FB@8 7E4J<A:F B9 BHE 545L, <A 7<998E8AG CBF<G<BAF, 4A7 ! 9BHA7 <G <F I8EL J8?? FH<G87 GB F>8G6;<A:, GBB. 'A8 64A 5E<A: <A 78@<GBA8F 5L @84AF B9 5E847 6EH@5F. (8E;4CF G;8 I8EL 788C8FG F;47BJF 64AXG 58 7BA8 I8EL J8?? J<G; <G, 5HG <A @4AL 64F8F BA8 64A HF8 ?<G;B:E4C;<6 6E4LBA G;8A, J;<6; <F 4?FB I8EL E<6; <A GBA8.V
Included in the storage cabinet was his collection of wood engravings:
U! @HFG 4?FB G8?? LBH G;4G ! 4@ :8GG<A: BA FB J8?? J<G; @L 6B??86G<BA B9 JBB7 8A:E4I<A:F, J;<6; ! 6BAF<78E LBHEF, ! BA?L ;4I<A: G;8 HF8 B9 G;8@.S! ABJ ;4I8 45BHG 4 G;BHF4A7 F;88GFTEA:?<F; (8FC86<4??L +J4<AF), A@8E<64A 4A7 FE8A6; BA8F.V
Vincent had a large collection of prints, from Rembrandt and Millet to nineteenth century popular illustrators. He used thesefor copying, studying, and above all for inspiration. He was attracted by the direct, unpretentiousness of engravings and illustrations, which revealed the reality, perhaps starkness, of everyday lifevery much like the descriptions of Dickens and Hugo. In related letters, Vincent elaborated on his engravings:
U! ;4I8 9<A<F;87 6HGG<A: BHG 4A7 @BHAG<A: G;8 JBB7 8A:E4I<A:F 9EB@ G;8 GE4C;<6 2@4:4M<A83.S&BJ G;8L 4E8 4EE4A:87 <A 4A BE78E?L @4AA8E, G;8L F;BJ HC 8I8E FB @H6; 58GG8E...! ;4I8 4 @4:A<9<68AG G<46B@8??<, 4 ?4E:8 F;88G E8CE8F8AG<A: 4 WF?<:;G B9 CEBJFX.V
We see how one of Vincents last and most searing paintings,
Crows over Wheat Fields (1890), can be related to Giacomelli and to Vincents early absorption in the elemental power and expressive subject matter of wood engravings. As Vincents art matured, he embraced past and present styles, combining them to suit his own needs. His collecting was wide ranging and intense, and he once informed his artist friend Rappard: I bought twenty-one volumes of the Graphic, namely 1870-1880..
140
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,;E88:
84?<A: ,;8@8F
These engravings and illustrations were a continual reminder to Vincent of his life in the Borinage, and the harsh living conditions endured there, and also in Dickenss accounts of life at that time. He had been so affected by those visions of appalling human conditions that he kept the engravings of miners until his death, even replacing them when they were lost or given away. Vincent always revered works with Gospel inclinations as in Frank Hols I Am the Resurrection and the Life, and more so in Rembrandts depictions of life, death and the Resurrection of Christ. He spoke reverently of Rembrandts engravings of Christmas night, the Christ Child in the manger, and the Christmas star, relating them to healing and hope. More themes congealed in his quiet room: the faces of Millets peasants laboring by the sweat of their brows. They too were reminders of Dickenss Blackpool, the forsaken miner, and the star seen from the mineshaft that comforted him, as it did Vincent in his own dark circumstances. Vincent revealed his own essentially intellectual approach to his art career as he noted them in Rappard:
U*4CC4E7 ;4F FB@8G;<A: J;<6; ABG 8I8EL5B7L CBFF8FF8F, ;8 E89?86GF, 4A7 ;8 6H?G<I4G8F ;<F F8AG<@8AG. 8 64A @4>8 4 C?4A, ;8 64A :E4FC 4 F6;8@8 <A <GF 8AG<E8GL, ;8 64A FG<6> GB 4A <784. %4AL 64?? E89?86G<BA 4A7 6BA68AGE4G<BA <A4EG<FG<6 5864HF8 G;8L 4G ?84FG 4E8 ABG 9<G 9BE FHFG4<A87 ?45BE. !G <F 4 DH8FG<BA B9 5BG; 78KG8E<GL 4A7 DH<6>A8FF 4A7 B9 C8EF8I8E4A68 4A7 64?@ C4G<8A68 58F<78F.V
The characteristics that Vincent admired in Rappard were to be made real in his own life. In describing the cultivation of sentiment, he made it clear that its primary characteristics were reflection, thought, planning, and consistencynot frenzy. Vincent had brought Sien and her children into his life at a very significant time in his quest to conquer one of the summits of artmastery of the human figure. The fruit of this sustained focus was The Potato Eaters which was, by his own estimation, his greatest painting.
3Table of Contents
141
All these things resonated for Vincent and being aware of such things was a gift he possessed; and revealing this gift to others through his art was his purpose. Dark revelations blossomed into his first successful paintings. He released a torrent of works a few months later in rural Drenthe. There he gave color to life-long memories and the intimation of a silver star in a cobalt night, the mysterious heath of Holland under an ivory moon, a huddled family before a glowing fireplace, and the violet repose of a deceased friends face. All of these impressions and experiences were woven into a body of work filled with regret over the loss of his dreams of domestic life. He had effectively become the spiritual father of the dispossessed.
S
'CCBF<G8: U BHF8 <A AHI8EFV 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;, 1890. '<? BA 64AI4F. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 %HF8H@ B9 F<A8 AEGF, BBFGBA.
142
3Table of Contents
DOMESTIC DREAMS
UW%. %<??8G, <G <F C?4<A,X JEBG8 ,;8BC;<?8 G4HG<8E, WHA78EFG4A7F G;8 GEH8 CB8GEL B9 G;8 9<8?7F.S 8 ?BI8F G;8 C84F4AGF J;B@ ;8 E8CE8F8AGF.S!A ;<F :E4I8 4A7 F8E<BHF GLC8F J8 E847 FL@C4G;L J;<6; ;8 988?F J<G; G;8<E ?<I8F.S!A ;<F C<6GHE8F FBJ<A:, E84C<A:, 4A7 :E49G<A: 4E8 4?? B9 G;8@ F46E87 46G<BAF, J;<6; ;4I8 4 584HGL 4A7 :E4A78HE B9 G;8<E BJA, GB:8G;8E J<G; 4 GBH6; B9 .<E:<?<4A @8?4A6;B?L.XV T"H?<4 C4EGJE<:;G
A letter from the French artist J.F.Millet to his friend andbiographer Sensier, written in about 1850, influenced Vincent greatly. Millet was known for his piety and profound knowledge of the Bible. He became vitally important to Vincent; for not only did Millets art convey Biblical messages in a natural unaffected way, he also was a family man, living in a rural environment. This was all the more significant for Vincent who increasingly wanted to return to his rural roots. Millets painting was as simple and elemental as the book illustrators Vincent's so revered. Millets solid way of portraying things resonated with the earthy reality that Dutch seventeenth-century art exuded. The importance of Millet in Vincents life cannot be over emphasized. Before Vincent's birth, Millet had shown how rural themes of painting and the Gospel message could be united. Sowing symbolized spreading the Word of God, for instance. In the Parables of Jesus, harvesting and reaping are used as symbols for death and eternal life.Millets art and example as a letter-writing, laboring artist paralleled Vincents own literary outlook and Gospel-based upbringing.Additionally, Millet was a painter and printmaker whose uncomplicated etchings were a major part of the illustrations Vincent had collected. Vincent studied how Millet transferred the engraved line and strong shading of the print into color, atmosphere, and brushwork in painting. Millets success as a printmaker broadened the availability of his art, for even those of
3Table of Contents
145
modest means could afford a print. Vincents championing of the poor was expressed in many ways, among them his collection of Graphic, a magazine which was filled with the work of some of the most popular printmakers and illustrators of the day. The main purpose of the magazine was to rouse compassion and donations for the poor. It combined riveting portrayals of the needy with descriptions of their plight:
U! G;<A> <G I8EL AB5?8, 9BE <AFG4A68, G;4G AB J<AG8E C4FF87 J<G;BHG G;8 GE4C;<6 7B<A: FB@8G;<A: GB 4EBHF8 FL@C4G;L 9BE G;8 CBBE. FBE 8K4@C?8, ! ;4I8 4 C4:8 2CE<AG3 5L /BB7I<??8 E8CE8F8AG<A: 4 7<FGE<5HG<BA B9 C84G G<6>8GF <A !E8?4A7; 4ABG;8E 5L +G4A<?4A7 64??87 U 8?C G;8 8?C8EF,V E8CE8F8AG<A: I4E<BHF F68A8F <A 4 ;BFC<G4? J;<6; J4F F;BEG B9 @BA8L; UC;E<FG@4F <A G;8 /BE>;BHF8V 5L 8E>B@8E; U B@8?8FF 4A7 HA:ELV 5L F<?78F, 8G6. ! ?<>8 G;8@ 58GG8E G;4A G;8 7E4J<A:F 5L B8EG4??, BE G;8 ?<>8, 9BE G;8 .<8 E?8:4AG8.V
Coal miners remained important subjects to Vincent, especially after his immersion in their hard lives.In 1882, he tried to get a print of miners that was related to an article in Graphic: I cannot get Renouards The Miners here. I have gone to all kinds of places... Vincent purposely imitated the healthy spirit and unembellished honesty of popular illustrations and their simple focus on the dignity of daily life.They became characteristics of his own art and in his choice of media and materials:
U'E G4>8 4ABG;8E F;88G B9 *<7?8LXF J;<6; ! ;4I8, 8A:E4I87 FB58E?L 4A7 4HFG8E8?L 5L +J4<ATU,;8 C;<?7E8AXF /4E7 <A 4 BFC<G4?VTG;8E8 ! 988? G;8 =HFG<9<64G<BA 9BE J;4G !XI8 ;84E7 C8BC?8 J;B 4E8 FHCCBF87 GB 58 9<EFG-E4G8 6BAAB<FF8HEF 6BAG8@CGHBHF?L E898E GB <A G;8F8 G8E@F, W';, J8??, G;4GXF G;8 B?7-94F;<BA87 FGL?8.X AA7 G;8A J8 E8@8@58E J;4G 8E>B@8E 2D<6>8AFXF <??HFGE4GBE3 J4AG87 GB F4LT G;4G B?7 FGL?8 B9 8A:E4I<A:, G;4G 8?45BE4G8, ;BA8FG, HA8@58??<F;87 7E4J<A:, <F 5L 94E G;8 58FG...! 4FFHE8 LBH, 8I8EL G<@8 ! 988? 4 ?<GG?8 BHG B9 FBEGF, ! 9<A7 <A @L 6B??86G<BA B9 JBB7 8A:E4I<A:F 4 FG<@H?HF GB JBE> J<G; E8A8J87 M8FG.S!A 4?? G;8F8 98??BJF ! F88 4A 8A8E:L, 4 78G8E@<A4G<BA 4A7 4 9E88, ;84?G;L, 6;88E9H? FC<E<G G;4G
146
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 ,;E88: DB@8FG<6 DE84@F
4A<@4G8 @8.SAA7 <A G;8<E JBE> G;8E8 <F FB@8G;<A: ?B9GL 4A7 7<:A<9<87T8I8A J;8A G;8L 7E4J 4 7HA:;<??.V
Vincent explained how he admired the striking, powerful, virile drawings. He respected the strength, clarity, stark line, directness and simplicity of prints. These formal properties were tied to moral and ethical issues such as honesty and truthfulness, moral sentiments that he cultivated in himself.
UBHG <FAXG <G DH88E G;4G <A 4A 4EG<FG<6 GBJA ?<>8 ,;8 4:H8 4 @4A ?<>8 @8 F;BH?7 58 G;8 ;<:;8FG 5<778E 4G 4 5BB> 4H6G<BA? 'A8 JBH?7 G;<A> G;4G BG;8E 5HL8EF JBH?7 GHEA HCT5HG AB! ! E84??L 7<7 ABG 8KC86G GB :8G G;8@...@L 5EBG;8E ;8?C87 @8 5HL G;8@T7<EG 6;84CT4 :H<?78E 4 IB?H@8. BJ8I8E :?47 ! 4@ GB ;4I8 G;8@, <G @4>8F @8 F47 GB G;<A> G;4G FB 98J G4>8 4A <AG8E8FG <A G;8@. ! G;<A> <GXF JBA78E9H? GB 9<A7 FH6; 4 GE84FHE8, 5HG ! JBH?7 E4G;8E F88 FB ?<I8?L 4A <AG8E8FG <A G;8@ G;4G ! F;BH?7 ABG 58 45?8 GB :8G ;B?7 B9 G;8@ 9BE G;8 G<@8 58<A:. ';, *4CC4E7T<A @4AL E8FC86GF <GXF ?<>8 G;<FT@H6; G;4G ;4F :E84G I4?H8 ABJ474LF <F <:ABE87 4A7 ?BB>87 7BJA HCBA 4F JBEG;?8FF EH55<F;, :4E54:8, J4FG8 C4C8E. DBAXG LBH G;<A> G;8E8 <F FB@8G;<A: I8EL 7H?? 45BHG BHE G<@8F? 'E 4@ ! <@4:<A<A: <G? A 68EG4<A 45F8A68 B9 C4FF<BA 4A7 J4E@G; 4A7 6BE7<4?<GL ...V
At Drenthe, Vincents letters often recalled Millets in simplified form and content. Millet outlined his artistic doctrine in the following passage, and we will see just how much Vincent identified with and emulated it.And they both shared a tendency to dream amid the sights, sounds and pungent smells of rural existence. Millet wrote:
UBHG, GB G8?? G;8 GEHG;, C84F4AG-FH5=86GF FH<G @L A4GHE8 58FG, 9BE ! @HFG 6BA98FF, 4G G;8 E<F> B9 LBHE G4><A: @8 GB 58 4 +B6<4?<FG, G;4G G;8 ;H@4A F<78 <F J;4G GBH6;8F @8 @BFG <A 4EG, 4A7 G;4G <9 ! 6BH?7 BA?L 7B J;4G ! ?<>8, BE 4G ?84FG 4GG8@CG GB 7B <G, ! JBH?7 C4<AG ABG;<A: G;4G J4F ABG G;8 E8FH?G B9 4A <@CE8FF<BA 7<E86G?L
3Table of Contents
147
E868<I87 9EB@ &4GHE8, J;8G;8E <A ?4A7F64C8 BE <A 9<:HE8F. ,;8 =BLBHF F<78 A8I8E F;BJF <GF8?9 GB @8; ! >ABJ ABG <9 <G 8K<FGF, 5HG ! ;4I8 A8I8E F88A <G.S,;8 :4L8FG G;<A: ! >ABJ <F G;8 64?@, G;8 F<?8A68, J;<6; 4E8 FB 78?<6<BHF, 5BG; <A G;8 9BE8FG 4A7 <A G;8 6H?G<I4G87 9<8?7F, J;8G;8E G;8 FB<? <F :BB7 9BE 6H?GHE8 BE ABG. 0BH J<?? 6BA98FF G;4G <G 4?J4LF :<I8F LBH 4 I8EL 7E84@L F8AF4G<BA, 4A7 G;4G G;8 7E84@ <F 4 F47 BA8, 4?G;BH:; B9G8A I8EL 78?<6<BHF. 0BH 4E8 F<GG<A: HA78E 4 GE88, 8A=BL<A: 4?? G;8 6B@9BEG 4A7 DH<8G J;<6; <G <F CBFF<5?8 GB 9<A7 <A G;<F ?<98, J;8A FH778A?L LBH F88 4 CBBE 6E84GHE8 ?B4787 J<G; 4 ;84IL 94::BG 6B@<A: HC G;8 A4EEBJ C4G; BCCBF<G8. ,;8 HA8KC86G87 4A7 4?J4LF FGE<><A: J4L <A J;<6; G;<F 9<:HE8 4CC84EF 589BE8 LBHE 8L8F E8@<A7F LBH <AFG4AG?L B9 G;8 94G8 B9 ;H@4A<GLTJ84E<A8FF...!A 6H?G<I4G87 ?4A7 FB@8G<@8FT4F <A C?468F J;8E8 G;8 :EBHA7 <F 54EE8ATLBH F88 9<:HE8F 7<::<A: 4A7 ;B8<A:.S FEB@ G<@8 GB G<@8, BA8 E4<F8F ;<@F8?9 4A7 FGE4<:;G8AF ;<F 546>, 4F G;8L 64?? <G, J<C<A: ;<F 9BE8;847 J<G; G;8 546> B9 ;<F ;4A7T X,;BH F;4?G 84G 5E847 <A G;8 FJ84G B9 G;L 5EBJ.X !F G;<F G;8 :4L 4A7 C?4L9H? ><A7 B9 JBE> G;4G FB@8 C8BC?8 JBH?7 ;4I8 HF 58?<8I8? &8I8EG;8?8FF, 9BE @8 <G <F GEH8 ;H@4A<GL 4A7 :E84G CB8GEL.V
In another of Millets artistic epistles, note how he insists that the artist must seek out the elemental aspects of nature and resist the conventional pressure to compromise for immediate success:
UA CEB9BHA7 <@CE8FF<BA J<?? 4?J4LF 9<A7 BHG 4 J4L B9 8KCE8FF<BA, 4A7 A4GHE4??L F88>F ;BJ GB 786?4E8 <GF8?9 <A G;8 @BFG 9BE6<5?8 @4AA8E. ,;8 J;B?8 B9 A4GHE8XF 4EF8A4? ;4F 588A 4G G;8 7<FCBF4? B9 @8A B9 @<:;G, 4A7 G;8<E :8A<HF ;4F @478 G;8@ 8@C?BL, ABG J;4G J8 @4L G;<A> G;8 @BFG 584HG<9H? G;<A:F, 5HG G;8 @BFG FH<G45?8. 4F ABG 8I8ELG;<A: <A 6E84G<BA <GF BJA C?468 4A7 ;BHE? /;B JBH?7 I8AGHE8 GB F4L G;4G 4 CBG4GB <F <A98E<BE GB 4 CB@8:E4A4G8? D86478A68 F8G <A 9EB@ G;8 @B@8AG G;4G AEG, J;<6; J4F <A CB<AG G;8 6;<?7 B9 &4GHE8, 5864@8 G;8 FHCE8@8 :B4?, 4A7 @8A GBB> FB@8 :E84G 4EG<FG 9BE G;8<E @B78?, 9BE:8GG<A: G;4G ;<F 8L8F ;47 588A 9<K87 BA G;8 <A9<A<G8. ,;8L G4?>87 B9 JBE><A: 9EB@ A4GHE8, 5HG G;8L 4CCEB46;87 ;8E <A 4 6BAI8AG<BA4? 9BE@.V
148
3Table of Contents
Millets admonitions also paralleled Dickens regarding the importance of Nature, inspiration, and foundational moral commitments in art. Vincent cited, memorized and constantly noted the moral views of both Millet and Dickens; in fact, Vincent eventually sounded like both of them. Dickens warned British painters:
UF8??BJF, GEL GB HA78EFG4A7 G;4G LBHE @B78? <F ABG LBHE 9<A4? 4<@, 5HG G;8 @84AF B9 :<I<A: 9BE@ 4A7 FGE8A:G; GB LBHE G;BH:;G 4A7 <AFC<E4G<BA. $BB> 4G G;8 FE8A6;...4A7 F88 ;BJ @H6; 58GG8E G;8L 7B <G G;4A LBH 7B.V
Vincent made tangible use of Dickenss idea of giving form and strength to ones thought and inspiration; he describes The broadfronted houses...oak trees of a splendid bronze...in the cornfields, tones of inexpressible purity, on the wet trunks, tones of black. He gives plastic solidity to nature, describing its strong colors and deep contrasts: The poor soil of Drenthe is just the samebut the black earth is even blacker stilllike sootnot lilac-black like the furrows. One can see that he is describing this in the forceful ways Millet and Dickens enjoin. Van Goghs sensitivity to the natural elements of moisture, lush soil, texture, and plant growth in Drenthe finds their parallel in his studio practices. His absorption in the cuisine of the kitchen and the domestic intimacy that it implies is now extended into the world of cottages, domesticated fields and waterways.
Vincent, on seeing Millets art, reported:
U! 7BAXG >ABJ J;8G;8E ! ;4I8 4?E847L JE<GG8A GB LBH 45BHG <G BE ABG, 5HG G;8E8 ;4F 588A 4 F4?8 ;8E8 B9 7E4J<A:F 5L %<??8G.S/;8A ! 8AG8E87 G;8 ;4?? B9 G;8 BG8? DEBHBG, J;8E8 G;8L J8E8 8K;<5<G87, ! 98?G ?<>8 F4L<A:, W,4>8 B99 LBHE F;B8F, 9BE G;8 C?468 J;8E8 LBH 4E8 FG4A7<A: <F B?L GEBHA7.XVS
3Table of Contents
149
Following Sien's departure, Vincent had moved to rural Drenthe. He wrote to Theo a letter that was like walking into a lifetime of his painting:
UD84E BEBG;8E, ! @HFG G8?? LBH 45BHG 4 GE<C GB 1J88?B, G;8 I<??4:8 J;8E8 $<858E@4AA FG4L87 4 ?BA: J;<?8, 4A7 J;8E8 ;8 @478 FGH7<8F 9BE ;<F C<6GHE8 4G G;8 ?4FG +4?BA, G;8 BA8 J<G; G;8 CBBE J4F;8EJB@8A.S/;8E8 ,8E %8H?8A 4A7 "H?8F B4>;HLM8A ;4I8 4?FB 588A 4 ?BA: G<@8.S!@4:<A8 4 GE<C 46EBFF G;8 ;84G; 4G G;E88 BX6?B6> <A G;8 @BEA<A:, <A 4A BC8A 64EG (! J8AG J<G; G;8 ?4A7?BE7, J;B ;47 GB :B GB G;8 @4E>8G 4G AFF8A), 4?BA: 4 EB47, BE U7<8>V 4F G;8L 64?? <G ;8E8, J;<6; ;47 588A 54A>87 HC J<G; @H7 <AFG847 B9 F4A7. !G J4F 8I8A @BE8 6HE<BHF G;4A :B<A: 5L 54E:8.SAG G;8 9<EFG :?<@CF8 B9 74JA, J;8A 8I8ELJ;8E8 G;8 6B6>F 58:4A GB 6EBJ A84E G;8 6BGG4:8F F64GG8E87 4?? BI8E G;8 ;84G; 4A7 G;8 98J 6BGG4:8F J8 C4FF87TFHEEBHA787 5L G;<A CBC?4EF J;BF8 L8??BJ ?84I8F BA8 6BH?7 ;84E 7EBC GB 84EG;T4A B?7 FGH@CL GBJ8E <A 4 6;HE6;L4E7, J<G; 84EG;8A J4?? 4A7 5886; ;87:8TG;8 ?8I8? ?4A7F64C8F B9 ;84G; 4A7 6BEA9<8?7FT<G 4??, 4??, 4?? 5864@8 8K46G?L ?<>8 G;8 @BFG 584HG<9H? CBEBGF.SA DH<8GA8FF, 4 @LFG8EL, 4 C8468, 4F BA?L ;8 ;4F C4<AG87 <G. BHG J;8A J8 4EE<I87 4G 1J88?BB 4G F<K BX6?B6> <A G;8 @BEA<A:, <G J4F FG<?? DH<G8 74E>; ! F4J G;8 E84? CBEBGF 8I8A 84E?<8E <A G;8 @BEA<A:. ,;8 8AGE4A68 GB G;8 I<??4:8 J4F FC?8A7<7: 8ABE@BHF @BFFL EBB9F B9 ;BHF8F, FG45?8F, F;88C9B?7F, 54EAF. ,;8 5EB47-9EBAG87 ;BHF8F ;8E8 FG4A7 58GJ88A B4> GE88F B9 4 FC?8A7<7 5EBAM8. !A G;8 @BFF 4E8 GBA8F B9 :B?7 :E88A; <A G;8 :EBHA7 GBA8F B9 E877<F; BE 5?H<F; BE L8??BJ<F; 74E> ?<?46 :E4L; <A G;8 :E88A B9 G;8 6BEA9<8?7F, GBA8F B9 <A8KCE8FF<5?8 CHE<GL; BA G;8 J8G GEHA>F, GBA8F B9 5?46>, 6BAGE4FG<A: J<G; G;8 :B?78A E4<A B9 J;<E?<A:, 6?HFG8E<A: 4HGH@A ?84I8FT;4A:<A: <A ?BBF8 GH9GF, 4F <9 G;8L ;47 588A 5?BJA G;8E8, 4A7 J<G; G;8 F>L :?<@@8E<A: G;EBH:; G;8@T9EB@ G;8 CBC?4EF, G;8 5<E6;8F, G;8 ?<@8 4A7 4CC?8 GE88F.
150
3Table of Contents
,;8 F>L F@BBG; 4A7 6?84E, ?H@<ABHF, ABG J;<G8 5HG 4 ?<?46 J;<6; 64A ;4E7?L 58 786<C;8E87, J;<G8 F;<@@8E<A: J<G; E87, 5?H8 4A7 L8??BJ <A J;<6; 8I8ELG;<A: <F E89?86G87, 4A7 J;<6; BA8 988?F 8I8ELJ;8E8 45BI8 BA8, J;<6; <F I4CBEBHF 4A7 @8E:8F <AGB G;8 G;<A @<FG 58?BJT;4E@BA<M<A: 8I8ELG;<A: <A 4 :4@HG B9 78?<64G8 :E4L.S! 7<7AXG 9<A7 4 F<A:?8 C4<AG8E <A 1J88?BB, ;BJ8I8E, 4A7 C8BC?8 F4<7 ABA8 8I8E 64@8 <A J<AG8E. !, BA G;8 6BAGE4EL, ;BC8 GB 58 G;8E8 =HFG G;<F J<AG8E. AF G;8E8 J8E8 AB C4<AG8EF, ! 786<787 ABG GB J4<G 9BE @L ?4A7?BE7XF E8GHEA, 5HG GB J4?> 546>, 4A7 GB @4>8 FB@8 7E4J<A:F BA G;8 J4L.S+B ! 58:4A 4 F>8G6; B9 G;4G ?<GG?8 4CC?8 BE6;4E7, B9 J;<6; $<858E@4AA @478 ;<F ?4E:8 C<6GHE8. AA7 G;8A ! J4?>87 546> 4?BA: G;8 EB47 J8 ;47 7E<I8A BI8E 84E?L <A G;8 @BEA<A:. FBE G;8 @B@8AG G;8 J;B?8 6BHAGEL 4EBHA7 1J88?BB <F 8AG<E8?L 6BI8E87 4F 94E 4F G;8 8L8 64A F88TJ<G; LBHA: 6BEA, G;8 I8EL, I8EL, G8A78E8FG :E88A ! >ABJ. /<G; 4 F>L BI8E <G B9 4 78?<64G8 ?<?46-J;<G8 J;<6; :<I8F 4A 89986GT! 7BAXG G;<A> <G 64A 58 C4<AG87, 5HG J;<6; <F 9BE @8 G;8 >8LABG8 G;4G BA8 @HFG >ABJ <A BE78E GB HA78EFG4A7 G;8 >8LABG8F B9 BG;8E 89986GF. A C4G6; B9 84EG;T9?4GT<A9<A<G8T4 6?84E F>L B9 78?<64G8 ?<?46-J;<G8.S,;8 LBHA: 6BEA FCEBHGF 9EB@ G;4G 84EG;, <G <F 4?@BFG @B?7L-?BB><A: J<G; G;4G 6BEA.S,;4GXF J;4G G;8 :BB7 98EG<?8 C4EGF B9 DE8AG;8 4E8 54F<64??L; G;8 J;B?8 <A 4 ;4ML 4G@BFC;8E8.S,;<A> B9 BE<BAXF U$8 78EA<8E =BHE 78 ?4 6E84G<BAV; L8FG8E74L <G F88@87 GB @8 G;4G ! HA78EFGBB7 G;8 @84A<A: B9 G;4G C<6GHE8. ,;8 CBBE FB<? B9 DE8AG;8 <F =HFG G;8 F4@8T5HG G;8 5?46> 84EG; <F 8I8A 5?46>8E FG<??T?<>8 FBBGTABG ?<?46-5?46> ?<>8 G;8 9HEEBJF, 4A7 7E84E<?L 6BI8E87 J<G; 8I8EEBGG<A: ;84G;8E 4A7 C84G.S! F88 G;4G 8I8ELJ;8E8, G;8 <A6<78AG4?F BA G;8 <A9<A<G8 546>:EBHA7:S BA G;8 @BBEF, G;8 C84G F;87F; <A G;8 98EG<?8 C4EGF, G;8 I8EL CE<@<G<I8 :<:4AG<6 FGEH6GHE8F B9 94E@F 4A7 F;88C9B?7F, J<G; ?BJ, I8EL ?BJ ?<GG?8 J4??F 4A7 8ABE@BHF @BFFL EBB9F.S'4> GE88F 4?? 4EBHA7 G;8@.
3Table of Contents
151
/;8A BA8 ;4F J4?>87 G;EBH:; G;4G <A9<A<G8 6BHAGEL 9BE ;BHEF 4A7 ;BHEF, BA8 988?F G;4G G;8E8 <F E84??L ABG;<A: 5HG G;4G <A9<A<G8 84EG;TG;4G :E88A @B?7 B9 6BEA BE ;84G;8E, G;8 <A9<A<G8 F>L.S BEF8F 4A7 @8A F88@ AB ?4E:8E G;4A 9?84F.S'A8 <F ABG 4J4E8 B9 4ALG;<A:, 58 <G 8I8E FB ?4E:8 <A <GF8?9; BA8 BA?L >ABJF G;4G G;8E8 <F 84EG; 4A7 F>L. BJ8I8E, <A BA8XF DH4?<GL B9 4 ?<GG?8 FC86> ABG<6<A: BG;8E ?<GG?8 FC86>FT?84I<A: G;8 <A9<A<G8 4C4EGTBA8 9<A7F 8I8EL ?<GG?8 FC86> GB 58 4 %<??8G. ! C4FF87 4 ?<GG?8 B?7 6;HE6; 8K46G?L, U,;8 C;HE6; 4G GE8I<??8V <A %<??8GXF ?<GG?8 C<6GHE8 <A G;8 $HK8@5BHE:; <AFG847 B9 G;8 ?<GG?8 C84F4AG J<G; ;<F FC478 <A G;4G C<6GHE8, G;8E8 J4F 4 F;8C;8E7 J<G; 4 9?B6> B9 F;88C J4?><A: 4?BA: G;8 ;87:8.S,;8E8 J4F ABG 4 :?<@CF8 B9 G;8 GEH8 F84 <A G;8 546>:EBHA7, 5HG BA?L B9 G;8 F84 B9 LBHA: 6BEA, G;8 F84 B9 9HEEBJF <AFG847 B9 G;8 F84 B9 J4I8F. ,;8 89986G CEB7H687 J4F G;8 F4@8.S,;8A ! F4J C?BJ8EF, I8EL 5HFLT4 F4A764EG, 4 F;8C;8E7, EB47 @8A78EF, 7HA:64EGF.S!A 4 ?<GG?8 EB47F<78 <AA ! 7E8J 4A B?7 JB@4A 4G G;8 FC<AA<A: J;88?, 4 74E> ?<GG?8 F<?;BH8GG8 BHG B9 4 94<EL G4?8T 4 74E> ?<GG?8 F<?;BH8GG8 4:4<AFG 4 ?<:;G J<A7BJ, G;EBH:; J;<6; BA8 F4J G;8 6?84E F>L, 4A7 4 F@4?? C4G; G;EBH:; G;8 78?<64G8 :E88A, 4A7 4 98J :88F8 C86><A: 4G :E4FF. AA7 G;8A J;8A GJ<?<:;G 98??T<@4:<A8 G;8 DH<8G, G;8 C8468 B9 <G 4??! !@4:<A8 G;8A 4 ?<GG?8 4I8AH8 B9 ;<:; CBC?4EF J<G; 4HGH@A ?84I8F, <@4:<A8 4 J<78 @H77L EB47, 4?? 5?46> @H7, J<G; 4A <A9<A<G8 ;84G; GB G;8 E<:;G 4A7 4A 8A7?8FF ;84G; GB G;8 ?89G, 4 98J 5?46> GE<4A:H?4E F<?;BH8GG8F B9 FB7-5H<?G ;HGF, G;EBH:; G;8 ?<GG?8 J<A7BJF B9 J;<6; F;<A8F G;8 E87 ?<:;G B9 G;8 ?<GG?8 9<E8, J<G; 4 98J CBB?F B9 7<EGL L8??BJ<F; J4G8E G;4G E89?86G G;8 F>L, 4A7 <A J;<6; GEHA>F ?<8 EBGG<A:; <@4:<A8 G;4G FJ4@C <A G;8 8I8A<A: GJ<?<:;G, J<G; 4 J;<G8 F>L BI8E <G, 8I8ELJ;8E8 G;8
152
3Table of Contents
6BAGE4FG B9 5?46> 4A7 J;<G8.SAA7 <A G;4G FJ4@C 4 EBH:; 9<:HE8TG;8 F;8C;8E7T 4 ;84C B9 BI4? @4FF8F, ;4?9 JBB?, ;4?9 @H7, =BFG?<A: 846; BG;8E, CHF;<A: 846; BG;8ETG;8 9?B6>. 0BH F88 G;8@ 6B@<A:TLBH 9<A7 LBHEF8?9 <A G;8 @<7FG B9 G;8@TLBH GHEA 4EBHA7 4A7 9B??BJ G;8@.S +?BJ?L 4A7 E8?H6G4AG?L G;8L GEH7:8 4?BA: G;8 @H77L EB47.S BJ8I8E, G;8 94E@ ?BB@F <A G;8 7<FG4A68T4 98J @BFFL EBB9F 4A7 C<?8F B9 FGE4J 4A7 C84G 58GJ88A G;8 CBC?4EF. ,;8 F;88C9B?7 <F 4:4<A ?<>8 G;8 F<?;BH8GG8 B9 4 GE<4A:?8T74E>.S,;8 7BBE <F J<78 BC8A ?<>8 G;8 8AGE4A68 GB 4 74E> 64I8.S,;EBH:; G;8 6;<A>F B9 G;8 5B4E7F 58;<A7 <G :?84@F G;8 ?<:;G B9 G;8 F>L.S,;8 J;B?8 64E4I4A B9 @4FF8F B9 JBB? 4A7 @H7 7<F4CC84EF <AGB G;4G 64I8TG;8 F;8C;8E7 4A7 4 JB@4A J<G; 4 ?4AG8EA F;HG G;8 7BBEF 58;<A7 G;8@. ,;4G 6B@<A: ;B@8 B9 G;8 9?B6> <A GJ<?<:;G J4F G;8 9<A4?8 B9 G;8 FL@C;BAL ! ;84E7 L8FG8E74L. ,;4G 74L C4FF87 ?<>8 4 7E84@, 4?? 74L ! J4F FB 45FBE587 <A G;8 CB<:A4AG @HF<6 G;4G ! ?<G8E4??L 9BE:BG 8I8A 9BB7 4A7 7E<A>T! ;47 G4>8A 4 C<868 B9 5EBJA 5E847 4A7 4 6HC B9 6B9988 <A G;8 ?<GG?8 <AA J;8E8 ! 7E8J G;8 FC<AA<A: J;88?.S,;8 74L J4F BI8E, 4A7 9EB@ 74JA G<?? GJ<?<:;G, BE E4G;8E 9EB@ BA8 A<:;G G<?? G;8 BG;8E, ! ;47 ?BFG @LF8?9 <A G;4G FL@C;BAL. ! 64@8 ;B@8, 4A7 F<GG<A: 5L G;8 9<E8, ! 98?G ! J4F ;HA:EL, L8F, I8EL ;HA:EL.SBHG ABJ LBH F88 ;BJ <G <F ;8E8.S'A8 <F 988?<A: 8K46G?L 4F <9 BA8 ;47 588A GB 4A 8K;<5<G<BA B9 G;8 C8AG 6;89-7XB8HIE8F, 9BE <AFG4A68; J;4G 7B8F BA8 5E<A: ;B@8 9EB@ FH6; 4 74L?S'A?L 4 AH@58E B9 EBH:; F>8G6;8F.S08G G;8E8 <F 4ABG;8E G;<A: BA8 5E<A:F ;B@8T4 64?@ 4E7BE 9BE JBE>. DB JE<G8 FBBA, GB74L <F FE<74L, 5HG LBHE ?8GG8E ;4F ABG L8G 4EE<I87; ! 4@ ?BA:<A: GB :8G <G.S!G 4?FB G4>8F FB@8 G<@8 GB :8G <G 6;4A:87, 4F ! ;4I8 GB :B GB BB:8I88A 9BE <G, 4A7 G;8A E8GHEA ;8E8.S/8 7B ABG >ABJ ;BJ G;<A:F J<?? :B, BG;8EJ<F8 ! F;BH?7 F4L, ABJ G;8 F<@C?8FG G;<A: JBH?7 58 C8E;4CF GB F8A7 G;8 @BA8L BA68 4 @BAG;.S AG 4?? 8I8AGF, JE<G8 FBBA. /<G; 4 ;4A7F;4>8, 0BHEF F<A68E8?L, .<A68AG.
3Table of Contents
153
Vincent was totally absorbed by the rhythms of Drentheits farming landscape, people and pursuits. Earlier, his art had been influenced by book illustrations, most of which were in black and white, appealing to his love for drawing. As previously noted, he liked to create drawings using a limited pallette of colors. However, in Drenthe, the blue-grey soil, flaming autumn leaves, rain-drenched sky, and pools of water ignitedhis innate sense of color. He began to create a sacred romance out of the teeming soil with new vigor. Vincents first heavily layered oil paintings were created here in Drenthea world of black mud, yellowish-sand, and ripening corn. Textural penetration, artistic cultivation, and painterly weaving were embodied everywhere in his letter to Theo. It was as if he was seeing for the first time how the rich textural variations of naturesand, rock, mud, water, sky, and grasscould be translated and woven into the language of paint and facture. And as if to underscore this earthy revelation, Vincent told us in the letter that the grand finale of the entire day was the coming home of the shepherd and his flock. The whole caravan of masses of wool and mud disappears into that cavethe shepherd and a woman with a lantern shut the doors behind them. That coming home of the flock in twilight was the finale of the symphony I heard yesterday. A few months later, he would purchase a spinning wheel to study as a still-life subject, setting up a new studio around it. He gave the spinning wheel a regenerative meaning much clearer than the iron cradle which was associated with his failed relationship with Sien. The spinning wheel had long been associated with Vincents mother whom he felt he symbolically honored whenever he drew or painted the wheel. She was an expert knitter who amazed many with her blinding speed with the long needlesproud of how quickly she produced finished items. Perhaps it was her speed that Vincent emulated when he moved so rapidly over his canvases, often completing three paintings a day. The cradle and the spinning wheel appeared as central motifs in his art from the beginning to the end of his career. Humankind has long
154
3Table of Contents
recognized the enduring meaning ot them, and of the cradle as a symbol of birth. There are also interesting ways that the two can be linked as in a rocking cradle where time and mortality are conjoined as they really are in all existence. In his last letter to his mother written two weeks before his death, we see that time and issues of fate were on his mind:
U$4FG L84E ! E847 <A FB@8 5BB> BE BG;8E G;4G JE<G<A: 4 5BB> BE C4<AG<A: 4 C<6GHE8 J4F ?<>8 ;4I<A: 4 6;<?7. ,;<F ! J<?? ABG 4668CG 4F 4CC?<645?8 GB @8T! ;4I8 4?J4LF G;BH:;G G;4G G;8 ?4GG8E J4F G;8 @BE8 A4GHE4? 4A7 G;8 58FGTFB ! F4L, BA?L <9 <G J8E8 FB, BA?L <9 <G J8E8 G;8 F4@8. ,;<F <F G;8 I8EL E84FBA J;L 4G G<@8F ! 8K8EG @LF8?9 GB G;8 HG@BFG, G;BH:; <G ;4CC8AF GB 58 G;<F I8EL JBE> G;4G <F ?84FG HA78EFGBB7, 4A7 9BE @8 <G <F G;8 BA?L ?<A> 58GJ88A G;8 C4FG 4A7 G;8 CE8F8AG.V
Van Goghs sojourn in Drenthe helped mold his identity as an artist, his roots sunk deeply in the steaming earth. It was another Brabant of sorts (his actual place of birth). But at Drenthe it was not so much a physical rebirth that occurred; it was instead the emergence of a painter of the soil. As we read on in Vincents letter, it is apparent that Millets work had sharpened his own perceptions of color, both in the landscape and his art, as well as in his deepening awareness of people and their various trades. His time in the Drenthe countryside was a literal return home: what does one bring home from such a day? After his loss of home life with Sien, he found great respite in Drenthes cottage life and a more reliable musea lifelong bond with nature. Vincents dreams of domesticity now extended to all rural life. The sight of an old woman at the spinning wheel, a dark little silhouette out of a fairy tale, and a few geese pecking at grass... touched him deeply. The spinning woman was to Vincent the ultimate embodiment of motherhood. And in that mysterious spinner, his reverence for home and vocation were to merge. She spun away before the very landscape
3Table of Contents
155
he painted as if she were a symbol of mother nature. In homage to her, he wove it all into strands of lush pigment, the lilac sky, a country lane, and geese flying overhead, all rendered on the dense carpet of his canvases. Much of the Drenthe letter to Theo poignantly revealed Vincents longing for Sien and her children.Each time he saw a cottage or hut a fire glowing withinwas painful.As he trudged along the muddy roads under wet skies, his dreams of home and hearth prompted spiritual yearnings. As happened so often at extreme moments in his life, his thoughts turned to God and the mysterious providence and circumstance He orchestrated. In this lonely ocean of plowed fields, Vincent sensed that he was part of an eternal plan, and as he says elsewhere, it was more eternal than the ocean. At extreme moments, thoughts of God carried Vincent to his nativity, to the cradle, and an infants secret knowledgeparticularly of the One who was born 1,800 years before Vincent's own birth. It was the same for Dickens who, in describing a man on the way to his death, offered these thoughts writing of Sydney Carton, one of the characters in A Tale Of Two Cities, when contemplating his own death:
UW! 4@ G;8 *8FHEE86G<BA 4A7 G;8 $<98, F4<G; G;8 $BE7: ;8 G;4G 58?<8I8G; <A @8, G;BH:; ;8 J8E8 7847, L8G F;4?? ;8 ?<I8: 4A7 J;BFB8I8E ?<I8G; 4A7 58?<8I8G; <A @8 F;4?? A8I8E 7<8.X &BJ G;4G G;8 FGE88GF J8E8 DH<8G 4A7 G;8 A<:;G JBE8 BA, G;BF8 JBE7F J8E8 <A G;8 86;B8F B9 ;<F 988G, 4A7 J8E8 <A G;8 4<E. (8E986G?L 64?@ 4A7 FG847L, ;8 FB@8G<@8F E8C84G87 G;8@ GB ;<@F8?9 4F ;8 J4?>87; 5HG, ;8 ;84E7 G;8@ 4?J4LF.V
This journey into the wildness was another reprieve and, like illness, healing, and redemption were essential themes of Vincent's life and the ultimate meaning of his art. He was in a constant state of recovery from some kind of trouble or another. His immersion in the pastoral life of Drenthe was in many ways the most successful recovery he ever experienced. Nature spoke to him in the most consoling manner
156
3Table of Contents
and provided him the nurturing that Sien never could. Here in quiet Drenthe, where water washed the world clean, and trees, forests, and fields spoke the silent wisdom of infants fresh-born into the world, where water courses were ever flowing, perhaps here Vincent replaced and replenished the domestic dreams he had always cherished. Above all, his time there was a venture back to Brabant, to his own infancy and childhood dreams. Vincents letter from Drenthe ends with the question, What does one bring home from such a day?Yet there is another thing one brings homea calm ardor for work.
UBHG <9 BA8 988?F G;8 A887 B9 FB@8G;<A: :E4A7, FB@8G;<A: <A9<A<G8, FB@8G;<A: G;4G @4>8F BA8 988? 4J4E8 B9 GB7, BA8 A887 ABG :B 94E GB 9<A7 <G. ! G;<A> ! F88 FB@8G;<A: 788C8E, @BE8 <A9<A<G8, @BE8 8G8EA4? G;4A G;8 B684A <A G;8 8KCE8FF<BA B9 G;8 8L8F B9 4 ?<GG?8 545L J;8A <G J4>8F <A G;8 @BEA<A:, 4A7 6BBF BE ?4H:;F 5864HF8 <G F88F G;8 FHA F;<A<A: BA <GF 6E47?8. !9 G;8E8 <F 4 WE4LBA 7X8A ;4HG,X 24 ?<:;G BA ;<:;3 C8E;4CF BA8 64A 9<A7 <G G;8E8.V
And so it was that Vincents time in Drenthe contained both the promise and fulfillment of a dream. Using this allusive metaphor, Millet stated that being a peasant painter was dreamily satisfying in ways that the flurry of city life could never be. Vincent, who had read and reread Millets published writings, appears to have used Millets dream motif in his own visionary letter in which he describes his epic journey into the pristine isolation of rural Zweelo, Holland. Two dreams coalescedthe fulfillment of the artists domestication and birth as landscape painters. The power of Millet words continue to resonate with us to this very day:
",;8E8 4E8 C8BC?8 J;B F4L G;4G ! F88 AB 6;4E@F <A G;8 6BHAGEL. ! F88 @H6; @BE8 G;4A 6;4E@F G;8E8T<A9<A<G8 FC?8A7BHEF. ! F88, 4F J8?? 4F G;8L 7B, G;8 ?<GG?8 9?BJ8EF B9 J;<6; C;E<FG F4<7: '! F4L HAGB LBH, G;4G 8I8A +B?B@BA <A 4?? ;<F :?BEL J4F ABG 4EE4L87 ?<>8 BA8 B9 G;8F8.'
3Table of Contents
157
"! F88 I8EL J8?? G;8 4HE8B?8F B9 G;8 74A78?<BAF 4A7 G;8 FHA FCE847<A: ;<F :?BEL <A G;8 6?BH7F, BI8E G;8 7<FG4AG JBE?7F. BHG ABA8 G;8 ?8FF ! F88 7BJA G;8E8 <A G;8 C?4<A G;8 FG84@<A: ;BEF8F ?847<A: G;8 C?BH:;, 4A7 <A 4 EB6>L 6BEA8E 4 @4A DH<G8 JBEA-BHG, J;BF8 W;4AX ;4F 588A ;84E7 F<A68 @BEA<A:, 4A7 J;B GE<8F GB FGE4<:;G8A ;<@F8?9 4A7 G4>8 4 5E84G; 9BE 4 @B@8AG. ,;8 7E4@4 <F FHEEBHA787 J<G; FC?8A7BHE. "!G <F ABG @L <AI8AG<BA, 4A7 G;<F 8KCE8FF<BAT'G;8 6EL B9 G;8 :EBHA7'TJ4F ;84E7 ?BA: 4:B. %L 6E<G<6F 4E8 @8A B9 G4FG8 4A7 <AFGEH6G<BA, ! FHCCBF8, 5HG ! 64AABG CHG @LF8?9 <A G;8<E F><A, 4A7 F<A68 ! ;4I8 A8I8E, <A 4?? @L ?<98, >ABJA 4ALG;<A: 5HG G;8 9<8?7F, ! GEL 4A7 F4L, 4F 58FG ! 64A, J;4G ! F4J 4A7 98?G J;8A ! JBE>87 G;8E8. ,;BF8 J;B 64A 7B G;<F 58GG8E G;4A ! 64A 4E8 9BEGHA4G8 C8BC?8." T". F. %<??8G
S
'CCBF<G8: UF4E@;BHF8 <A (EBI8A68V 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;, 1888. '<? BA 64AI4F. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 &4G<BA4? G4??8EL B9 AEG, /4F;<A:GBA, DC.
158
3Table of Contents
3Table of Contents
EPISODE FOUR
VINCENTS MORAL HERITAGE

REMEMBRANCE & RECONCILIATION THE BISHOPS DOCTRINE & STARRY NIGHT
REMEMBRANCE & RECONCILIATION

U! JBAXG ;<78 9EB@ LBH G;4G ! 7BAXG 7<F?<>8 G;8 6BHAGEL, 4F ! ;4I8 588A 5EBH:;G HC G;8E8T! 4@ FG<?? 6;4E@87 5L G;8 @4:<6 B9 ;BFGF B9 @8@BE<8F B9 G;8 C4FG, B9 4 ?BA:<A: 9BE G;8 <A9<A<G8, B9 J;<6; G;8 FBJ8E, G;8 F;849 4E8 G;8 FL@5B?FT=HFG 4F @H6; 4F 589BE8. BHG J;8A F;4?? ! C4<AG @L FG4EEL F>L, G;4G C<6GHE8 J;<6; CE8B66HC<8F @8 6BAG<AHBHF?L?...'A8 @HFG 4GG46> G;8@ ABA8G;8?8FF, ;BJ8I8E <A6B@C8G8AG BA8 @4L 988? 589BE8 G;8 HAFC84>45?8 C8E986G<BA, G;8 :?BE<BHF FC?8A7BEF B9 A4GHE8.V T.<A68AG I4A GB:;
The much acclaimed Don Maclean song Starry, Starry Night, written in 1972, linked two of Vincents most famous works, The Starry
Night and Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier). The song portrays a

star-crossed man who is repulsed in love and takes his life. It also is a story of child-like innocence shattered by an uncaring world. Here are some lines from the song:
U+G4EEL, FG4EEL A<:;G. F?4@<A: 9?BJ8EF G;4G 5E<:;G?L 5?4M8, +J<E?<A: 6?BH7F <A I<B?8G ;4M8, *89?86G <A .<A68AG'F 8L8F B9 6;<A4 5?H8. CB?BEF 6;4A:<A: ;H8, @BEA<A: 9<8?7 B9 4@58E :E4<A, /84G;8E87 9468F ?<A87 <A C4<A, AE8 FBBG;87 58A84G; G;8 4EG<FG'F ?BI<A: ;4A7. +G4EEL, FG4EEL A<:;G. (BEGE4<GF ;HA: <A 8@CGL ;4??F, FE4@8?8FF ;847F BA A4@8?8FF J4??F, /<G; 8L8F G;4G J4G6; G;8 JBE?7 4A7 64A'G 9BE:8G. $<>8 G;8 FGE4A:8EF G;4G LBH'I8 @8G, ,;8 E4::87 @8A <A E4::87 6?BG;8F, ,;8 F<?I8E G;BEA B9 5?BB7L EBF8, $<8 6EHF;87 4A7 5EB>8A BA G;8 I<E:<A FABJ.
165
&BJ ! HA78EFG4A7 J;4G LBH GE<87 GB F4L GB @8, BJ LBH FH998E87 9BE LBHE F4A<GL, BJ LBH GE<87 GB F8G G;8@ 9E88. ,;8L JBH?7 ABG ?<FG8A, G;8L 7<7 ABG >ABJ ;BJ. (8E;4CF G;8L'?? ?<FG8A ABJ.V
The Starry Night and Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier) had
an even deeper connection than Don McLean intuitedone that has seemingly gone undetected by scholars and which, when fully examined, alters our understanding of these important works. The link between these paintings is supplied by Vincents letters and literary preoccupation, especially his absorption in Hugos popular novel Les
Misrables.
We have noticed how paintings and literary influences constantly interacted with each other throughout Vincents career. He found great inspiration in Hugos epic Les Miserables with its huge cast of common people, noting how Hugoused the stars and luminous objects as symbols of enlightenment and moral transformation. During Vincents confinement at San Remy, he needed to restore his spirituality and revitalize his fathers moral and religious legacy.In active pursuit of this, he painted The Starry Night. While still in Arles, he had already painted
Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier). Then, drawing inspiration from

the pages of the Gospel, he produced other significant works such as The
Good Samaritan, The Pieta, and The Raising of Lazarus.

The circumstances surrounding these paintings coincided with Vincents terrible need of religion. This need was provoked by his unresolved feelings about his fathers death, as he was the primary representative of religion in Vincents life. We recall from earlier chapters that a conflict separated Vincent and his father following Vincents dismissal as a missionary in the Borinage mining camps. The tension between them still existed when his father passed away in 1885. Several years later, facing his own imminent death, Vincent felt the need to make peace with his fathers memory and with the remaining members of his family.
166
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 FBHE: *8@8@5E4A68 & *86BA6<?<4G<BA
U,;4G 7B8F ABG CE8I8AG @8 9EB@ ;4I<A: 4 G8EE<5?8 A887 B9TF;4?? ! F4L G;8 JBE7?TB9 E8?<:<BA. ,;8A ! :B BHG 4G A<:;G GB C4<AG G;8 FG4EF, 4A7 ! 4@ 4?J4LF 7E84@<A: B9 4 C<6GHE8 ?<>8 G;<F.V U"HFG 4F !X@ JE<G<A: GB LBH, G;8 CBBE C84F4AG 2(4G<8A68 EF64?<8E3 J;B <F ?<>8 4 64E<64GHE8 B9 F4G;8E ;4CC8AF GB ;4I8 6B@8 <AGB G;8 649N. ,;8 E8F8@5?4A68 <F G8EE<5?8, 4?? G;8 F4@8. EFC86<4??L G;8 HA68EG4<AGL 4A7 G;8 J84E<A8FF 4A7 G;8 I4:H8A8FF B9 G;8 @BHG;.S! FG<?? 988? <G <F 4 C<GL G;4G ! ;4I8 ABG 588A 45?8 GB 7B <G 2GB C4<AG EF64?<8E3.V
Vincent had relocated to the small town of Arles in southern France following a tumultuous time in Paris between 1886-1887. As so often happened in Vincents life, someone appeared at a crucial moment to play a decisive role. As he mentioned, the local peasant who entered the caf Vincent frequented bore a startlingresemblance to his deceased father. This chance meeting led to some of the most emotionally wrought portraits in the history of arta fathers posthumous portrait painted vicariously using the face of another. The result was several of Vincents best known images, but the underlying meaning of these works has never been fully examined in any historical analysis. His fathers look-alike was Patience Escalier, an elderly field hand. Vincent persuaded him to pose and paid him for his time. One of the paintings that emerged from this unusual encounter was of a sundarkened man, wearing a glowing yellow straw hat woven in heavilypigmented strokes. A massive cerulean blue jacket with jade green accents cascaded over his sloping shoulders. The dividing line between his shoulders and the radiant orange background surrounding him was outlined in Prussian blue, which activated the colors. He wore a red scarf complemented by his orange-red sleeves. His stubby, leathered hands rested upon a cane. His face is bronzed, painted with sunset hues: yellow-orange, red-violet and gold-white. With his penetrating blood-shot eyes, weary red lips and chiseled jaw, he was totally vulnerable, yet
3Table of Contents
167
venerable, and tenderly human. Translated as a peasant embodiment of the rural-residing Theodorus van Gogh, the portrait conveyed the fathers love of nature, showing simple piety, unpretentiousness, and a rugged self-sacrificial aura. The surface of this work is resiliently tacky, the paint stuck on and still wet-looking after more than a hundred years. The glossy oil has the consistency of fruit juice hardened under a blazing sun.The pallette is hot and signals that Escalier had been sunburnt and exhausted by a hard life. It conveys a steady message of silent suffering. It is, in many ways, a portrait of deaththe sunset of human life. In the most literal way it chronicles the daily sunset that ends Patiences working days. Further insightful comments about this work entitled The Old
Peasant, Patience Escalier, 1888 (see page 43), now in the Stavios Niarchos Collection in Athens, were made by art historian Judy Sund (2002):
UAF .<A68AG B5F8EI87 GB /<? 2;<F LBHA:8E F<FG8E3, WBL <AG8AF<9L<A: 4?? G;8 6B?BHEF, BA8 4EE<I8F 4:4<A 4G DH<8GH78 4A7 ;4E@BAL...F<@<?4E GB J;4G ;4CC8AF <A /4:A8EXF @HF<6, J;<6;, G;BH:; C?4L87 5L 4 ?4E:8 BE6;8FGE4, <F ABA8G;8?8FF <AG<@4G8.X ,;8 C?4L B9 6BB? 5?H8F 4@<7 G;8 ;84G87 ;H8F B9 EF64?<8EXF WFHA-FG88C87X F><A 4A7 4:4<AFG G;8 I<I<7 J4E@G; B9 >8E6;<89, 6H99F 4A7 546>7EBC, @4>8F 9BE 4A HA64AA<?L 64?@ 89986G. !A G;<F F86BA7 <@4:8, .<A68AG GE4787 G;8 6B?BHE<FG<6 6B@@BG<BA B9 WG;8 ;8<:;G B9 ;4EI8FG-G<@8X 9BE G;8 WFHAF8G-E47<4A68X B9 4 C4?8GG8 G;4G <F ;8<:;G8A87 4A7 4??HF<I8 E4G;8E G;4A W?B64??L GEH8X: G;8 BE4A:8 :EBHA7, ;8 E8@4E>87, W7B8F ABG CE8G8A7 GB 58 G;8 <@4:8 B9 4 E87 FHAF8GX,S 5HG W@4L ABA8G;8?8FF FH::8FG BA8.X !A 6BA=HA6G<BA J<G; 8KC?<6<G @4E>8EF B9 4:8 4A7 94G<:H8 (G;8 @B78?XF 5?84EL-8L87 :4M8 58A84G; :E4L<A: 5EBJF, 4A7 EBHA7-F;BH?78E87 CBFGHE8 BI8E ;<F FG<6>); G;<F 6B?BHE<FG<6 ;<AG B9 74LXF 8A7 <@C?<8F G;8 6?BF8A8FF B9 784G;, 8I8A 4F G;8 @4AXF F@B6> 4A7 ;4A7F 58FC84> ;<F ?45BHE<A: ?<98.V
The similarities to Vincents father are remarkable. Van Gogh was especially sensitive to names and word combinations. In this he was influenced by Charles Dickens, master of the double-name literary device. We recall Dickenss David Copper-field or Stephan Black-pool
168
3Table of Contents
where the name combination gives the reader a clue into the identity of the character. In the portraits of the peasant, the French words pa-
tience and escalier carry an interesting literary connection with Vincents father that has never been notedpatience meaning long-suffering, and escalier meaning stairs or a stairway. A simple combination of the names would be rendered patient climbing or even steady progress. Considering that Pastor Theodorus was known for his long-suffering and moral perseverance, the name could not have been more appropriate. Vincent would not have missed the significance of the name and its connection with his deceased father. The moral implication of the series is powerful, considering that Vincent always maintained that self-sacrificial love was the ultimate test of moral worth. What adds to our reading of the paintings is to learn that Vincents father was in effect sacrificed as a result of Vincents volatile behavior. The hands appear to be folded in prayerful resignation. Vincents unresolved feelings following his fathers sudden death can be discerned in numerous letters and paintings made immediately after Theodoruss funeral in 1885. These included a still-life of his fathers Bible, and another of his fathers pipe and tobacco pouch.However, while these works feature still-life objects associated with his fathers daily life, the Escalier portraits forced Vincent to literally face his father through the surrogate peasant and reckon with his guilt, working out his atonement through this series of works. At roughly the same time in 1888, as he completed the Escalier portraits, he painted a series of portraits of his mother. This was the only time in his career he painted his parents (what has long been regarded as a profile of his father from the early 1880s is now believed to be his grandfather). When we bear in mind that Vincents aesthetic projects were typically a means to work out real-life issues, the question would be what issues did these parental portraits portend?Unlike the Escalier painting, the Portrait of the Artists Mother of 1888 (see Page 30) was celebratory rather than confessional. He had effectively reflected on both of his parents and their meaning to him during his mid-life.
3Table of Contents
169
Where the mournful mood of the Escalier painting troubles and provokes our solicitude, his mothers portrait comforts. Where the fatherly Escalier was solidly constructed and beautifully linear, she seems woven as much as painted with thick, decisive strokes.Contoured touches define cheeks, chin, and powerful forehead, and define amused lips and bright, alert eyes. Where Escalier blazes with a tender fire, Anna softly glows in strands of light-colored pigment set against a quiet green background. The overall soothing green is heightened with warm black, and brick-red drawing, with touches of lilac, soft brown, and cream white. The effect is life-giving in contrast to the death-torched expression of the Theodorus stand-in." Her skin is smooth and healthy rather than parched and leathered. It has a lightness that suggests the healing cuisine of this gifted cook. The portrait is a tribute to a gifted knitter, water colorist, and indefatigable writer of comforting letters. The notion of a vitally alive, witty, and playful woman is broadcast in this image of Anna Cornelia Van Gogh. Vincents artistic urges were encouraged and modeled by her, more than by his father, and her portrait seems to convey all of this. Where his fathers double is portrayed as powerfully vulnerable and dedicated, his mother is shown as resilient and lively.She did, in fact, outlive her husband (who died at sixty-three) by two and a half decades (and Vincent by 50 years), dying at the age of eightyseven.She continued to write to Vincent until the end of his life. He was to send her one of his very last, most appreciative, and prophetic letters hinting at his own death. The letter resonated with the uncertainty of life and Vincents hope of one day being reunited with those he loved, especially his parents. He quoted a key passage from St. Pauls famous Epistle on love which culminated in the unveiling of lifes ultimate meaning:For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face (1 Cor. 13:12 NASB). The portraits of his parents allowed Vincent to resolve in some measure his conflicted feelings about them and his own sense of disappointment and regret at having caused them suffering. The portraits can
170
3Table of Contents
also be understood to represent contrasting sides of Vincents personality; one paternal and self-sacrificial to the point of self-immolation, the other maternal and healing. It was the powerful oscillations between these two poles that generated the moral tensions in his life. Consider, for instance, that in his final, most desperate days he wrote comforting letters to his next of kin, and painted a chain of consoling images based on regeneration and transcendent love. Then he shot himself in the most pragmatic fashion, denying himself all further consolation. We can gain some perspective on the dynamics that influenced his actions by looking back over letters as early as 1882. There was a serious exchange in these letters, the first from Theo to Vincent:
U,;4G LBH 6BH?7 ABG 584E <G G;8E8 4AL ?BA:8E <F CBFF<5?8, 4A7 G;4G LBH 7<998E <A BC<A<BA J<G; C8BC?8 J;B ?<I87 4?? G;8<E ?<I8F <A G;8 6BHAGEL 4A7 ;4I8 ABG 6B@8 <AGB 6BAG46G J<G; @B78EA ?<98 <F ABG HAA4GHE4?; 5HG 6BA9BHA7 <G, J;4G @478 LBH FB 6;<?7<F; 4A7 <@CH78AG 4F GB 8@5<GG8E 4A7 FCB<? F4G;8EXF 4A7 %BG;8EXF ?<98 <A G;4G J4L? !G <F ABG 7<99<6H?G GB 9<:;G 4:4<AFG FB@8BA8 J;B <F 4?E847L G<E87. /;8A F4G;8E JEBG8 @8 45BHG <G, ! G;BH:;G <G @<:;G 58 4 @<FHA78EFG4A7<A:, 5HG LBH LBHEF8?9 F4L <A LBHE ?8GG8E: <G J<?? ABG 58 E87E8FF87 FB 84F<?L. DBAXG LBH >ABJ ;<@ G;8A, 4A7 7BAXG LBH 988? G;4G F4G;8E 64AABG ?<I8 4F ?BA: 4F G;8E8 <F 4 DH4EE8? 58GJ88A LBH GJB?V
Vincent defensively fired back:
UEI8EL G<@8 LBH F4L FB@8G;<A: GB F4G;8E J;<6; ;8 ;4FAXG 4A 4AFJ8E 9BE, ;8 CEB7H68F 4A 8KCE8FF<BA B9 G;<F ><A7; 9BE <AFG4A68, ;8 J<?? F4L, U0BH 4E8 @HE78E<A: @8,V @84AJ;<?8 E847<A: G;8 C4C8E 4A7 F@B><A: ;<F C<C8 <A 6B@C?8G8 GE4ADH<?<GL. +B ! G4>8 FH6; 8KCE8FF<BAF 9BE J;4G G;8L E84??L 4E8...F4G;8E <F 8K68FF<I8?L GBH6;L 4A7 <EE<G45?8 4A7 9H?? B9 J4LJ4E7A8FF <A ;<F ;B@8 ?<98, 4A7 ;8 G;<A>F ;8 <F 8AG<G?87 GB :8GG<A: ;<F BJA J4L...! GB?7 F4G;8E 4 :BB7 @4AL G;<A:F J;<6; ;<F BABE F4J 9<G GB 9?<A: GB G;8 J<A7F. +B 4F GB G;8 G;<A:F ! F4<7 J;8A ! ?BFG @L G8@C8E, ! G;<A> G;8 F4@8 <A 4 64?@8E @BB7...BHG J;8A ! 9?8J <AGB 4 E4:8, @L 7<C?B@46L J4F FJ8CG 4J4L 4A7, J8??, BA G;<F B664F<BA ! E84??L ?8G 9?L. ! J<?? ABG
3Table of Contents
171
4CB?B:<M8 9BE G;<F, 4A7 4F ?BA: 4F F4G;8E 4A7 %BG;8E C8EF8I8E8 <A G;<F @BB7, ! F;4?? ABG G4>8 4ALG;<A: 546>...AA7 9HEG;8E, 4F GB FH6; 8KCE8FF<BAF 4F U! 64AABG 584E <G,V U! 4@ 58<A: @HE78E87,VS U%L ?<98 <F 8@5<GG8E87,V ! 7B ABG 4GG46; <@CBEG4A68 GB G;8@ 4AL @BE8, 9BE G;8L 4E8 BA?L 4 @4AA8E B9 FC84><A:.V
Theo seemed to have had a deeper understanding of his fathers vulnerability than did Vincent: Dont you know him then, and dont you feel that Father cannot live as long as there is a quarrel between you two? The suggestion that unresolved conflict might actually kill their father was made by someone who knew him well. Yet Vincent ignored Theos pleas. It was also around this time (1882) that his parents seriously considered committing Vincent to a mental institution. Two years later in 1884, following his breakup with Sien, Vincent returned in a final homecoming, but from the start it was overshadowed by tragedy. Within a month of his arrival, Vincents elderly mother fell while boarding a train and fractured her right thighbone. The leg was set in a full-leg cast which forced her to remain bed-ridden for several months. As a result of her lengthy convalescence, she developed bed sores and complications which slowed her recovery. Vincent wrote to his friend Rappard:
U&BJ ! 4@ :?47 ! 4@ ;8E8, 4F @L F<FG8EF 4E8 C;LF<64??L J84> GBB, 4A7 ! 64A 84F<?L 9<A7 FB@8G;<A: HF89H? GB 7B...%L @BG;8E J<?? E8DH<E8 4 ?BG B9 AHEF<A:T G;8 7B6GBE 4FFHE8F HF G;4G F;8 64A E86BI8E 6B@C?8G8?LT5HG HA78E G;8 @BFG 94IBE45?8 6<E6H@FG4A68F <G J<?? G4>8 4G ?84FG ;4?9 4 L84E 589BE8 F;8 64A J4?> 4:4<A 4A7 8I8A G;8A G;4G ?8: J<?? 58 F;BEG8E G;4A G;8 BG;8E BA8.V
And then:
U%L @BG;8E <F E86BI8E<A: FG847<?L; G;8 9E46GHE8 <F ;84?87 ABJ, 4A7 G;8 C?4FG8E 64FG ;4F 588A G4>8A B99. BHG F;8 J<?? FG<?? ;4I8 GB >88C ;8E ?8: <A 4 ;BE<MBAG4? CBF<G<BA 9BE 45BHG F<K J88>F. 08FG8E74L, ;BJ8I8E, J8 64EE<87 ;8E GB G;8 ?<I<A: EBB@
172
3Table of Contents
BA 4 ><A7 B9 ?<GG8E 4F 4 GE<4?, 4A7 ?4G8E BA J8 F;4?? 58 45?8 GB 64EEL ;8E <AGB G;8 BC8A 4<E GBB BA68 <A 4 J;<?8.V
As her nurse and companion, Vincents skills were praised by both his mother and the attending doctor, and it was acknowledged that Vincent played a crucial role in Anna's recovery and morale. This care helped to soothe the troubled waters he had left in his wake two years earlier. During Annas recovery, she was visited almost daily by her next door neighbor, the auburn-haired Margot Begemann. While caring for his mother, Vincent began a series of paintings of weavers (local male craftsmen who operated the large looms of the region). The weavers were sullen, silent men who worked against the tide of history, their livelihood already undermined by industrial weaving factories.Vincent saw them as long-suffering victims, much like his father, put out to pasture with dwindling reward. Vincent purchased a spinning wheel (seemingly inspired by the mysterious old spinning woman whom he featured in his letter from Drenthe) and made numerous drawings of it. Male weavers and female spinners, maternal and paternal images overlapped and later, after his fathers death, they intensified. I can assure you those compositions with the figures are no joke, and I am deep in my work. It is like weaving one needs all ones attention to keep the threads apartone must manage to keep an eye on several things at once. His bedridden mother spent her time quietly knitting. It was evident from his letters that Annas healing and hobbies sparked a flow of domestic ideas and visual corollaries for Vincent. They centered on the persona of his mother. The healing of art and the art of healing were actualized in her convalescence. She knitted as her bones knit back together, and all the while her son wove paint into the brooding images of the weavers. Weaving, spinning, and knitting, as Judy Sund and other scholars have noted, are related to cyclical themes and seasonal cycles, time and duration, as in the weaving of fate, the web of destiny,
3Table of Contents
173
and the thread of life. Now, his mothers mortality allowed Vincent to conjoin these layered meanings into a sacred whole, and Vincent was celebrated in the role of her nurse. Through this healing role we discern important things about the purpose and appeal of his art. He had begun to practice art seriously as a form of therapy following his mining experiences, and then took up art as a profession in the context of his family studio while living with Sien. In that little apartment, Vincent was actively involved in Sien's recovery, as he was now with his mother. Art was a healing activity for Vincent, a way to stanch the suffering of humanity and bind him more totally to the world he inhabited. We see this clearly in his use of domestic media in an aesthetically-medicinal way. This is in part the great appeal of his workit brings us into the real world in the most concrete of ways, and then transports us. Vincents art would fulfill what we read of the beneficent Bishop from Hugo's Les Miserables, a book that had a profound impact on Van Gogh's moral outlook.
" 8 <A6?<A87 GBJ4E7F G;8 7<FGE8FF87 4A7 G;8 E8C8AG4AG. ,;8 HA<I8EF8 4CC84E87 GB ;<@ ?<>8 4 I4FG 7<F84F8; ;8 C8E68<I87 98I8E 8I8ELJ;8E8, ;8 4HF6H?G4G87 FH998E<A: 8I8ELJ;8E8, 4A7, J<G;BHG 8FF4L<A: GB FB?I8 G;8 8A<:@4, ;8 8A784IBE87 GB FG4HA6; G;8 JBHA7." T.<6GBE H:B
Of this book Vincent wrote to Theo:
U! J<F; LBH ;47 E847 $8F %<FNE45?8FTG;8A <G JBH?7 58 84F<8E 9BE @8 GB FC84> GB LBH 45BHG <G, 9BE LBH @<:;G 58 FGEH6> 5L G;8 F4@8 G;<A:F G;4G 4E8 6BAG<AH4??L 6B@<A: 546> GB @L @<A7TG;<F JBH?7 ABG FHECE<F8 @8.S ! 4?E847L >A8J G;8 5BB>, 5HG F<A68 !XI8 E8E847 <G, @4AL G;<A:F <A <G >88C E8GHEA<A: GB @L G;BH:;GF 4:4<A 4A7 4:4<A.V
The next passage featured his parents, winders of yarn, a weaver, and an infant, all shaded by contrasting destinies.Life and death seemed
174
3Table of Contents
to tug at each other in this letter, as they always did in Vincents mind, one extreme prompting another, the extremes of youth and age begging reflection about the meaning of life:
U,4><A: ;8E 7<99<6H?G F<GH4G<BA <AGB 6BAF<78E4G<BA, ! 4@ :?47 GB F4L %BG;8EXF FC<E<GF 4E8 I8EL 8I8A 4A7 5E<:;G. AA7 F;8 <F 4@HF87 5L GE<9?8F. ,;8 BG;8E 74L ! C4<AG87 9BE ;8E G;8 ?<GG?8 6;HE6; J<G; G;8 ;87:8 4A7 G;8 GE88F (?<>8 G;<F).* 0BH J<?? 84F<?L HA78EFG4A7 G;4G ! ?BI8 G;8 F68A8EL ;8E8. /;8A LBH 6B@8, ! F;4?? G4>8 LBH <AGB G;8 6BGG4:8F B9 G;8 J84I8EF. ,;8 9<:HE8F B9 G;8 J84I8EF, 4A7 G;8 JB@8A J;B J<A7 G;8 L4EA, J<?? 68EG4<A?L FGE<>8 LBH. ,;8 ?4FG FGH7L ! @478 <F G;8 9<:HE8 B9 4 @4A F<GG<A: 4G G;8 ?BB@, G;8 9<:HE8 4C4EG, G;8 5HFG 4A7 ;4A7F. ! 4@ C4<AG<A: 4 ?BB@ B9 B?7, :E88A<F;, 5EBJA87 B4>, <A J;<6; G;8 74G8 1730 <F 6HG. &84E G;4G ?BB@, <A 9EBAG B9 4 ?<GG?8 J<A7BJ J;<6; ?BB>F BHG BA 4 :E88A C?BG, G;8E8 <F 4 545L 6;4<E, 4A7 4 545L F<GF <A <G, ?BB><A: 9BE ;BHEF 4G G;8 F;HGG?8 9?L<A: GB 4A7 9EB. ! ;4I8 C4<AG87 G;4G G;<A: 8K46G?L 4F <G J4F <A E84?<GL, G;8 ?BB@ J<G; G;8 ?<GG?8 J84I8E, G;8 ?<GG?8 J<A7BJ 4A7 G;8 545L 6;4<E <A G;8 @<F8E45?8 ?<GG?8 EBB@ J<G; G;8 ?B4@ 9?BBE... ...$BI8 9EB@ 4??, /E<G8 GB %BG;8E 4 ?<GG?8 @BE8 B9G8A, ?8GG8EF 4E8 FH6; 4 7<FGE46G<BA.V
Months later, when his mother was on her feet again, and just as the family had breathed a collective sigh of relief, Vincent shocked everyone when it was discovered that he was involved emotionally with the passionate Margot Begemann. The repercussions were devastating.Margot was impressed by Vincents assured healing ways as she visited Vincent's recuperating mother, and she fell in love with him. Margots family attempted to break up the relationshipreminiscent of the previous affair with Kee. In desperation she swallowed poison. In a dramatic, last-minute intervention, Vincent saved her life by carrying her to a local doctor who pumped her stomach.
* He includes a sketch of the church
3Table of Contents
175
The rippling news of Margots suicide attempt spread throughout the tiny village. Approaching the Begemann family as a peace maker, Vincents father was rebuffed, and his reputation as a village pastor tarnished. As if this scandal were not enough, a peasant girl who had been modeling for Vincent became pregnant, and Vincent was rumored to be the father.
" 8 IBJ87 GB E8@4<A <A BE454AG, 4A7 ;<F JBE> 6BAG<AH87 4C468 HAG<? GBE7<A4 78 GEBBG, 4A HA@4EE<87 C4G;B?<6 JBE><A: JB@4A J;B FB@8G<@8F @B78??87 9BE .<A68AG, 5864@8 I<F<5?L CE8:A4AG. ,;8 (EBG8FG4AG 4EG<FGT4 5BHE:8B<F <AG8E?BC8E <A C84F4AG :4E5TJ4F EH@BE87 GB 58 G;8 94G;8E (HA=HFG?L, ;8 <AF<FG87)..." T+HA7 2002
The shock of Annas fall, the suicide attempt of a neighbor, repeated scandals, and years of Vincents unceasing assaults against corruption in the clergy, were all more than his father could take.Theodorus had a sudden stroke, as he had predicted he would, and died. Vincent was surely haunted by his fathers prophetic words: I am being murdered. Following his fathers death, as if hounded, Vincent embarked on a three-year drinking binge in Paris. This was the most destructive period of his life. Even so, he continued to produce some remarkable work inspired by the Impressionists who exhibited in the great city.As he gradually regained his equilibrium, he began to think of the damage he had done, recalling something he had often said in his younger days:
U!G 4?J4LF FGE<>8F @8, 4A7 <G <F I8EL C86H?<4E, G;4G J;8A8I8E J8 F88 G;8 <@4:8 B9 <A78F6E<545?8 4A7 HAHGG8E45?8 78FB?4G<BA B9 ?BA8?<A8FF, CBI8EGL 4A7 @<F8EL, G;8 8A7 BE 8KGE8@8 B9 4?? G;<A:F, G;8 G;BH:;G B9 GB7 6B@8F <AGB BHE @<A7FV
176
3Table of Contents
Before his descent into an alcoholic haze, and after his fathers funeral in 1885, his sister, Anna, drove him out of their house. Vincent moved temporarily to Montmartre where he moved in with Theo, putting such a strain on him that Theos health also was to suffer badly. A. Bonger, Theos future brother-in-law, wrote:
UD<7 ! G8?? LBH G;4G .<A68AG ;4F @BI87 GB %BAG@4EGE8? ,;8B <F FG<?? ?BB><A: 9E<:;G9H??L <??; ;8 ?<G8E4??L ;4F AB 9468 4G 4??. ,;4G CBBE 98??BJ ;4F @4AL 64E8F. %BE8BI8E, ;<F 5EBG;8E <F @4><A: ?<98 E4G;8E 4 5HE78A 9BE ;<@, 4A7 E8CEB46;8F ;<@ J<G; 4?? ><A7F B9 G;<A:F B9 J;<6; ;8 <F DH<G8 <AAB68AG.V
Vincents life in Paris was largely unrecorded as he was now living with Theo. During this time, he produced an astonishing number of flower paintings. We learn from later letters that it was a period of building friendships with Impressionist painters, of experimentation and the brightening of his pallette. But his primary experimentation seemed to have been with absinthe, the immensely popular, unstable liquor made from unrefined wormwood alcohol, and known to cause nerve damage, blindness, and insanity. On Christmas Eve of 1888, after drinking a large quantity of absinthe, Vincent slashed off a portion of his ear. There are conflicting accounts of the damage. From this point, he suffered chronic bouts of epilepsy and insanity which contributed to his eventual suicide. Absinthe was distilled (in those days very crudely) from the very ordinary-looking wormwood plant. It apparently held a secret: its aromatic leaves and flowers were naturally rich in terpene thujone, an aromatic, bitter substance believed to induce an inexplicable clarity of thought, an increased sense of perception, and enhanced creativity, inspiration and the ability to "see beyond"at least according to all the absinthe-drinking nineteenth-century poets, writers, and painters.
3Table of Contents
177
As Trachtman reported (2005): A5F<AG;8 J4F 9<A4??L BHG?4J87 5L FE8A6; 4HG;BE<G<8F <A 1915. BHG J;<?8 .<A-
68AG ?<I87 <A (4E<F, G;8 9BE@<745?8 :E88A ?<DH<7, FJ88G8A87 5L CBHE<A: <G BI8E FH:4E, E4A 9E88?L <A G;8 54EF 9E8DH8AG87 5L 4EG<FGF FH6; 4F %4A8G, D8:4F 4A7 $4HGE86. $4HGE86 J4F BA8 B9 .<A68AGXF 6?BF8FG 6B@C4A<BAF 7HE<A: G;4G G<@8, 4A7 GB:8G;8E G;8L ;4HAG87 G;8 F4@8 8FG45?<F;@8AGF, 4A7 C4EGA8E87 <A G;8 F4@8 7854H6;8EL, 9BE G;8 @BFG C4EG <A G;8 JBE><A:-6?4FF 7<FGE<6G B9 %BAG@4EG8, ABGBE<BHF 9BE G;<8I8F 4A7 5EBG;8?F, 4F J8?? 4F <GF ;4A:BHGF 9BE G;8 BB;8@<4A 8?8@8AG B9 4I4AG-:4E78 4EG<FGF 4A7 ?<G8E4EL 4A4E6;<FGF. *47<64?F ;47 588A 4GG46><A: B99<6<4? FE8A6; 6H?GHE8 8I8E F<A68 CB8G C;4E?8F B4H78?4<E8 HE:87 C4<AG8EF GB 78C<6G @B78EA ?<98, 4A7 G;8 C4<AG8E GHFG4I8 CBHE58G 786?4E87 G;4G U4EG @HFG 58 7E4::87 G;EBH:; G;8 :HGG8E.V $4HGE86XF G846;8E, CBE@BA, C4<AG87 ?4E:8 G45?84HK B9 G;8 +GBA8 A:8, 5HG ;8 >A8J ;<F FGH78AGF J8E8 7E4JA GB G;8 FGE88G ?<98 58LBA7 ;<F 4G8?<8E, 4A7 ;8 GB?8E4G87 G;8<E 9BE4LF <AGB G;8 U:HGG8E.V . . . $4HGE86, ;BJ8I8E, F88@87 7E<I8A GB FDH4A78E ;<F :?BEL 5L 7E<A><A: ;<@F8?9 <AGB 4A 84E?L :E4I8. AG G;8 ;8<:;G B9 ;<F FH668FF, G;8E8 J8E8 A<:;GF J;8A ;8 JBH?7 6B@C?8G8?L 7<F4CC84E, 8I8AGH4??L 7E4::<A: ;<@F8?9 9EB@ G;8 :HGG8E 4F <9 G4><A: CBHE58GXF CE8F6E<CG<BA DH<G8 ?<G8E4??L. ,BJ4E7F G;8 8A7, ;4??H6<A4G<BAF 4A7 C4E4AB<4, <A7H687 5L 4?6B;B?<F@ 4A7 FLC;<?<F, JBH?7 BI8EJ;8?@ ;<@. 'A BA8 B664F<BA, J;8A I<F<G<A: 9E<8A7F <A G;8 6BHAGEL, 4 F;BG J4F ;84E7 9EB@ ;<F EBB@. 8 J4F 9BHA7 F<GG<A: BA ;<F 587 5E4A7<F;<A: 4 C<FGB? 4:4<AFG U4GG46><A:V FC<78EF. EI8AGH4??L, ;8 J4F ?B6>87 HC <A 4A 4FL?H@ J;8E8, ?<>8 ;<F 9E<8A7 .<A68AG, ;8 6BAG<AH87 GB JBE>. !A 4 5HEFG B9 4EG<FG<6 8A8E:L, ;8 CEB7H687 4 5E<??<4AG F8E<8F B9 6<E6HF 7E4J<A:F 9EB@ @8@BEL GB 6BAI<A68 ;<F 7B6GBE ;8 J4F F4A8. E?8I8A J88>F ?4G8E, ;8 J4F E8?84F87, 5HG ;8 J4F FBBA 7E<A><A: 4:4<A. 8 FC8AG ;<F ?4FG 74LF <A ;<F @BG;8EXF :4E78A, J;8E8 ;8 B9G8A C4<AG87 ;8E, 4A7 7<87 <A ;8E 4E@F <A 1901, F;BEG?L 589BE8 ;<F 37G; 5<EG;74L.V
The parallels between Lautrec and Van Gogh are striking: they both died at around thirty-seven years of age, suffering from alcoholism,
178
3Table of Contents
venereal disease, and insanity. Vincent later commented on this time in his life:
U+B@8 74LF 4:B ! J4F E847<A: <A G;8 F<:4EB G;8 FGBEL B9 4 *HFF<4A JE<G8E 2DBFGB8IF>L?3 J;B FH998E87 4?? ;<F ?<98 9EB@ 4 A8EIBHF 7<F84F8 J;<6; ;8 9<A4??L 7<87 B9, 4A7 J;<6; 5EBH:;G BA G8EE<5?8 4GG46>F 9EB@ G<@8 GB G<@8. AA7 J;4GXF GB 58 7BA8? ,;8E8 <F AB 6HE8, BE <9 G;8E8 <F BA8, <G <F JBE><A: M84?BHF?L. ! 7J8?? BA G;<F @BE8 G;4A ! F;BH?7. AA7 4?GB:8G;8E ! JBH?7 E4G;8E ;4I8 4 7BJAE<:;G <??A8FF ?<>8 G;<F G;4A 58 G;8 J4L ! J4F <A (4E<F J;<?8 G;<F J4F 5E8J<A:. AA7 LBH 64A F88 G;<F J;8A LBH CHG G;8 CBEGE4<G J<G; G;8 ?<:;G 546>:EBHA7 G;4G ! ;4I8 =HFG 9<A<F;87 A8KG GB G;8 F8?9-CBEGE4<GF <A (4E<F, 4A7 G;4G ! ?BB> F4A8E ABJ G;4A ! 7<7 G;8A, 8I8A @H6; @BE8 FB.V
Vincents large consumption of absinthe combined with the syphilis he had contracted years earlier provoked strange behavior during this period. He suffered from blackouts and bizarre mental behavior and mood swings. He claimed that when he finally left Paris during the spring of 1888, he was on the verge of a stroke, the very thing that had killed his father.And he was haunted by guilt, and the idea that he did not deserve his brother Theos kindness. He also felt he had caused Theos descent into ill health. Realizing he had to make changes, he fled to rural Arles in Provence, and swore he would never live in a large city again. He remained true to his word. In Arles, Vincent reported that his health had greatly improved as a result of the fresh air and hearty food. The countryside reminded him of rural Holland, Drenthe, his childhood, and of his parents. It was during this time of recovery that he painted the portraits of Escalier and his mother. And in some ways, the tie between his parents moral values and his noticeably improved health became apparent to Vincent. His licentious life in Paris, and his bouts of self-destruction, now stood in sharp contrast to the simpler ambience of rural Provence. His art and letters became a continual discourse on existential issues, spiritual yearning,
3Table of Contents
179
moral themes, sincere regrets, and thoughts about the after-life. His terrible need for religion was to intensify. In early 1889, after his first self-committed stay at the San Remy Asylum, he was able for the first time in his life to admit his shortcomings:
U! B9G8A 988? @H6; F8?9-E8CEB46; 45BHG G;8 G;<A:F <A G;8 C4FG, @L <??A8FF 58<A: @BE8 BE ?8FF @L BJA 94H?G, <A 4AL 64F8 ! 7BH5G <9 ! 64A @4>8 HC 9BE 94H?GF <A 4AL J4LVS
Vincents thoughts moved back and forth from past regrets to eternal hope. These tugging and terrible urges received embodiment in one of his most thematically rich works, The Starry Night of 1889.His life-long preoccupation with bodily resurrection reappeared. He wanted to discuss Christ with artists such as Emile Bernard whom he met in Paris. In a letter to Bernard, he likened Christ to a divine artist whose ultimate work was the transformation of life and death into resurrected glory and eternal life:
UC;E<FG 4?BA8TB9 4?? G;8 C;<?BFBC;8EF, %4:<, 8G6.T;4F 499<E@87, 4F 4 CE<A6<C4? 68EG4<AGL, 8G8EA4? ?<98, G;8 <A9<A<GL B9 G<@8, G;8 ABG;<A:A8FF B9 784G;, G;8 A868FF<GL 4A7 G;8 E4<FBA 7X8GE8 B9 F8E8A<GL 4A7 78IBG<BA. 8 ?<I87 F8E8A8?L, 4F 4 :E84G8E 4EG<FG G;4A 4?? BG;8E 4EG<FGF, 78FC<F<A: @4E5?8 4A7 6?4L 4F J8?? 4F 6B?BE, JBE><A: <A ?<I<A: 9?8F;. ,;4G <F GB F4L, G;<F @4G6;?8FF 4EG<FG, ;4E7?L GB 58 6BA68<I87 B9 5L G;8 B5GHF8 <AFGEH@8AG B9 BHE @B78EA, A8EIBHF, FGHC89<87 5E4<AF, @478 A8<G;8E FG4GH8F ABE C<6GHE8F ABE 5BB>F; ;8 ?BH7?L CEB6?4<@87 G;4G ;8 @478...?<I<A: @8A, <@@BEG4?F. ,;<F <F F8E<BHF, 8FC86<4??L 5864HF8 <G <F G;8 GEHG;...AA7 J;B JBH?7 74E8 G8?? HF G;4G ;8 2"8FHF3 ?<87 BA G;4G 74L J;8A, F6BEA9H??L 9BE8G8??<A: G;8 6B??4CF8 B9 G;8 *B@4A 87<9<68, ;8 786?4E87, F;4?? ABG C4FF 4J4L... 84I8A 4A7 84EG; F;4?? C4FF 4J4L, 5HG @L JBE7F
180
3Table of Contents
...BHG F88<A: G;4G ABG;<A: BCCBF8F <GTFHCCBF<A: G;4G G;8E8 4E8 4?FB ?<A8F 4A7 9BE@F 4F J8?? 4F 6B?BEF BA G;8 BG;8E <AAH@8E45?8 C?4A8GF 4A7 FHAFT<G JBH?7 E8@4<A CE4<F8JBEG;L B9 HF GB @4<AG4<A 4 68EG4<A F8E8A<GL J<G; E8:4E7 GB G;8 CBFF<5<?<G<8F B9 C4<AG<A: HA78E FHC8E<BE 4A7 6;4A:87 6BA7<G<BAF B9 8K<FG8A68, 4A 8K<FG8A68 6;4A:87 5L 4 C;8AB@8ABA AB DH88E8E 4A7 AB @BE8 FHECE<F<A: G;4A G;8 GE4AF9BE@4G<BA B9 G;8 64G8EC<??4E <AGB 4 5HGG8E9?L, BE G;8 J;<G8 :EH5 <AGB G;8 6B6>6;498E. ,;8 8K<FG8A68 B9 C4<AG8E-5HGG8E9?L JBH?7 ;4I8 9BE <GF 9<8?7 B9 46G<BA BA8 B9 G;8 <AAH@8E45?8 ;84I8A?L 5B7<8F, J;<6; JBH?7 C8E;4CF 58 AB @BE8 <A4668FF<5?8 GB HF, 49G8E 784G;, G;4A G;8 5?46> 7BGF J;<6; FL@5B?<M8 GBJAF 4A7 I<??4:8F BA :8B:E4C;<64? @4CF 4E8 <A BHE G8EE8FGE<4? 8K<FG8A68.V
As his health started to decline as rapidly as it had seemed to improve, he visualized hope now in an eternal abode, seeing a place where the healing concerns of his mother and spiritual legacy of his father were ultimately translated into the moral beauty of Christ transfigured into His Resurrection. The Starry Night was the embodiment of these concerns; it was a work that expressed his deepest spiritual aspirations in an image of transcendent beauty understood as the resurrection of humankind and of the universe, as described so powerfully in the Book of Revelation and so poetically in the Book of Romans in the New Testament. Its diverse themes include transformation, transportation, redemption, fulfillment, and deliverance from the cycles of death and suffering into eternal life.
U,;8A ! F4J 4 A8J ;84I8A 4A7 4 A8J 84EG;; 9BE G;8 9<EFG ;84I8A 4A7 G;8 9<EFG 84EG; C4FF87 4J4L, 4A7 G;8E8 <F AB ?BA:8E 4AL F84. AA7 ! F4J G;8 ;B?L 6<GL, A8J "8EHF4?8@, 6B@<A: 7BJA BHG B9 ;84I8A 9EB@ GB7, @478 E847L 4F 4 5E<78 47BEA87 9BE ;8E ;HF54A7.V (Revelation 21:1-2, NASB)
3Table of Contents
181
In his movement toward eternal light, Vincent had to pass beyond darkness and despaira darkness that involved terrible bouts of epilepsy, some of which lasted weeks at a time, profound hyper-anxiety, and hyper-sensitivity to sounds and voices. For Vincent, this dark period had to be worked through visually. He regarded insanity as obscuring light, or as some strangely distorted perspective that made what was near appear far away. Yet he would ultimately find a way out of the darkness through his strong belief in God.
S
'CCBF<G8: UB87EBB@ <A AE?8FV 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;, 1889. '<? BA 64AI4F. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 %HF88 7X'EF4L, (4E<F.
182
3Table of Contents
THE BISHOPS DOCTRINE

U! JBAXG ;<78 9EB@ LBH G;4G ! 7BAXG 7<F?<>8 G;8 6BHAGEL, 4F ! ;4I8 588A 5EBH:;G HC G;8E8T! 4@ FG<?? 6;4E@87 5L G;8 @4:<6 B9 ;BFGF B9 @8@BE<8F B9 G;8 C4FG, B9 4 ?BA:<A: 9BE G;8 <A9<A<G8, B9 J;<6; G;8 FBJ8E, G;8 F;849 4E8 G;8 FL@5B?FT =HFG 4F @H6; 4F 589BE8. BHG J;8A F;4?? ! C4<AG @L FG4EEL F>L, G;4G C<6GHE8 J;<6; CE8B66HC<8F @8 6BAG<AHBHF?L? ...'A8 @HFG 4GG46> G;8@ ABA8G;8?8FF, ;BJ8I8E <A6B@C8G8AG BA8 @4L 988? 589BE8 G;8 HAFC84>45?8 C8E986G<BA, G;8 :?BE<BHF FC?8A7BEF B9 A4GHE8.V T.<A68AG I4A GB:;
Vincents favorite motif was as we recall that of a shining star, or blazing sun or moon, shining into the darkness inviting comfort.The theme had first appeared in his letters written during those dark days in the Borinage as he literally descended and ascended the mineshafts in rattling elevator cages.The motif of light out of darkness was also the central motif of Les Misrables, the literary source that now came to dominate his thoughts. All lava begins at midnight. The catacombs, where the first mass was said, were not merely the cave of Rome; they were the cavern of the world.Victor Hugo. One of the main characters in Les Misrables was a father-figure in the most literal sense, a priest named Father Bienvenu, also referred to by Hugo and Van Gogh as the Benedictine Father, Monseigneur, the Bishop, or M. Myriel. Vincent described the Bishop as sublime, a word he rarely used, and only in reference to one other beingJesus Christ.
W!G <F I8EL 584HG<9H?, G;4G 9<:HE8 B9 %BAF8<:A8HE %LE<8? BE B8<AI8AH ! G;<A> FH5?<@8...!G <F :BB7 GB E847 FH6; 4 5BB> 4:4<A...V
'CCBF<G8 (4:8: A $4A8 <A G;8 (H5?<6 G4E78A 4G AE?8F, 1888. '<? BA 64AI4F. #EQ??8E-%R??8E %HF8H@, 'GG8E?B, ,;8 &8G;8E?4A7F.
185
Hugo presents us with the creed of Bishop Bienvenu:
U$BI8 BA8 4ABG;8E; ;8 786?4E87 G;4G GB 58 6B@C?8G8; ;8 78F<E87 ABG;<A: @BE8, 4A7 <G J4F ;<F J;B?8 7B6GE<A8. 'A8 74L, G;<F @4A, J;B 6BHAG87 ;<@F8?9 W4 C;<?BFBC;8E,X G;<F F8A4GBE 589BE8 @8AG<BA87, F4<7 GB G;8 5<F;BC: W+88 ABJ, J;4G G;8 JBE?7 F;BJF; 846; 9<:;G<A: 4:4<AFG 4?? BG;8EF; G;8 FGEBA:8FG @4A <F G;8 58FG @4A. 0BHE ?BI8 BA8 4ABG;8E <F 4 FGHC<7<GL.X W E8C?<87 %BAF8<:A8HE B<8AI8AH, J<G;BHG 7<F6HFF<BA, W<9 <G 58 4 FGHC<7<GL, G;8 FBH? BH:;G GB F;HG <GF8?9 HC <A <G, ?<>8 G;8 C84E? <A G;8 BLFG8E.X AA7 ;8 F;HG ;<@F8?9 HC <A <G, ;8 ?<I87 <A <G, ;8 J4F F4G<F9<87 45FB?HG8?L J<G; <G, ?4L<A: 4F<78 G;8 @LFG8E<BHF DH8FG<BAF J;<6; 4GGE46G 4A7 J;<6; 7<F;84EG8A, G;8 HA94G;B@45?8 78CG;F B9 45FGE46G<BA, G;8 CE86<C<68F B9 @8G4C;LF<6F.V
Vincent found the doctrine of the Bishop deeply consoling, and must have noted that the name Bienvenu, like Patience Escalier, also had a rich double meaning in French; in addition to its common meaning of welcome, when broken into its parts, bien means good and venu means timing, or glad tidings. Hugo, who like Dickens invented names that revealed underlying personal characteristics, equated the Bishop to the Gospels angelic heralding of Christs birth (glad tidings of comfort and joy).Hugo intended that the Bishop be perceived as a Christ-figure. Creating characters that were morally beautiful and Christ-like was a goal for a number of important nineteenth-century writers, including Hugo, Dickens, and Dostoevsky. Vincent had a strong interest in all of these writers and their views:
UDBFGB8IF>L ;47, B9 6BHEF8, CEB6?4<@87 4F 84E?L 4F 1854 G;4G WG;8E8 <F ABG;<A: @BE8 584HG<9H? 2CE8>E4FA883...G;4A C;E<FGX, 5HG <G J4F BA?L 49G8E G;8F8 E89?86G<BAF B9 1864 G;4G ;8 E8C84G87?L 6?4FF<9<87, ABG BA?L G;8 FHCE8@8 @BE4? FG4G8 G;4G C;E<FG HA<DH8?L CBFF8FF87, 5HG :BB7 @BE4? FG4G8F, 46GF, 4A7 4:8AGF :8A8E4??L HA78E G;8 EH5E<6 W584HG<9H?X, <A 5BG; ;<F 9<6G<BA 4A7 ABA9<6G<BA. (8E;4CF G;8 58FG-
186
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 FBHE: ,;8 B<F;BCXF DB6GE<A8 & +G4EEL &<:;G
>ABJA <AFG4A68 <F ;<F E8@4E>F GB 6BEE8FCBA78AGF 45BHG ;<F JBE> BA ,;8 !7<BG. ,B ;<F 9E<8A7 %4L>BI, ;8 JEBG8 4G G;8 8A7 B9 1867 G;4G G;8 ABI8?XF <784 J4F WGB 78C<6G 4 G;BEBH:;?L 584HG<9H? C8EFBAX. !A 4 ?8GG8E B9 84E?L 1868 GB ;<F 58?BI87 A<868 +B9L4, ;8 8KC4A787 BA G;<F ABG<BA, GHEA<A: BA68 4:4<A GB G;8 @B78? B9 C;E<FG: ,;8 6;<89 <784 B9 G;8 ABI8? <F GB 78C<6G 4 CBF<G<I8?L 584HG<9H? C8EFBA. &BG;<A: <A G;8 JBE?7 <F @BE8 7<99<6H?G, 8FC86<4??L ABJ.V T+64A?4A, 2002
Vincents attraction to Hugos work concerned the issue of moral beauty. Vincent struggled all his life to live by the doctrine ofloving one another, thus abiding by strict moral imperatives. Hugos character was based on an actual French bishop who had lived in a small village, this being another parallel for Vincent with his father. At the time of Theodoruss death in 1885, an ancient Romanesque church tower near Nuenen that Vincent greatly admired was demolished by local developers. Vincent painted the tower and its surrounding graves many times. It was an image like those found in Hugo. The demise of this ancient symbol along with the death of his pastor father (and incidentally of Victor Hugo) all in the same year, reminded Vincent of the central theme of Les Misrablesthe permanence of God and the moral beauty of Christ, in the face of institutional decay and the death of its ministers. After his fathers funeral, Vincent cited the following:
UAA7 ABJ G;BF8 EH<AF G8?? @8 ;BJ 4 94<G; 4A7 4 E8?<:<BA @B?78E87 4J4LT FGEBA:?L 9BHA787 G;BH:; G;8L J8E8T5HG ;BJ G;8 ?<98 4A7 G;8 784G; B9 G;8 C84F4AGF E8@4<A 9BE8I8E G;8 F4@8, 5H77<A: 4A7 J<G;8E<A: E8:H?4E?L, ?<>8 G;8 :E4FF 4A7 G;8 9?BJ8EF :EBJ<A: G;8E8 <A G;4G 6;HE6;L4E7. U$8F E8?<:<BAF C4FF8AG, D<8H 78@8HE8V 2*8?<:<BAF C4FF 4J4L, GB7 E8@4<AF3, <F 4 F4L<A: B9 .<6GBE J;B@ G;8L 4?FB 5EBH:;G GB E8FG E868AG?L.V
Father Bienvenu knew full well that the dark night of the soul is a universal experience for every believer. The Bishops pragmatism imaginatively helped Vincent to set aside his long-standing hatred of
H:BXF
3Table of Contents
187
the religious administrators who had fired him years earlier in Belgium. This in turn helped him make peace with his fathers memory as a religious representative. This chain of moral reflections circled back again to the Bishop who offered Vincent the form, theme, and spiritual motivation to commence painting his long desired Starry Night. Many scholars of art have wondered about the source of The
Starry Night, arguably Vincents best-known painting. They all feel that
the title is important and likely stems from a literary source or idea. However, to date no absolute identification has ever been found that would satisfy many of the uncertainties about this work. However, in this writers estimation, there is conclusive proof of the title and content of this work. But before offering this proof, it is important to first analyze one of the most widely accepted opinions on its origin. The most authoritative interpretation of the origins of The Starry
Night was based on a reading of Van Goghs letters, and provided by

the late, great art historian, Meyer Schapiro. He suggested (in the following quote) that Les Misrables and Vincents Starry Night have profound connections:
U <F F<A68E<GL, E8DH<E<A: 4?J4LF 94<G;9H?A8FF GB 7<E86G 8KC8E<8A68, >8CG ;<@ 9EB@ <AI8AG<A: E8?<:<BHF C<6GHE8F. /;8A <AFC<E87 5L G;8 I<F<BA B9 ,;8 +G4EEL &<:;G, ;8 CHG <AGB ;<F C4<AG<A: B9 G;8 F>L G;8 8K4?G4G<BA B9 ;<F 78F<E8 9BE 4 @LFG<64? HA<BA 4A7 E8?84F8, 5HG AB G;8B?B:L, AB 4??8:BE<8F B9 G;8 7<I<A8...,;8E8 <F, ;BJ8I8E, <A G;8 6B<?<A: A85H?4 4A7 <A G;8 FGE4A:8?L ?H@<ABHF 6E8F68AGT4A 4AB@4?BHF 6B@C?8K B9 @BBA 4A7 FHA 4A7 84EG;/F;47BJ, ?B6>87 <A 4A 86?<CF8T4 CBFF<5?8 HA6BAF6<BHF E8@<A<F68A68 B9 G;8 4CB64?LCG<6 G;8@8 B9 G;8 JB@4A <A C4<A B9 5<EG;, :<E787 J<G; G;8 FHA 4A7 @BBA 4A7 6EBJA87 J<G; G;8 FG4EF, J;BF8 A8J5BEA 6;<?7 <F G;E84G8A87 5L G;8 7E4:BA (*8I8?4G<BA 12, ! 99.). /;8A ;8 E8GHEAF GB ;<F G;8@8 4G +4<AG *8@L, 49G8E 4 C8E<B7 B9 6E<F<F 4A7 E8?<:<BHF ;4??H6<A4G<BAF, G;8 CE8FFHE8 B9 988?<A:, J<G; <GF ;<778A G8A78A6<8F 4A7 6BAG8AG, 9BE68F G;8 5BHA7F B9 G;8 I<F<5?8 4A7 78G8E@<A8F G;8 94AG4FG<6 CEB=86G<BAF, G;8 :E84G 6B<?<A: FC<E4? A85H?4, G;8 8?8I8A @4:A<9<87 FG4EF, 4A7 G;8 <A6E87<5?8 BE4A:8 @BBA, J<G; G;8 ?<:;G 58GJ88A <GF ;BEAFT4 6BA9HF87 @8@BEL, C8E;4CF, B9 4A 86?<CF8 (;8 DHBG87 H:B: UGB7 <F 4 ?<:;G;BHF8 <A 86?<CF8V), BE 4A 4GG8@CG GB HA<G8 FHA
188
3Table of Contents
4A7 @BBA <AGB BA8 9<:HE8; G;8 GE8@8A7BHF 9?4@8/9BE@87 6LCE8FF8F, G;8 74E> 84EG;?L, I8EG<64? 6BHAG8EC4EG B9 G;8 7E4:BA A85H?4, @4L 4?FB 58 4A <AI8AG<BA ;8E8, GE4AF98EE87 9EB@ BG;8E ?4A7F64C8F, 4F 4 I4:H8 FL@5B? B9 4 ;H@4A FGE<I<A:. ,;8 J;B?8 BJ8F <GF <@@87<46L 4A7 CBJ8E GB G;8 <@CH?F<I8, GBEE8AG<4? 9?BJ B9 5EHF;/FGEB>8F, G;8 E8?84F8 B9 988?<A: 4?BA: :E84G C4G;F...V
Schapiros comment that there are no allegories of the divine in The Starry Night was correct. Vincent did not allegorize; he visualized from experiences in daily life or envisioned from what he read. Following Schapiros analysis of the painting, he quoted a letter in which Vincent had Hugo say: God is a lighthouse in eclipse.Shapiro cited from Vincents letter but slightly misquoted Vincent who actually says: God is an occulting lighthouse (in French it would even more accurately translate as an eclipsing lighthouse). Schapiro has for some reason not used Vincents actual wording. The lighthouse imagery in this passage is important for it provides a clue into what I believe is its intended meaning and provides insight into the likely source of Vincents painting. The passage in Vincent that Schapiro cites regarding the lighthouse seems to be a paraphrase by Vincent of something the bishop says in the novel. Hugos view of the lighthouse is quite different from an eclipse and the related ominous death of stars that one finds in the first chapters of the book of Revelation and which Schapiro believed Vincent was recalling. In Hugos view, the oscillating, flashing, signal of a lighthouse as a beacon of light is stressed. All the same Vincent used the phrase but not in the negative way Shapiro would prefer. Schapiros claim that the work had apocalyptic meanings but no theology is an apparent contradiction, for the book of Revelation is a truly theological work. But it is not to St. Johns vision which included destruction and wrath leading to the transformation of the universe that we need to look, for apocalyptic signs such as the moon darkening or turning to blood, or stars falling, are completely absent from the Van Gogh painting.
3Table of Contents
189
The desire to give Vincents work a torrential and tormented meaning, apocalyptic or otherwise, was common earlier in the twentieth century. Critic after critic beginning in the 1950s insisted on expressive and hyper-symbolic meanings closer to abstract expressionist angst and cold-war perplexity than to the realistic, saturated world that Vincent inhabited.However, it is not necessary to quote art historians on the meaning of this work as Vincent himself gave us all of the information we need. Meyer Schapiro was wise to read Vincent's letters, for Shapiro came the closest to discovering the source of the work in Les Miserables following the lead Vincent gave him. But Schapiro did not look far enough into the massive novel. If he had, he would not have been content with lighthouses and eclipsing moons alone however relevant these symbols seem; he would have sought the entire starry sky. Tofind this and the exact titleVincent used for The Starry Night he needed to read the Bishops prayer, a passage Vincent clearly loved. The meaning is as naturally supernatural as the resurrection of the dead, where the body is given new flesh and bone and made eternal for an endless existence. Let us examine the actual passage in Vincents letters that Schapiro referenced, and see what Vincents underlying concerns may in fact have been:
UEA6?BF87 4 ?<GG?8 F>8G6; B9 4 FDH4E8 F<M8 30 64AI4F, G;8 FG4EEL F>L 46GH4??L C4<AG87 4G A<:;G HA78E 4 :4F =8G. ,;8 F>L <F :E88A<F;-5?H8, G;8 J4G8E EBL4? 5?H8, G;8 EBHA7 @4HI8. ,;8 GBJA <F 5?H8 4A7 I<B?8G, G;8 :4F <F L8??BJ 4A7 G;8 E89?86G<BAF 4E8 EHFF8G-:B?7 7BJA GB :E88A<F;-5EBAM8. 'A G;8 5?H8-:E88A 8KC4AF8 B9 F>L G;8 GE84G B84E FC4E>?8F :E88A 4A7 C<A>, <GF 7<F6E88G C4??BE 6BAGE4FGF J<G; G;8 ;4EF; :B?7 B9 G;8 :4F. ,JB 6B?BE9H? ?<GG?8 9<:HE8F B9 ?BI8EF <A G;8 9BE8:EBHA7. . . .SSSSSSSSSSSSS . . . AA7 <G 7B8F @8 :BB7 GB 7B 7<99<6H?G G;<A:F. ,;4G 7B8F ABG CE8I8AG @8 9EB@ ;4I<A: 4 G8EE<5?8 A887 B9TF;4?? ! F4L G;8 JBE7?TB9 E8?<:<BA. ,;8A ! :B BHG 4G A<:;G GB C4<AG G;8 FG4EF, 4A7 ! 4@ 4?J4LF 7E84@<A: B9 4 C<6GHE8 ?<>8 G;<F J<G; 4 :EBHC B9 ?<I<A: 9<:HE8F B9 BHE 6B@E478F. . . . ,;4G B8A87<6G<A8 F4G;8E 2B<F;BC B<8AI8AH3 @HFG ;4I8 588A I8EL <A190
3Table of Contents
G8E8FG<A:. /;4G JBH?7 G;8 E8?<:<BA B9 G;8 9HGHE8 58 466BE7<A: GB ;<@?
8 J<??
CEB545?L F4L, A?J4LF G;8 F4@8 4F G;4G B9 G;8 C4FG. .<6GBE H:B F4LF, GB7 <F 4A B66H?G<A: ?<:;G;BHF8 2G;8 FE8A6; 64?? <G 4A 86?<CF<A: ?<:;G;BHF83, 4A7 <9 G;<F F;BH?7 58 G;8 64F8 J8 4E8 C4FF<A: G;EBH:; G;8 86?<CF8 ABJ... ...! F;BH?7 ABG 58 FHECE<F87 <9 LBH ?<>87 G;8 U+G4EEL &<:;GV 4A7 G;8 U(?BJ87 F<8?7F,V G;8E8 <F 4 :E84G8E DH<8G 45BHG G;8@ G;4A <A G;8 BG;8E 64AI4F8F...AF 9BE G;8 U+G4EEL +>LV, !X7 FG<?? ?<>8 I8EL @H6; GB C4<AG <G, 4A7 C8E;4CF BA8 B9 G;8F8 A<:;GF ! F;4?? 58 <A G;8 F4@8 C?BJ87 9<8?7 <9 G;8 F>L <F FC4E>?<A:. ,B?FGBLXF 5BB> %L *8?<:<BA J4F CH5?<F;87 <A FE8A6; 4F 84E?L 4F 1885, 5HG ! ;4I8 A8I8E F88A <G <A 4AL 64G4?B:H8. 8 7B8F ABG F88@ GB 58?<8I8 @H6; <A G;8 E8FHEE86G<BA B9 G;8 5B7L BE G;8 FBH?. A5BI8 4?? ;8 F88@F ABG GB 58?<8I8 @H6; <A ;84I8AT;8 E84FBAF FB ?<>8 4 A<;<?<FGT5HGT4A7 ;8E8 ;8 C4EGF 6B@C4AL J<G; G;8@T;8 4GG46;8F :E84G <@CBEG4A68 GB 7B<A: J;4G LBH 4E8 7B<A: J8??, F<A68 <G <F CEB545?L 4?? LBH ;4I8. BHG ;8 7B8F ABG 58?<8I8 <A G;8 E8FHEE86G<BA, ;8 F88@F GB 58?<8I8 <A G;8 8DH<I4?8AGTG;8 6BAG<AH4A68 B9 ?<98TG;8 CEB:E8FF B9 ;H@4A<GLTG;8 @4A 4A7 ;<F JBE> 4?@BFG <A94??<5?L 6BAG<AH87 5L ;H@4A<GL <A G;8 A8KG :8A8E4G<BA, FB G;8 FB?HG<BA ;8 :<I8F <F 8C;8@8E4?.V
Note to begin with that Vincent used lower case letters the first time he mentioned the starry sky, and upper case the second time he referenced it.I believe this emphasis is explained by his reference to That Benedictine Father (the Bishop) which is included in the same passage; Vincent was implying that he planned to later paint the Bishops celebratory Starry Night in contrast to the earlier, more earthly (1888) version of Starry Sky which featured the Rhone River and a prosaic gaslit view of Arles with lovers. The second version of 1889 had obviously not yet been painted (the letter was written in 1888).Plans for the later version appeared in context with Tolstoy and include speculation about eternal life. Clearly,
3Table of Contents
191
the second version was tied to theological concepts, specifically the resurrection as Vincent indicated clearly. We recall how important reading was for Vincent following his severe exhaustion in the Borinage and how reassuring stories encouraged him. Dickens, Stowe, and Hugo all played a major role in his effort to stabilize his life.In his final years, Vincent also derived a sense of familial cohesion by recalling family circumstances and events associated with certain novels. Novels, in addition to their implicit messages, offered Vincent a sense of continuity which was especially important as he struggled to recover his memory after each attack of insanity.Note how he relates Les Misrables and A Tale of Two Cities to memories of his grandfather:
UD<6>8AF, J;B HFH4??L JEBG8 45BHG ;<F BJA G<@8, 6BH?7 ABG E8F<FG JE<G<A: G;8 ,4?8 B9 ,JB C<G<8F, 4A7 8I8EL ABJ 4A7 G;8A J8 F88 78F6E<CG<BAF B9 G;8 B?7 74LF <AF8EG87 <A ;<F JBE>T4 78F6E<CG<BA B9 G;8 $BA7BA FGE88GF 589BE8 G;8E8 J8E8 FGE88G ?4@CF, 9BE <AFG4A68...!A $8F %<FNE45?8F, 4?G;BH:; <G GE84GF B9 4 ?4G8E 8E4, ! 9<A7 J;4G ! ;4I8 588A ?BB><A: 9BET4FC86GF B9 G;8 C4FG G;4G <A7H68 @8 GB E8@8@58E ;BJ 8I8ELG;<A: ?BB>87 <A @L :E84G-:E4A794G;8EXF 74L, BE 8I8A AB ?BA:8E 4:B G;4A @L :E4A794G;8EXF G<@8.V
Vincent made extensive comments about Les Misrables and its link to generalized paternal figures and to Hollands past.Hegel's Aes-
thetics celebrated their paternal and fraternal piety, Dutch home life,
and related activities such as weaving and farming; all of these things had their parallels in French history and in Les Misrables.
U! 4@ E847<A: $8F %<FNE45?8F 5L .<6GBE H:B. A 5BB> J;<6; ! E8@8@58E B9 B?7, 5HG ! ;47 4 :E84G ?BA:<A: GB E847 <G 4:4<A, =HFG 4F BA8 64A ;4I8 4 :E84G ?BA:<A: GB F88 4 68EG4<A C<6GHE8 4:4<A. !G <F I8EL 584HG<9H?, G;4G 9<:HE8 B9 %BAF8<:A8HE %LE<8? BE B8<AI8AH ! G;<A> FH5?<@8...!G <F :BB7 GB E847 FH6; 4 5BB> 4:4<A, ! G;<A>, =HFG GB >88C FB@8 988?<A:F 4?<I8. EFC86<4??L ?BI8 9BE ;H@4A<GL, 4A7 G;8 94<G; <A, 4A7 6BAF6<BHFA8FF B9, FB@8G;<A: ;<:;8E, <A F;BEG, DH8?DH8 6;BF8 ?4-;4HG 2G;4G J;<6; <F BA ;<:;3.
192
3Table of Contents
! J4F 45FBE587 <A <G 9BE ;BHEF G;<F 49G8EABBA, 4A7 G;8A 64@8 <AGB G;8 FGH787 7BJA BA 4 J<78 74E> 9BE8:EBHA7T7H:-HC :4E78AF 4A7 9<8?7F B9 J4E@ 5?46> 84EG; B9 4 I8EL 788C GBA8. D<4:BA4??L 46EBFF <G EHAF 4 ?<GG?8 C4G; B9 L8??BJ<F; F4A7, 5BE78E87 J<G; :E88A :E4FF 4A7 F?8A78E LBHA: CBC?4EF. ,;8 546>:EBHA7 J4F 9BE@87 5L 4 :E4L F<?;BH8GG8 B9 G;8 6<GL, J<G; G;8 EBHA7 EBB9 B9 G;8 E4<?J4L FG4G<BA, 4A7 FC<E8F, 4A7 6;<@A8LF. AA7 @BE8BI8E, 546>F B9 ;BHF8F 8I8ELJ;8E8; 5HG 4G G;4G G<@8 B9 8I8A<A:, 8I8ELG;<A: <F 5?8A787 5L G;8 GBA8. +B I<8J87 <A 4 ?4E:8 J4L, G;8 J;B?8 G;<A: <F F<@C?L 4 9BE8:EBHA7 B9 5?46> 7H:-HC 84EG;, 4 C4G; 46EBFF <G, ;BE<MBA, G;8 E87 FHA. !G J4F 8K46G?L ?<>8 4 C4:8 9EB@ H:B, 4A7 ! 4@ FHE8 G;4G LBH JBH?7 ;4I8 588A FGEH6> 5L <GV.
A short time after sending this letter, he cites Hugo again:
U! 4@ E847<A: G;8 ?4FG C4EG B9 $8F %<FNE45?8F; G;8 9<:HE8 B9 F4AG<A8, 4 CEBFG<GHG8 @478 4 788C <@CE8FF<BA BA @8TB;, ! >ABJ =HFG 4F J8?? 4F 8I8EL5B7L 8?F8 G;4G BA8 J<?? ABG 9<A7 4A 8K46G F4AG<A8 <A E84?<GL, 5HG G;<F 6;4E46G8E B9 E84?<GL.V
We already can sense the evolution of Vincents thought regarding The Starry Night. Vincent had begun to envision it and its grounding in Les Misrables as early as 1883, as indicated in the above letters.
H:BXF <F
GEH8T4F <A7887, 4E8 4?? ;<F 6;4E46G8EF, 58<A: G;8 8FF8A68 B9 J;4G BA8 F88F <A
U,;8 546>:EBHA7 J4F 9BE@87 5L 4 :E4L F<?;BH8GG8...+B I<8J87 <A 4 ?4E:8 J4L, G;8 J;B?8 G;<A: <F F<@C?L 4 9BE8:EBHA7 B9 5?46> 7H:-HC 84EG;, 4 C4G; 46EBFF <G, ;BE<MBA, G;8 E87 FHA. !G J4F 8K46G?L ?<>8 4 C4:8 9EB@ H:B, 4A7 ! 4@ FHE8 G;4G LBH JBH?7 ;4I8 588A FGEH6> 5L <G.V
We recall what Vincent had said about the landscape of the Borinage"it was like a page of the Gospel".Now the landscape was like a page out of Hugowe see him uniting themes of comfort, the natural
3Table of Contents
193
landscape, and healing with the beauty of the Gospel and its moral call: The faith in, and consciousness of, something higher...that which is on high. The tall slender trees, the distant village, the spire of a church, the plowed earth, and the general mood in the landscape Vincent saw through the window can all be found in The Starry Night. The visual memory of this page from Hugo had been married to the Bishops night prayer from the same novel. Vincent had literally taken these pages from Hugo and specifically Les Misrables, and had merged them with his memories of Holland and the general view from his window at the hospital in St. Remy. We know that there was no village to be seen from his window there, no church spire, or plowed fieldhe had lifted these from Hugo and blended them by the tone. In the last years of his life, Les Misrables was especially comforting to Vincent because it offered him a composite range of Gospel themes and images. Consolation and forgiveness had profound meanings to a son wrestling with regret at his fathers suffering and death. This passage from Hugo, in which the Bishop accompanied a condemned man to his death, must have spoken deeply to Vincent as he neared the end of his life:
U'A G;8 @BEEBJ J;8A G;8L 64@8 9BE G;8 CBBE @4A, G;8 5<F;BC J4F J<G; ;<@.S 8 9B??BJ87 ;<@, 4A7 F;BJ87 ;<@F8?9 GB G;8 8L8F B9 G;8 6EBJ7 <A ;<F I<B?8G 64@4<?, J<G; ;<F 5<F;BCXF 6EBFF 45BHG ;<F A86>, F<78 5L F<78 J<G; G;8 @<F8E45?8 58<A:, J;B J4F 5BHA7 J<G; 6BE7F. 8 @BHAG87 G;8 64EG J<G; ;<@, ;8 4F68A787 G;8 F6499B?7 J<G; ;<@.S,;8 FH998E8E, FB :?BB@L 4A7 FB ;BEEBE-FGE<6>8A <A G;8 8I8A<A:, J4F ABJ E47<4AG J<G; ;BC8. 8 98?G G;4G ;<F FBH? J4F E86BA6<?87, 4A7 ;8 GEHFG87 <A GB7.S,;8 5<F;BC 8@5E4687 ;<@, 4A7 4G G;8 @B@8AG J;8A G;8 4K8 J4F 45BHG GB 94??, ;8 F4<7 GB ;<@, WJ;B@ @4A ><??F, ;<@ GB7 E8FGBE8G; GB ?<98, J;B@ ;<F 5E8G;E8A CHG 4J4L, ;8 9<A78G; G;8 F4G;8E.S(E4L, 58?<8I8, 8AG8E <AGB ?<98! ,;8 F4G;8E <F G;8E8.X /;8A ;8 78F68A787 9EB@ G;8 F6499B?7, FB@8G;<A: <A ;<F ?BB> @478 G;8 C8BC?8 94?? 546>. !G JBH?7 58 ;4E7 GB F4L J;<6; J4F G;8 @BFG JBA78E9H?, ;<F C4?8A8FF BE ;<F F8E8A<GL...SSSSSSSSSSSSS
194
3Table of Contents
...AF G;8 @BFG FH5?<@8 G;<A:F 4E8 B9G8A ?84FG 6B@CE8;8A787, G;8E8 J8E8 G;BF8 <A G;8 6<GL J;B F4<7, <A 6B@@8AG<A: HCBA G;8 5<F;BCXF 6BA7H6G G;4G <G J4F 49986G4G<BA, 5HG FH6; <784F J8E8 6BA9<A87 GB G;8 HCC8E 6?4FF8F.S,;8 C8BC?8, J;B 7B ABG ?BB> 9BE HAJBEG;L @BG<I8F <A ;B?L JBE>F, 47@<E87 4A7 J8E8 FB9G8A87.V
Vincents later confinement with pathologically distressed inmates at St. Remy allowed him to see at first hand unprovoked outbursts and self-inflicted violence, witnessing similar behavior to that he had inflicted upon his father and Theo. He felt great remorse and guilt over the way he had treated his parents, realizing that they had in fact been justified in their disapproval of his frantic pursuit of his cousin Kee, and also his attitude towards the missionary society in the Borinage for his dismissal. He even admitted that his parents had good cause in attempting to send him to a mental institution. Vincent emerged from his illness with a candid self-appraisal and a late-found maturity. From 1889 to the end of his life, there was no longer any trace of the anger and readiness to blame others that had characterized his earlier life. He had found humility. Vincents final letters expressed compassion, identification with the suffering of others, and courage in the face of lifes difficulties. The last letters to his elderly mother, sister, and Johanna were especially touching. He mused with them over his rural childhood, and expressed an abiding love and respect for his parents. He asked his mother to confirm certain details and memories from which they might derive mutual comfort. But above all, he wanted her to know how much he had appreciated the steady devotion she, his father, and Theo had shown him.
U! 988? 788C?L...G;4G BG;8E C8BC?8, F88<A: FL@CGB@F B9 @8AG4? 78E4A:8@8AG, ;4I8 A4GHE4??L ;47 4CCE8;8AF<BAF 58GG8E 9BHA787 G;4A @L HA9BHA787 68EG4<AGL G;4G ! J4F G;<A><A: ABE@4??L, J;<6; J4F ABG G;8 64F8.S +B G;4G ;4F @H6; FB9G8A87 @4AL B9 G;8 =H7:@8AGF ! ;4I8 GBB B9G8A C4FF87 J<G; @BE8 BE ?8FF CE8FH@CG<BA BA C8BC?8 J;B A8I8EG;8?8FF J8E8 J<F;<A: @8 J8??. AAL;BJ, <G <F 68EG4<A?L 4 C<GL G;4G J<G; @8 G;8F8 E89?86G<BAF E846; G;8 FG4:8 B9 988?<A: E4G;8E ?4G8. AA7 G;4G ! 64A 4?G8E ABG;<A: <A G;8 C4FG, B9 6BHEF8.V
3Table of Contents
195
UD84E %BG;8E, ,BJ4E7 G;8 8A7 B9 G;8 L84E ! 64@8 BA68 @BE8 GB F4L :BB7 74L GB LBHTLBH J<?? F4L G;4G ! ;4I8 9BE:BGG8A G;4G F8I8E4? G<@8F. !G <F 4 L84E F<A68 ! 98?? <??, 4A7 <G <F 7<99<6H?G 9BE @8 GB F4L ;BJ 94E ! ;4I8 BE ;4I8 ABG E86BI8E87.S! B9G8A 988? @H6; F8?9-E8CEB46; 45BHG G;8 G;<A:F <A G;8 C4FG, @L <??A8FF 58<A: @BE8 BE ?8FF @L BJA 94H?G, <A 4AL 64F8 ! 7BH5G <9 ! 64A @4>8 HC 9BE 94H?GF <A 4AL J4L. BHG E84FBA<A: 4A7 G;<A><A: 45BHG G;8F8 G;<A:F <F FB@8G<@8F FB 7<99<6H?G, 4A7 FB@8G<@8F @L 988?<A:F BI8EJ;8?@ @8 @BE8 G;4A 589BE8. AA7 G;8A ! G;<A> FB @H6; B9 LBH 4A7 B9 G;8 C4FG. 0BH 4A7 F4G;8E ;4I8 588A, <9 CBFF<5?8, 8I8A @BE8 GB @8 G;4A GB G;8 BG;8EF, FB @H6;, FB I8EL @H6;, 4A7 ! 7B ABG F88@ GB ;4I8 ;47 4 ;4CCL 6;4E46G8E. ! 7<F6BI8E87 G;4G <A (4E<F, ;BJ @H6; @BE8 ,;8B 7<7 ;<F 58FG GB ;8?C F4G;8E CE46G<64??L G;4A !, FB G;4G ;<F BJA <AG8E8FGF J8E8 B9G8A A8:?86G87. ,;8E89BE8 ! 4@ FB G;4A>9H? ABJ G;4G ,;8B ;4F :BG 4 J<98 4A7 <F 8KC86G<A: ;<F 545L. /8??, ,;8B ;47 @BE8 F8?9 F46E<9<68 G;4A !, 4A7 G;4G <F 788C?L EBBG87 <A ;<F 6;4E46G8E. AA7 49G8E F4G;8E J4F AB @BE8 4A7 ! 64@8 GB ,;8B <A (4E<F, G;8A ;8 5864@8 FB 4GG46;87 GB @8 G;4G ! HA78EFGBB7 ;BJ @H6; ;8 ;47 ?BI87 F4G;8E. AA7 ABJ ! 4@ F4L<A: G;<F GB LBH, 4A7 ABG GB ;<@T<G <F 4 :BB7 G;<A: G;4G ! 7<7 ABG FG4L <A (4E<F, 9BE J8, ;8 4A7 !, JBH?7 ;4I8 586B@8 GBB <AG8E8FG87 <A 846; BG;8E. AA7 ?<98 7B8F ABG 8K<FG 9BE G;<F, ! 64AABG G8?? LBH ;BJ @H6; 58GG8E ! G;<A> <G <F 9BE ;<@ G;<F J4L G;4A <A G;8 C4FG, 4A7 ;8 ;47 GBB @4AL G<E8FB@8 5HF<A8FF JBEE<8F, 4A7 ;<F ;84?G; FH998E87 9EB@ <G.V
Vincent had come to recognize his part in provoking family tensions: You and Father have been, if possible, even more to me than to the others, so much, so very much, and I do not seem to have had a happy character. The others are his brothers and sisters.The main point is that Vincent now sees that he was given preferential treatment over his siblings and, in spite of this, he caused his parents the greatest grief. He believed the damage was too great to undo. In addition to his past disregard towards them, now his skill as an artist had been under-
196
3Table of Contents
mined along with his nerves. His last drawings from Auvers supported this appraisal. They are inchoate and disorganized. His once powerful rendering ability was now reduced to twisted scrawling.Convinced he was beyond healing, he determined to end his life. What is remarkable is that even with suicide in mind, he continued reaching out and encouraging others. We recall in earlier chapters the letter Jo (Johanna) sent to Vincent on the evening of her labor. Vincent responded to Theo:
U,B74L ! E868<I87 LBHE :BB7 A8JF G;4G LBH 4E8 4G ?4FG 4 94G;8E, G;4G G;8 @BFG 6E<G<64? G<@8 <F BI8E 9BE "B, 4A7 9<A4??L G;4G G;8 ?<GG?8 5BL <F J8??. ,;4G ;4F 7BA8 @8 @BE8 :BB7 4A7 :<I8A @8 @BE8 C?84FHE8 G;4A ! 64A CHG <AGB JBE7F. BE4IBT 4A7 ;BJ C?84F87 %BG;8E <F :B<A: GB 58. ,;8 74L 589BE8 L8FG8E74L ! E868<I87 4 94<E?L ?BA: 4A7 I8EL 6BAG8AG87 ?8GG8E 9EB@ ;8E GBB. AAL;BJ, ;8E8 <G <F, G;8 G;<A: ! ;4I8 FB @H6; 78F<E87 9BE FH6; 4 ?BA: G<@8. &B A887 GB G8?? LBH G;4G ! ;4I8 B9G8A G;BH:;G B9 LBH G;8F8 74LF, 4A7 <G GBH6;87 @8 I8EL @H6; G;4G "B ;47 G;8 ><A7A8FF GB JE<G8 GB @8 G;8 I8EL A<:;G 589BE8. +;8 J4F FB 5E4I8 4A7 64?@ <A ;8E 74A:8E, <G @BI87 @8 788C?L. /8??, <G 6BAGE<5HG8F 4 :E84G 784? GB ;8?C<A: @8 9BE:8G G;8 ?4FG 74LF J;8A ! J4F <??; 4G FH6; G<@8F ! 7BAXG >ABJ J;8E8 ! 4@ 4A7 @L @<A7 J4A78EF.V
Not only did he write comforting letters in his final days, but he honored women in a series of maternal paintings. They featured a mother comforting a child in a berceusea rocker. He was recalling his mother.
UAA7 ! @HFG G8?? LBHT4A7 LBH J<?? F88 <G <A U$4 B8E68HF8,V ;BJ8I8E @H6; B9 4 94<?HE8 4A7 ;BJ8I8E 9885?8 G;4G 4GG8@CG @4L 58T<9 ! ;47 ;47 G;8 FGE8A:G; GB 6BAG<AH8, ! F;BH?7 ;4I8 @478 CBEGE4<GF B9 F4<AGF 4A7 ;B?L JB@8A 9EB@ ?<98 J;B JBH?7 ;4I8 F88@87 GB 58?BA: GB 4ABG;8E 4:8, 4A7 G;8L JBH?7 58 @<77?8-6?4FF JB@8A B9 G;8 CE8F8AG 74L, 4A7 L8G G;8L JBH?7 ;4I8 ;47 FB@8G;<A: <A 6B@@BA J<G; G;8 I8EL CE<@<G<I8 C;E<FG<4AF.V
3Table of Contents
197
Debora Silverman enlarges on this unity of maternal and celestial themes in Vincents work. This synthesis of the maternal and eternal should come as no surprise we have seen it repeatedly in Van Goghs art and life. Vincent saw infinity in a crib and especially in an infants eyes: I think I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby. Sailors, Vincent believed, were like infants in cribs, rocking in their hammocks at sea, finding similar maternal and eternal comfort as they navigated by the stars of the sea.
U/;8A .<A68AG ?<I87 <A AAGJ8EC <A 1885-1886, ;8 J4?>87 G;8 6<GL 4A7 7<F6BI8E87 G;8 AA7E<8F>8E>, G;8 C;HE6; B9 +4<AG AA7E8J, <A G;8 CBBE 9<F;8E@8AXF DH4EG8E. 8E8 4 ?4E:8-F64?8 W%4E<F +G8??4X FG4<A87 :?4FF J<A7BJ <@CE8FF87 ;<@ 788C?L, BA8 B9 G;8 E4E8 <AFG4A68F <A J;<6; G;8 <AG8E<BE B9 4 6;HE6; F4A6GH4EL 8A:4:87 ;<F 4GG8AG<BA. .<A68AG 78F6E<587 G;8 J<A7BJ C4A8?F <A 78G4<? <A 4 ?8GG8E GB ,;8B. ,;8 F<KG88AG;-68AGHEL J<A7BJ CE8F8AGF G;8 .<E:<A %4EL 4F %4E<F +G8??4 ($4G<A 9BE W+G4E B9 G;8 +84X), WCEBG86GE8FF B9 @4E<A8EF <A 7<FGE8FFX...,;8 %4E<F +G8??4 J<A7BJ ;4F A8I8E 588A @8AG<BA87 <A E8?4G<BA GB $4SB8E68HF8 BE GB .<A68AGXF C?4AA87 GE<CGL6; CEB=86G. 08G <G @478 4 788C <@CE8FF<BA BA ;<@ J;8A ;8 F4J <G <A 1886 4A7 <G 584EF FB@8 <AG8E8FG<A: 499<A<G<8F GB G;8 ?4G8E 8AF8@5?8 4F 4 I<FH4? 4A7 F46E87 CE86878AG. TD85BE4 +<?I8E@4A, 2000.
The 1889 La Berceuse project was one of the most extensive in Vincents career and consisted of several panels. The paint handling and attitude of the central figure recalled Vincents portraits of his mother. There is also a strong formal connection in La Berceuse between the nimbus-like floral movement in its background and the caressing cloud forms and radiating stars of The Starry Night. Celestial objects, flowers, maternal and paternal figures and nativity themes all held a lifelong interest for Vincent. We recall how he placed a vase of flowers in the window for Sien and her newborn child. Or how he brought an iron crib into his studio and tacked a Rembrandt etching of the Nativity over it.And as a young man how Vincent had walked on a starry night to the bedside of a dying friend to offer final comfort.
198
3Table of Contents
The parental portraits, the La Berceuse series, and The Starry
Night all celebrate parental nurturing, spiritual cultivation, and resurrection. This vision of resurrected resolution is the ultimate message of Vincents art and life. It was already envisioned years earlier when he journeyed to the graveside of his still-born brother and waited for the sunrise:
U,;8 F>L J4F BI8E64FG, 5HG G;8 8I8A<A: FG4E J4F F;<A<A: G;EBH:; G;8 6?BH7F, 4A7 ABJ 4A7 G;8A @BE8 FG4EF 4CC84E87.S !G J4F I8EL 84E?L J;8A ! 4EE<I87 4G G;8 6;HE6;L4E7 <A 1HA78EG; 8I8ELG;<A: J4F FB DH<8G.S! J8AG BI8E 4?? G;8 784E B?7 FCBGF, 4A7 G;8 ?<GG?8 C4G;F, 4A7 J4<G87 9BE G;8 FHAE<F8 G;8E8.S0BH >ABJ G;8 FGBEL B9 G;8 *8FHEE86G<BAT8I8ELG;<A: E8@<A787 @8 B9 <G G;4G @BEA<A: <A G;8 DH<8G :E4I8L4E7.V
And it resonated on a starry night years later as he dreamt of an eternal embrace:
U,;8 @BBA J<?? F;<A8 ?<>8 G;8 FHA, 4A7 G;8 FHA?<:;G J<?? 58 F8I8A G<@8F 5E<:;G8E, ?<>8 G;8 ?<:;G B9 F8I8A 9H?? 74LF, J;8A G;8 $BE7 5<A7F HC G;8 5EH<F8F B9 ;<F C8BC?8 4A7 ;84?F G;8 JBHA7F ;8 <A9?<6G87. (Isaiah 30: 26-27, NIV)
Victor Hugo's Les Misrables was most certainly the origin of Vincents painting, Etoile Nuit (Starry Night). Vincent himself first established the relationship between the novel and his tribute to it. We know that Vincent was inspired by literature throughout his career and had aspired to be an illustrator, ultimately becoming both illustrator and fine artist. He would create some of his last great works in homage to Hugos astonishing Les Misrables, the words of which gave him enormous hope for humankind. It was a novel with the theme of human redemption at its core, and it appealed to Vincent since he was utterly repentant at the very end of his life. Les Misrables is a massive tome, exceeding 1,000 pages, yet it utterly absorbed Vincent.
3Table of Contents
199
Establishing the true origin of The Starry Night is extremely important because its literary source helps to reveal the paintings underlying meaningsomething that has baffled art historians for over a century. Yet if we look carefully at Vincents work, and then compare it with its source in Hugos Les Misrables, we find some fascinating revelations. The most noticeable feature of The Starry Night is the sapphire blue sky which is intensified by accents of ultramarine and violet. The contrasting colors create an atmosphere that seems both radiant and alive. The cold blue complements the warmer colors and allows the yellow orange stars and clouds to shimmer in the night sky. The stars themselves are unique, resembling flowers with expanding centers and flame-like petals springing forth from their cores. They seem to breathe as much as shine.The clouds also are strange and, rather than cluster and pile up as one would expect, they seem to gather into spirals and in the center into what appears to be an infant-like form. On the far right is a dazzling moon closing in on itself and generating a brilliant light in the night sky, pulsating outward like a celestial lighthouse. There is no hint of darkness in this glorious, transcendant orb. Lying below is what appears to be the profile of a reclining man configured by the far reaching cobalt mountains.The man seems covered under a yellow haze of light which lifts his shroud-spirit into the cosmic spectacle, wheeling and spinning his vital force up into the heavenly realms. In the lower section of the painting lies the silent earth, green yet somber, undulating, a scintillating sea of verdant vegetation. A small Dutch village appears at center stage huddled around a sharpspired rustic church. The church is similar to the one in which Vincents father had ministered. On the left of the painting is a towering evergreen tree that writhes finger-like boughs into the radiating sky, human-like and adoring before the sublime spectacle. And as if humbled, the lower earth loops and crochets itself, while the sky glimmers with hundreds of converging brush strokes that breathe and exhale star pollen into a blue ocean of sky. Together they suggest a heaven and earth unity. The whole work exudes a vast mystery, an ocean of stars and a nurturing-
200
3Table of Contents
adoring earth. Then, we read in Hugos Les Misrables of the saintly Bishop who inspired Van Gogh's prayerfulnocturnal painting:
U%BAF8<:A8HE B<8AI8AH ;47 588A 9BE@8E?L, 466BE7<A: GB G;8 466BHAGF B9 ;<F LBHG; 4A7 (8I8A B9 G;<F) 84E?L @4A;BB7, 4 C4FF<BA4G8, C8E;4CF 4 I<B?8AG, @4A. <F HA<I8EF4? G8A78EA8FF J4F ?8FF 4A <AFG<A6G B9 A4GHE8 G;4A G;8 E8FH?G B9 4 FGEBA: 6BAI<6G<BA 9<?G8E87 G;EBH:; ?<98 <AGB ;<F ;84EG, F?BJ?L 7EBCC<A: <A HCBA ;<@, G;BH:;G 5L G;BH:;G; 9BE 4 6;4E46G8E, 4F J8?? 4F 4 EB6>, @4L 58 JBEA <AGB 5L 7EBCF B9 J4G8E. +H6; @4E>F 4E8 <A89946845?8; FH6; 9BE@4G<BAF 4E8 <A78FGEH6G<5?8.... ...AF J8 ;4I8 F88A, CE4L8E, 68?85E4G<BA B9 G;8 E8?<:<BHF B99<68F, 4?@F, 6BAFB?<A: G;8 499?<6G87, G;8 6H?G<I4G<BA B9 4 ?<GG?8 C<868 B9 :EBHA7, 9E4G8EA<GL, 9EH:4?<GL, F8?9F46E<9<68, 6BA9<78A68, FGH7L, 4A7 JBE>, 9<??87 HC 846; 74L B9 ;<F ?<98. F<??87 HC <F 8K46G?L G;8 JBE7; 4A7 <A 946G, G;8 5<F;BCXF 74L J4F 9H?? GB G;8 5E<@ J<G; :BB7 G;BH:;GF, :BB7 JBE7F, 4A7 :BB7 46G<BAF. &8I8EG;8?8FF <G J4F ABG 6B@C?8G8 <9 6B?7 BE E4<AL J84G;8E CE8I8AG87 ;<F C4FF<A: 4A ;BHE BE GJB <A G;8 8I8A<A:, J;8A G;8 GJB JB@8A ;47 E8G<E87, <A ;<F :4E78A 589BE8 :B<A: GB F?88C.S !G F88@87 4F <9 <G J8E8 4 FBEG B9 E<G8 J<G; ;<@, GB CE8C4E8 ;<@F8?9 9BE F?88C 5L @87<G4G<A: <A G;8 CE8F8A68 B9 G;8 :E84G FC86G46?8 B9 G;8 FG4EEL 9<E@4@8AG. +B@8G<@8F 4G 4 ?4G8 ;BHE B9 G;8 A<:;G, <9 G;8 GJB JB@8A J8E8 4J4>8, G;8L JBH?7 ;84E ;<@ F?BJ?L CEB@8A47<A: G;8 J4?>F. 8 J4F G;8E8 4?BA8 J<G; ;<@F8?9, 6B??86G87, GE4ADH<?, 47BE<A:, 6B@C4E<A: G;8 F8E8A<GL B9 ;<F BJA ;84EG J<G; G;8 F8E8A<GL B9 G;8 F><8F, @BI87 <A G;8 74E>A8FF 5L G;8 I<F<5?8 FC?8A7BHEF B9 G;8 6BAFG8??4G<BAF, 4A7 G;8 <AI<F<5?8 FC?8A7BHE B9 GB7, BC8A<A: ;<F FBH? GB G;8 G;BH:;GF J;<6; 94?? 9EB@ G;8 -A>ABJA. !A FH6; @B@8AGF B998E<A: HC ;<F ;84EG 4G G;8 ;BHE J;8A G;8 9?BJ8EF B9 A<:;G <A;4?8 G;8<E C8E9H@8, ?<:;G87 ?<>8 4 ?4@C <A G;8 68AGE8 B9 ,;8 +G4EEL &<:;G, 8KC4A7<A: ;<F FBH? <A 86FG4FL <A G;8 @<7FG B9 G;8 HA<I8EF4? E47<4A68 B9 6E84G<BA, ;8 6BH?7 ABG ;<@F8?9 C8E;4CF ;4I8 GB?7 J;4G J4F C4FF<A: <A ;<F BJA @<A7; ;8 98?G FB@8G;<A: 78C4EG 9EB@ ;<@, 4A7 FB@8G;<A: 78F68A7 HCBA ;<@; @LFG8E<BHF <AG8E6;4A:8F B9 G;8 78CG;F B9 G;8 FBH? J<G; G;8 78CG;F B9 G;8 HA<I8EF8. 8 6BAG8@C?4G87 G;8 :E4A78HE, 4A7 G;8 CE8F8A68 B9 GB7; G;8 8G8EA<GL B9 G;8 9HGHE8, FGE4A:8 @LFG8EL; G;8 8G8EA<GL B9 G;8 C4FG, @LFG8EL L8G @BE8 FGE4A:8; 4?? G;8 <A9<A<G8F 788C-;<778A <A 8I8EL 7<E86G<BA 45BHG ;<@.... 8 7<7 ABG FGH7L GB7; ;8 J4F 74MM?87 5L G;8 G;BH:;G. 8 E89?86G87 HCBA G;8F8 @4:A<9<68AG HA<BAF B9 4GB@F, J;<6; :<I8 I<F<5?8 9BE@F GB &4GHE8, E8I84?<A:
3Table of Contents
201
9BE68F <A 8FG45?<F;<A: G;8@, 6E84G<A: <A7<I<7H4?<G<8F <A HA<GL, CEBCBEG<BAF <A 8KG8AF<BA, G;8 <AAH@8E45?8 <A G;8 <A9<A<G8, 4A7 G;EBH:; ?<:;G CEB7H6<A: 584HGL. ,;8F8 HA<BAF 4E8 9BE@<A: 4A7 7<FFB?I<A: 6BAG<AH4??L, G;8A68 ?<98 4A7 784G;. 8 JBH?7 F<G HCBA 4 JBB78A 58A6; ?84A<A: 4:4<AFG 4 5EB>8A GE8??<F 4A7 ?BB> 4G G;8 FG4EF G;EBH:; G;8 <EE8:H?4E BHG?<A8F B9 ;<F 9EH<G GE88F. ,;<F DH4EG8E B9 4A 46E8 B9 :EBHA7, FB CBBE?L 6H?G<I4G87, FB 6H@58E87 J<G; F;87 4A7 EH<AF, J4F 784E GB ;<@, 4A7 F4G<F9<87 ;<@. /;4G J4F @BE8 A88787 5L G;<F B?7 @4A J;B 7<I<787 G;8 ?8<FHE8 ;BHEF B9 ;<F ?<98, J;8E8 ;8 ;47 FB ?<GG?8 ?8<FHE8, 58GJ88A :4E78A<A: <A G;8 74L G<@8, 4A7 6BAG8@C?4G<BA 4G A<:;G?S /4F ABG G;<F A4EEBJ 8A6?BFHE8, J<G; G;8 F>L 9BE 4 546>:EBHA7, 8ABH:; GB 8A45?8 ;<@ GB 47BE8 GB7 <A ;<F @BFG 584HG<9H? 4F J8?? 4F <A ;<F @BFG FH5?<@8 JBE>F? !A7887, <F ABG G;4G 4??, 4A7 J;4G @BE8 64A 58 78F<E87? A ?<GG?8 :4E78A GB J4?>, 4A7 <@@8AF<GL GB E89?86G HCBA. AG ;<F 988G FB@8G;<A: GB 6H?G<I4G8 4A7 :4G;8E; 45BI8 ;<F ;847 FB@8G;<A: GB FGH7L 4A7 @87<G4G8 HCBA; 4 98J 9?BJ8EF BA G;8 84EG;, 4A7 4?? G;8 FG4EF <A G;8 F>L.V
Victor Hugo's magisterial novel and Vincent van Goghs life are profoundly connected. The prayer of the Bishop included flowers that exude perfume at night. We see flower-like stars in Starry Night in which Vincent combined flower petals and star effusions in depicting the celestial orbs. The Bishop talked of descending love from God falling silently into a sleeping, suffering world; and Vincent showed us descending radiating clouds that blanket the sky and touch the earth. The Bishop spoke of the need to listen silently to God; and Vincent told us how he needed to feel the presence of God as something on high. The Bishop spoke of innumerable stars and constellations that make up the heavenly sights; and Vincent pictured and painted them. The theme of the work was one of adoration and supplicationexactly what the Bishop demonstrated. The mood of the Bishops words is heartbreakingly poignant, the romance of man and God wrapped in a lovers ecstatic outpouring. There are also the motives and external circumstances that surround both works. The parallels are obvious. In particular, the mood of repose at the end of day, or the end of life. Like the Bishop who, in the cool comfort of his garden at night with the vast heavens above, sought solace from the heat and labor of a long day, Vincent too sought peace
202
3Table of Contents
at the end of a tumultuous life. The symbolism of the garden as a place of birth and regeneration is timeless,beginning with the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane, and on to the garden in which Christ appeared resurrected. The garden is a symbol for nature itself and the origins of things. But its sacred meanings are many, including prayer (as in Gethsemane), re-creation (as in the account of the Resurrection), as well as birth (as in Eden). Hugo seemed to have all of these ideas in mind with Bishop Bienvenu. The garden theme had been central in Vincent's body of work he painted numerous gardens. By the time he painted The Starry
Night, he had spent much of his time painting in the enclosed cloistered
inner gardens of the St. Remy asylum, just as he had previously painted in the public gardens in Arles, and before that in his parent's vicarage garden. And one of his earliest childhood memories was of his father's garden in their first home in Brabant. At the end of his life, Vincent contemplated these things in his portraits of Patience Escalier. The Bishop resided in the same general area near Arles where Escalier lived and worked. And, interestingly, Arles was specifically named in Hugo's novel as one of the towns over which the Bishop had jurisdiction. The Bishop worked in a garden just outside his house, and there were similar gardens both at St. Remy and Arles that Vincent could see from his window. The Bishops appearance and moral character is reminiscent of Vincents deceased father (as is Patience Escalier), and the Bishops onetime violent nature was, like Vincents, transformed by the signaling of his moral conscience. The Bishop and Vincents father shared an extraordinary range of similarities. Hugo described the Bishop as having a fine head, and was described as handsome by his parishioners.He traveled long distances to comfort the sick and the poor. In similar fashion, Theodorus Van Gogh was, according to Johanna van Gogh-Bonger,
U4 @4A B9 CE8CBFF8FF<A: 4CC84E4A68 (64??87 5L FB@8 UG;8 ;4A7FB@8 7B@<A<8V), J<G; 4 ?BI<A: A4GHE8 4A7 9<A8 FC<E<GH4? DH4?<G<8F; 5HG ;8 J4F ABG 4 :<9G87 CE846;8E, 4A7 9BE GJ8AGL L84EF ;8 ?<I87 9BE:BGG8A <A G;8 ?<GG?8 I<??4:8 B9 1HA78EG
3Table of Contents
203
8E8 58<A: 64??87 GB BG;8E C?468F, 8I8A G;8A BA?L GB F@4?? I<??4:8F ?<>8 EGG8A, 8?IB<EG, 4A7 &H8A8A. BHG <A ;<F F@4?? 6<E6?8 ;8 J4F J4E@?L ?BI87 4A7 E8FC86G87, 4A7 ;<F 6;<?7E8A <7B?<M87 ;<@.V
The Bishop resided in a small village rather than a major bishopric, like Vincents father. They both shared a home (or rectory) with two womenin the Bishops case, with his sister and housekeeperand in Theodoruss case with his wife and daughter. In addition, they both possessed a compassion that transcended denominational boundaries. Both Vincents father and Hugos Bishop demonstrated the idea that denominational differences dissolve but God remains. Vincent, as we noted earlier, came from a long line of missionaries who crossed boundaries to aid others whether Protestant, Catholic, or unbeliever. In his youth, on a given Sunday he often attended three or more services each at a different denomination. He said he found God in all of them. Much like his father, Theo van Gogh inherited and retained a mediatory outlook throughout his life, and assisted many people including his brother Vincent who also had strong mediatory impulses as in his care for Sien and the miners in the Borinage.Now, at the end of his life, he needed mediators himself. He needed Patience Escalier and Bishop Bienvenu to help him work through the moral gap that separated him from his fathers spiritual legacy and his quest for salvation. The Bishop had offered a benediction over life and death leading to eternal rest, equating in his blessing moral beauty with light: the innumerable in the infinite, and through light producing beauty. These unions are forming and dissolving continually, thence life and death. He saw light as a symbol for the stirring of conscience and a vehicle illuminating all things in the universe. This preoccupation with light as a redemptive symbol was, as we have seen, a lifelong concern for Vincent van Gogh. In this starry prayer, there was a literary resurrection of Vincents father through the mediation of the Bishop just as there had been through the terrible Patience Escalier. Vincents implicit need for moral
204
3Table of Contents
guidance and reorientation can be surmised in the light-giving title. Starlight implies in Vincents view that the darkness of sin, guilt, and death are overcome by divinely mediated grace. Divine forgiveness is symbolized by light, and light reveals in this sense the moral beauty Dostoyevsky spoke of regarding Christ. Father Bienvenus starry vision coincided therefore with Vincents need for divine reconciliation and assurance in the face of his own suffering and sense of imminent death. Elsewhere in LesMisrables, Hugo equated the flashing of the stars with the prompting of conscience which was consistent with a need to reform and seek repentance:
U,;8 -A>ABJA <F 4A B684A. /;4G <F 6BAF6<8A68? !G <F 4 6B@C4FF B9 G;8 -A>ABJA. ,;BH:;G, @87<G4G<BA, CE4L8E, G;8F8 4E8 G;8 :E84G, @LFG8E<BHF CB<AG<A:F B9 G;8 A887?8. $8G HF E8FC86G G;8@. /;<G;8E G8A7 G;8F8 @4=8FG<6 <EE47<4G<BAF B9 G;8 FBH?? !AGB G;8 F;47BJ, G;4G <F, GBJ4E7F G;8 ?<:;G.V
The conscience beckons a return to God, but humankind occults" or obscures Gods offer to find forgiveness. The lighthouse can be best understood as it applied to Vincents thought at the time of his writing the letter and producing Starry Night. The redemptive cry of the lighthouse is present but humankind can absent itself from its beacon. God symbolically is like the pointing needle on a compass, or flashing light from a lighthouse. It is a sacred callfor Vincent, a moral reckoning that must be answered involving his unresolved guilt concerning his fathers death, compounded now with his own impending passing. Hugos Bishop, the title of the painting itself, Vincents letters, paintings and drawings made in response to Hugos grand novel, all offer important insights into Vincents mind and beliefs during these last years of his life. The word serenity appears often in LesMisrables, prominently in the passage above comparing the serenity of his own heart with the serenity of the skies. Vincent used the word serenity constantly in his letters; peace and serenity were things he desperately sought. Serenity is in fact the primary theme of The Starry Nightit is the state of the heart, and the emotion that follows sincere repentance.
3Table of Contents
205
As a work of sacred art, The Starry Night is the embodiment of light-saturated moral beauty transformed into radiant glory. It is a gathering together of diverse themes which weave and spin, like the clouds in Vincents celestial masterpiece. These themes conjoin the moral beauty of Christ, the spiritual legacy of Van Gogh's father, the cultivated sentiment and healing consolation of his mother, and Vincent's love of nature found in both heaven and earth. Not just a work of art, it is resurrected matter and rekindled conscience in the form of a final eulogy. In his own words, Vincent had attempted to express the unspeakable perfection, the glorious splendors of nature with a host of memories of the past, of a longing for the infinite. These terrible longings were the claims of the conscience expressed in one of his most glorious, radiant and prayerful paintings.
S
'CCBF<G8: .<A68AGXF BHF8 <A AE?8F, 1888. '<? BA 64AI4F. .4A GB:; %HF8H@, A@FG8E74@, ,;8 &8G;8E?4A7F.
206
3Table of Contents
EPISODE FIVE
A STARRY LEGACY
GAUGUINS ABSOLUTION VINCENTS ENDURING BEQUEST
GAUGUINS ABSOLUTION
BHG <9 BA8 4A4?LM8F 9EB@ HC 6?BF8, BA8 F88F G;4G G;8 :E84G8FG 4A7 @BFG 8A8E:8G<6 C8BC?8 B9 G;8 68AGHEL ;4I8 4?J4LF JBE>87 4:4<AFG G;8 :E4<A, 4A7 G;8L ;4I8 4?J4LF JBE>87 BHG B9 C8EFBA4? <A<G<4G<I8. BBG; <A C4<AG<A: 4A7 <A ?<G8E4GHE8. (! 7B ABG >ABJ 4ALG;<A: 45BHG @HF<6, 5HG ! FHCCBF8 <G ;4F 588A G;8 F4@8 G;8E8.) ,B 58:<A BA 4 F@4?? F64?8, GB C8EF8I8E8 DH4A7 @O@8, GB CEB7H68 @H6; J<G; F@4?? 64C<G4?, GB ;4I8 6;4E46G8E <AFG847 B9 @BA8L, @BE8 4H746<GL G;4A 6E87<G, ?<>8 %<??8G 4A7 +8AF<8E, B4?M46, 1B?4, 78 GBA6BHEG, D8?46EB<K. T.<A68AG I4A GB:;.
In telling the story of Gauguins relationship with Vincent, one is at a great disadvantage. Compared to the spare and honest words of Van Gogh, we find the opposite in a man intent on obfuscation and eclipsing a clear view of himself. Where Vincent excelled in natural unaffected eloquence, Gauguin practiced a seasoned form of verbal slight of hand. Vincent said that he instinctively did not trust Gauguin because he soon saw that Gauguin spoke untrue words to a man who could only deal with the truth. The conniving and manipulative nature of Gauguin (Vincent called him a schemer) would provide arts history with a stunning lesson: when words and works of art have veiled meanings, trust is compromised, as it was when Vincent admitted Gauguin into his studio at the Yellow House in Arles. Within a short time Vincent felt ill at ease; he was unnerved by the changing moods and obsured messages being conveyed. Much like an eclipsing moon it wrapped its light in darkness. It was unsettling. That an ominous dialogue should occur be-
'CCBF<G8: U!4 'E4A4 %4E<4V ( 4<? %4EL) 5L (4H? G4H:H<A, 1891. '<? BA 64AI4F. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 %8GEBCB?<G4A %HF8H@ B9 AEG, &8J 0BE>
213
tween two of arts deepest thinkers was fascinating, but what it revealed was that art itself cannot flourish in such circumstances, any more than Gauguin could continue to live as a divided self in constant dread that he would have to someday give an account of his most sordid actions, revealed in his aging body plagued by overindulgence. This plague of spiritual and mortal disease was in many ways the antithesis of Vincents own demise. His erosion was the result of overwork and profound guilt compounded by his fathers death and his part in provoking it. Vincents death was premeditated in a way that Gauguins raging revolt against life could never be. Gauguins scheming eventually entrapped his legacy. It was Gauguins good fortune to have known Vincent, short as this was. Evidence is abundant that their sharing the Yellow House in Arles left a permanent spiritual mark on Gauguin. As Bishop Bienvenu said through the shining words of Victor Hugothe conscience is a compass that ever points to the true North. When it draws one in the direction of its forceful power, lives change. Gauguin felt a strong stirring of his conscience, and proof of this can be found not in his misleading words but in the deeds of his art. Art is not designed to tell lies; it is at its best the outpouring of conscience softened by the senses and stimulated by ideas of beautyeven tragic beauty. In seeking the real Gauguin, one needs to look intently into his art as a silent revelation. Two contrasting works of art created a year apart demonstrate far better than any word the state of his spirit. The first work is his Self Portrait, LesMisrables of 1888 while the second work is Self Portrait with Yellow Christ of 1889 (see Page 216). They seem to have been created to be inspected perhaps by Gauguin himself in order to see things he would otherwise hide or deny. Whatever he intended in his obscure ways, the message in these works is clear. A picture is worth a thousand words. In the 1888 portrait, we are confounded by a glowering demonic face leaning and lurching forward as if drawn into some vortex of sin and destruction. The side of the cheek glows with a malevolent
214
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 F<I8: G4H:H<AXF A5FB?HG<BA
blue cast. The staring wolf-like sharp eyes seem to cut as they splinter into the viewer. This face is one capable of crime perhaps lusting for whatever evil thing it can light its darkness upon. It is sinister and chilling in its power and frightening in its utter intensity. This spectral evocation was sent to Vincent prior to Gauguins actual arrival in Arles. What did it portend? It foretold disillusion and abandoment to the unaffected Vincent who was no match for the calculated hatred of which Gauguin was more than capable. Gauguin once said that he found it interesting that four men he had been close to had become insane. This candid and self-amusing comment was stated as if in surprise, and as if he had nothing to do with the collapse of these men. But he knew inwardly that he was responsible. In the second (1889) portraitproduced a year after sharing his studio with Van Goghthe mood is radically different. We now see a normally lit face, the goatee beard is gone along with its satanic satyrlike look. Now the face is clear and strongly lit, not at all blue and portentious in any way. Gauguin looks younger and more innocent as he peers outward with blue eyes, dark eyebrows and hair. The most obvious feature of this work is the overarching arm of Jesus on his cross like a halo over Pauls head, as if the redeeming sacrifice of Christ is disarming the criminal who had earlier proudly paraded his vile nature. Instead, we find a startling admission that his criminal mask was a distortion. Mirroring deep guilt and self-loathing, it was in that sense an accurate reflection of an evil reality. But it was not his true self. This was revealed in the Yellow Christ portrait. The solidity and physical power of the man who looks outward from this work is healthy and ruddy. The radiant yellow background behind Gauguins head seems to draw him sideways toward the source of that light. It is Christ, the Light of the World, in his most self-giving gesture of utter sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Gauguin had a full understanding of the implication of the sacrificial and atoning death of the God/man and was drawn to the
3Table of Contents
215
GBC: (4H? G4H:H<A, U+8?9-(BEGE4<G $8F %<F8E45?8V, 1888. '<? BA 64AI4F; .4A GB:; %HF8H@, A@FG8E74@. BBGGB@: (4H? G4H:H<A, U+8?9-(BEGE4<G J<G; G;8 08??BJ C;E<FGV, 1889. '<? BA 64AI4F; (E<I4G8 6B??86G<BA.
redeeming embrace. To the right of Paul one sees a mask-like idol, most likely a deity of some ancient tribe or place. Gauguin had shown a fascination with exotic religious practices and the spirits of the dead. Now, he draws his head away from the disturbing presence which is shrouded in ominous browns and blacksthe distorted head of the god unsettling, while the patient and loving visage of the Yellow Christ and the seren
sky beckon and reassure.

Gauguin had begun to return to his religious heritage and away from much of his sordid chatter. It would not produce an overnight change as the facts of his life in Tahiti prove. All the same, change of conscience would bring him eventually right to the foot of Golgotha in a convincing and summary portraitthe single greatest portrait of his life (see Page 235). He stands before a dark hill fixed with crosses. They seem to be absent of victims. It is as if he were facing some silent tomb where the body of Christ now lay in repose waiting for an Easter Morning to arise. The man we see here seems reborn in a white linen garment. He appears as if he had himself arisen Lazarus-like from a tomb. This portrait more than any Gauguin ever produced of himself is the most to be trusted. It is free of guile and arcane symbolism, and comes very close to the rigorous simplicity of Vincents portraits following his confinement at St. Remy. There is a sense of the fatigue that follows a hard won battle. And this sense could not be more apt, for Gauguins life was if anything a relentless war with and against the world. Unlike Vincent, he had never developed the sensitivity to feel with another and offer true compassion. Now near the end of his journey, Gauguin found himself in the shadow of Golgothaa place Vincent knew only too well. Like Dickenss character Blackpool, Gauguin had fallen into a dark place, and suddenly saw a flash of starlight. It was not the radiant sky of Vincents Starry Night but rather the still, strong, pulsating beam of a lighthouse or a compass. The light of a distant star reassures. Vincent embraced this shining hope earlier in life as he journeyed by night to the side of a dying friend, and to the tomb of his still-born brother. He waited for the sun to rise and make of that small cemetery a place of
3Table of Contents
217
resurrectionthe Easter sun he described to his parents in his early letter of departure. Gauguins Golgotha is supremely powerful in showing that for once in his life he revealed his true self with nothing to hide and everything to gain. He now stood close to the tomb near Calvary, not far from the gravesite of Vincent himself. What silent confession did Gauguin make that night? A letter from Paul-Louis Vernier on March 8, 1904, to Jean de Rotonchamp on Gauguins life and death in Atuona is very revealing:
U! JBH?7 58 ;4CCL GB :<I8 LBH 4 98J 78G4<?F BA G;8 ?4FG C8E<B7 B9 %. (4H? G4H:H<AXF ?<98 4A7 B9 ;<F 784G;, 4?? G;8 @BE8 F<A68 <G J4F ! J;B 64E87 9BE ;<@ HAG<? G;8 @BEA<A: B9 ;<F 784G;, J;<6; 64@8 HA8KC86G87?L BA 8 %4L 1903, 4 FE<74L, 4G 45BHG 8?8I8A BX6?B6> <A G;8 @BEA<A:. AA7 <9 ! J4F ABG ;<F 9E<8A7T E84??L >ABJ<A: ;<@ I8EL ?<GG?8, F<A68 G4H:H<A J4F HAFB6<45?8T! J4F 4G ?84FG ;<F A8<:;5BE 4A7, 6BAF8DH8AG?L, 94<E?L HC-GB-74G8 BA ;<F ?<98. +8I8E4? G<@8F ;8 64@8 GB F88 @8; G;E88 G<@8F ;8 64??87 @8 GB 6B@8 GB ;<@ 9BE 4 6BAFH?G4G<BA, F<A68 ! 4@ FB@8G;<A: B9 4 7B6GBE. U! 4?J4LF >A8J %. (4H? G4H:H<A GB 58 <?? 4A7 4?@BFG 6E<CC?87. 8 E4E8?L ?89G ;<F ;BHF8, 4A7 G;8 98J G<@8F J;8A BA8 JBH?7 EHA <AGB ;<@ <A ;8 I4??8L B9 AGHBA4 ;8 6HG 4 C4G;8G<6 9<:HE8, 7E4::<A: ;<@F8?9 4?BA: J<G; 7<99<6H?GL, ;<F ?8:F JE4CC87 <A FGE<CF B9 6?BG; 4A7 7E8FF87, @BE8BI8E, <A G;8 I8EL BE<:<A4? 6BFGH@8 B9 G;8 %4BE<: G;8 6B?BE87 ?B<A6?BG; 4A7 G;8 ,4;<G<4A 5?BHF8, 54E89BBG, 4?@BFG 4?J4LF J84E<A: 4 :E88A 58E8G J<G; 4 F<?I8E 5H6>?8 BA G;8 F<78. A I8EL ?<>45?8 @4A, C8E986G?L FJ88G 4A7 A4GHE4? J<G; G;8 %4EDH8F4AF. ,;8L J8E8 68EG4<A?L G;4G J4L J<G; ;<@. AA7 J;8A LBHE 9E<8A7 7<87, ! 64A E8@8@58E ;84E<A: F8I8E4? B9 G;8 A4G<I8F 6EL FB@8G;<A: ?<>8: W-4 @4G8 G4H:H<A, H4 C8G8 8A4G4!XT G4H:H<A <F 7847, J8 4E8 ?BFG!X 4??H7<A: GB G;8 ;8?C G4H:H<A ;47 B9G8A :<I8A G;8@, 78?<I8E<A: G;8@ 9EB@ G;8 ;4A7F B9 G;8 CB?<68, J;B J8E8 B9G8A ;4E7 4A7 HA=HFG J;8E8 G;8 A4G<I8F J8E8 6BA68EA87. G4H:H<A, J;B J4F I8EL :8A8EBHF 4A7 6;<I4?EBHF, 7898A787 G;8 A4G<I8F. ,;8E8 4E8 AH@8EBHF 8K4@C?8F B9 ;<F :BB7A8FF 4A7 ;<F 6BAF<78E4G<BA. U 8 ;47 I8EL ?<GG?8 E4CCBEG J<G; G;8 EHEBC84AF <A AGHBA4. ! 58?<8I8 ;8 6BE7<4??L 78G8FG87 G;8@, J<G; 4 98J E4E8 8K68CG<BAF. 8 J4F, 45BI8 4??, ;BE218
3Table of Contents
E<9<87 5L G;8 :8A74E@8 4A7 5L G;8 6BAFG45H?4EL <A :8A8E4?. 8 ;47 E8FBHA7<A: DH4EE8?F J<G; G;8@. 'A8 74L, 45BHG G;E88 @BAG;F 589BE8 ;<F 784G;, ;8 J4F F8AG8A687 GB 9<9G88A 74LF <A =4<? 4A7 9<A87 500 9E4A6F 9BE FHCCBF87?L <AFH?G<A: G;8 CB?<68. BHG G4H:H<A J4F FHE8 ;8 JBH?7 58 46DH<GG87 BA 4CC84?. 8 J4F, <A 946G, CE8C4E<A: GB :B GB ,4;<G< J;8A 784G; FHECE<F87 ;<@. G4H:H<A 4CC84E87 GB 58 <A G;8 E<:;G 4A7 GB ;4I8 =HFG<68 BA ;<F F<78, 5HG <A GEHG;, ;8 J4F 45BI8 4?? G;4G. UAF 9BE G;8 6BHAGEL, ;8 ;47 G;8 ;<:;8FG <784?F, 4 GEH8 JBEF;<C 9BE G;<F A4GHE8, FB 584HG<9H? <A <GF8?9 4A7 FB F4I4:8, J;8E8 ;<F FBH? A4GHE4??L 9BHA7 <GF A<6;8. 8 6BH?7 <@@87<4G8?L 7<F6BI8E G;8 FC86<4? CB8GEL B9 G;<F E8:<BA G;4G <F 54G;87 <A FHA?<:;G 4A7 FG<?? HAG4<AG87 <A C?468F. 0BH @HFG ;4I8 C8E68<I87 G;<F <A G;8 C4<AG<A:F ;8 F8AG LBH 9EB@ 7BJA G;8E8. ,;8 %4BE< FBH? AB ?BA:8E ;8?7 4AL @LFG8EL 9BE ;<@. %84AJ;<?8, G4H:H<A 9BHA7 G;4G BHE <F?4A7F ?BFG FB@8 B9 G;8<E BE<:<A4?<GL 8I8EL 74L.V
He then later wrote:
U'A8 @BEA<A: A84E G;8 58:<AA<A: B9 ACE<? 1903, ! E868<I87 G;8 9B??BJ<A: ABG8 9EB@ G4H:H<A: WD84E %BAF<8HE .8EA<8E, %4L ! 58 FB 5B?7 4F GB 4F> LBH 9BE 4 6BAFH?G4G<BA, F<A68 @L CBJ8EF ;4I8 586B@8 J;B??L <AFH99<6<8AG? ! 4@ I8EL F<6>. ! 64A AB ?BA:8E J4?>. (.G.X
U! J8AG <@@87<4G8?L GB G;8 4EG<FGXF ;B@8.
8 FH998E87 ;BEE<5?L <A ;<F 8 G;4A>87 @8
?8:F, J;<6; J8E8 E87 4A7 FJB??8A 4A7 6BI8E87 J<G; 86M8@4. ! E86B@@8A787 G;8 CEBC8E @87<64G<BA, B998E<A: GB EH5 <G BA 9BE ;<@ <9 ;8 J<F;87. I8EL ><A7?L, F4L<A: ;8 6BH?7 7B <G ;<@F8?9. /8 G4?>87. FBE:8GG<A: ;<F C4<A, ;8 FCB>8 GB @8 B9 ;<F 4EG <A I8EL 47@<E45?8 G8E@F, CBEGE4L<A: ;<@F8?9 4F 4A HA7<F6BI8E87 :8A<HF. 8 @478 4 98J 4??HF<BAF GB ;<F GEBH5?8F J<G; G;8 CB?<68, A4@87 4 98J B9 ;<F 9E<8A7F, 4?G;BH:;, GB G8?? G;8 GEHG;, ! 7B ABG E8@8@58E ;84E<A: LBHE A4@8; ;8 ?B4A87 @8 F8I8E4? B9 DB?8AGXF 4A7 AHE<8EXF 5BB>F 4A7 $XACE8F-@<7<
3Table of Contents
219
7XHA8 94HA8, J;<6; ;8 ;47 9EB@ %4??4E@8 ;<@F8?9. 8 :4I8 @8 4 F>8G6; B9 G;8 ?4GG8E, J<G; G;8 9B??BJ<A: JBE7F: ,B %BAF<8HE .8EA<8E, 4 C<868 B9 4EG. (.G. U! ?89G ;<@ 4A7 7<7 ABG F88 ;<@ 9BE G8A 74LF. '?7 ,4, 4 9E<8A7 B9 G4H:H<AXF, F4<7 GB @8, W0BH >ABJ, G;<A:F 4E8 ABG J8?? 4G G;8 J;<G8 @4AXF, ;8 <F I8EL F<6>!X ! J8AG 546> GB LBHE 9E<8A7XF ;BHF8 4A7 9BHA7 ;<@, I8EL ?BJ <A7887, <A 587 4A7 @B4A<A:. 'A68 4:4<A, ;8 9BE:BG ;<F <??A8FF J;8A FC84><A: B9 4EG. ! 47@<E87 ;<F B5F8FF<BA. U,;8 @BEA<A: B9 8 %4L, ;8 ;47 G;<F F4@8 ,4 64?? @8. ! J8AG. G4H:H<A, FG<?? <A 587, 6B@C?4<A87 B9 F;4EC C4<AF <A ;<F 5B7L. 8 4F>87 @8 <9 <G J4F @BEA<A: BE 8I8A<A:, 74L BE A<:;G. 8 GB?7 @8 G;4G ;8 ;47 ;47 GJB 94<AG<A: 9<GF 4A7 ;8 JBEE<87 45BHG G;8@. 8 FCB>8 GB @8 B9 +4?4@@5B. ! ?89G ;<@ BA ;<F 546>, 64?@ 4A7 E8FG<A:, 49G8E G;<F F;BEG 6BAI8EF4G<BA. AEBHA7 8?8I8A BX6?B6> G;4G F4@8 @BEA<A:, G;8 LBHA: #4 H<, 4 F8EI4AG (HA9BEGHA4G8?L GBB <EE8:H?4E, <A G;8 F8AF8 G;4G ;8 B9G8A 78F8EG87 ;<F @4FG8EXF ;BHF8 7HE<A: ;<F <??A8FF) 64@8 4A7 64??87 @8 J<G; 4?? ;4FG8: WCB@8 DH<6>, G;8 J;<G8 @4A <F 7847!X U! 9?8J. ! 9BHA7 G4H:H<A ?<98?8FF, BA8 ?8: ;4A:<A: BHG B9 G;8 587, 5HG FG<?? J4E@. ,4 J4F G;8E8, ;8 J4F 58F<78 ;<@F8?9: ;8 F4<7 GB @8: W! 64@8 GB F88 ;BJ ;8 J4F, ! 64??87 ;<@ 9EB@ 58?BJ, #B #8 (G;8 A4G<I8 A4@8 9BE G4H:H<A). &BG ;84E<A: 4ALG;<A:, ! 64@8 HC GB F88. A<8! A<8! G4H:H<A 7<7 ABG FG<E. 8 J4F 7847.X AA7, ;4I<A: F4<7 G;<F, ;8 58:4A GB 6;8J ;4E7 BA ;<F 9E<8A7XF F64?C, 4 C4EG<6H?4E?L %4EDH8F4A J4L B9 5E<A:<A: FB@8BA8 546> GB ?<98. ! @LF8?9 GE<87 E;LG;@<6 CH??<A: B9 G;8 GBA:H8 4A7 4EG<9<6<4? E8FC<E4G<BA, 5HG ABG;<A: JBH?7 JBE>. (4H? G4H:H<A E84??L J4F 7847, 4A7 8I8ELG;<A: ?847F GB G;8 6BA6?HF<BA G;4G ;8 7<87 B9 4 FH778A ;84EG 4GG46>. U! 4@ G;8 BA?L EHEBC84A GB ;4I8 F88A G4H:H<A 589BE8 ;8 7<87. ! @HFG F4L, ;8 A8I8E FCB>8 GB @8 B9 ;<F 94@<?L <A EHEBC8, ABE 7<7 ;8 @4>8 4AL FH::8FG<BAF BE 8KCE8FF 4AL ?4FG J<F;8F. D<7 ;8 ?84I8 4 J<??? ! 7B ABG G;<A> FB. ,;8 4HG;BE<G<8F J8AG G;EBH:; 4?? ;<F C4C8EF, 4A7 ! 7B ABG 58?<8I8 4ALG;<A: J4F 9BHA7. ,;8 JBE7 J4F G;4G ;8 ;47 4 94@<?L <A EHEBC8, 4 J<98 4A7 9<I8 6;<?7E8A. ,;8E8 J4F 4 C;BGB:E4C; B9 4 94@<?L :EBHC G;4G, C8BC?8 F4<7, J4F G;8@. ! F4J G;4G C;BGB:E4C;. %BE8BI8E, C8BC?8 F4<7 4 ?BG B9 G;<A:F. /8 7<7 ABG >ABJ J;4G GB 58?<8I8. &4GHE4??L, ! A8I8E 4F>87 G4H:H<A 4ALG;<A: 45BHG G;4G FH5=86G. &BJ ! @HFG G8?? LBH F8I8E4? G;<A:F B9 G;8 6<E6H@FG4A68F B9 ;<F 5HE<4? 4A7 G;8 6<E6H@FG4A68F <A J;<6; G;8F8 J8E8 CEB7H687. U/;8A ! 4EE<I87 4 G4H:H<AXF ;HG BA G;8 94@BHF FE<74L J;8A ! J4F GB?7 B9 ;<F 784G;, ! 9BHA7 G;4G G;8 C4G;B?<6 5<F;BC 4A7 F8I8E4? 5EBG;8EF B9 G;8
220
3Table of Contents
C;E<FG<4A 94<G; J8E8 4?E847L G;8E8. ! J4F <@@8AF8?L FHECE<F87 GB F88 G;8@. EI8ELBA8 >A8J J;4G G4H:=<AXF F8AG<@8AGF GBJ4E7 G;8F8 :8AG?8@8A J8E8, 4A7 G;8F8 :8AG?8@8A >A8J G;8@ 4F J8??. %L 4FGBA<F;@8AG GHEA87 GB <A7<:A4G<BA J;8A ! F4J G;4G G;8 5<F;BC 786<787 GB 5HEL G4H:H<A J<G; 4 9H?? C4G;B?<6 68E8@BAL, J;<6; <F J;4G J4F 7BA8 BA +4GHE74L, 9 %4L. ,;8 6BECF8 J4F GB 58 @BI87 4G GJB BX6?B6>. ! J4AG87 4G ?84FG GB 4FF<FG 4G G;8 E8@BI4? B9 G;8 5B7L, 4A7 GB G;4G 8A7 ! J8AG GB G4H:H<AXF E8F<78A68 4G G;8 4CCB<AG87 ;BHE. <F 5B7L ;47 588A GE4AFCBEG87 GB G;8 6;HE6; 5L BA8-G;<EGL! A E84? F?8<:;GB9-;4A7 GE<6>, 4F LBH 64A J8?? F88. AA7 G4H:H<A ABJ E8FGF <A G;8 C4G;B?<6 C4?I4EL, F46E87 :EBHA7 C4E 8K68??8A68! !A @L BC<A<BA, G4H:H<A F;BH?7 ;4I8 ;47 4 6<I<? 5HE<4?. U+B@8 B9 G;8 G;<A:F G;4G J8E8 ?89G 5L G4H:H<A J8E8 FB?7 4G GJB 4H6G<BAF. ,;8 9<EFG F4?8, 4G AGHBA4, GBB> 64E8 B9 G;8 G;<A:F G;4G G;8 A4G<I8F 4A7 G;8 98J ?B64? EHEBC84AF JBH?7 5HL; ;<F 6?BG;8F, ;<F GEHA>F, ;<F 64EC8AGEL 4A7 JBB7JBE><A: GBB?F, ;<F ><G6;8A HG8AF<?F, ;<F F477?8, ;<F ;BEF8, ;<F CE8F8EI8F, ;<F J<A8, ;<F ;BHF8 4A7 ;<F ?4A7 (4?? <A BA8 ?BG), 4FF8FF87 5L 4A A@8E<64A 4G 1,050 9E4A6F, ! G;<A>. ,;8 :E88A 58E8G J8AG GB ,4, J;B J84EF <G 74L 4A7 A<:;G; 4A7 G;4G J4F :<I8A ;<@ 5L G;8 4H6G<BA88E. (BBE G4H:H<A! U,;8 F86BA7 F4?8 GBB> C?468 <A ,4;<G< 4A7 784?G BA?L J<G; G;8 I4?H45?8 G;<A:F, G;8 C4<AG<A:F <A C4EG<6H?4E, 4A7 G;8 E4E8 B5=86GF. DB6GBE +8:4?8A GB?7 LBH 8I8ELG;<A: BA G;4G FH5=86G....V
Looking at the evolution of Vincent's artistic reputation, a disconcerting sequence of events occurred after he and Gauguin decided to exchange self-portraits. The exchange took place a few months prior to their sharing Vincent's studio known as The Yellow House in Arles in 1888. Upon receiving Gauguins self-portrait, Vincent wrote:
3Table of Contents
221
(4H? G4H:H<A, UC;E<FG@4F &<:;GV 5L (4H? G4H:H<A, 1896. '<? BA 64AI4F. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 !A7<4A4CB?<F %HF8H@ B9 AEG.
U! ;4I8 =HFG E868<I87 G;8 CBEGE4<G B9 G4H:H<A 5L ;<@F8?9 4A7 G;8 CBEGE4<G B9 B8EA4E7 5L B8EA4E7...,;8 G4H:H<A <F @BE8 FGH7<87, 64EE<87 9HEG;8E. ,;4G, 4?BA: J<G; J;4G ;8 F4LF <A ;<F ?8GG8E, :4I8 @8 45FB?HG8?L G;8 <@CE8FF<BA B9 <GF E8CE8F8AG<A: 4 CE<FBA8E. &BG 4 F;47BJ B9 :4<8GL. A5FB?HG8?L ABG;<A: B9 G;8 9?8F;, 5HG BA8 64A 6BA9<78AG?L CHG G;4G 7BJA GB ;<F 78G8E@<A4G<BA GB @4>8 4 @8?4A6;B?L 89986G, G;8 9?8F; <A G;8 F;47BJF ;4F :BA8 4 7<F@4? 5?H8. +B ABJ 4G ?4FG ! ;4I8 4 6;4A68 GB 6B@C4E8 @L C4<AG<A: J<G; J;4G G;8 6B@E478F 4E8 7B<A:. %L CBEGE4<G, J;<6; ! 4@ F8A7<A: GB G4H:H<A <A 8K6;4A:8, ;B?7F <GF BJA, ! 4@ FHE8 B9 G;4G. ! ;4I8 JE<GG8A GB G4H:H<A <A E8C?L GB ;<F ?8GG8E G;4G <9 ! @<:;G 58 4??BJ87 GB FGE8FF @L BJA C8EFBA4?<GL <A 4 CBEGE4<G, ! ;47 7BA8 FB <A GEL<A: GB 6BAI8L <A @L CBEGE4<G ABG BA?L @LF8?9 5HG 4A <@CE8FF<BA<FG <A :8A8E4?...AA7 J;8A ! CHG G4H:H<AXF 6BA68CG<BA 4A7 @<A8 BJA F<78 5L F<78, @<A8 <F 4F :E4I8, 5HG ?8FF 78FC4<E<A:. /;4G G4H:H<AXF CBEGE4<G F4LF GB @8 589BE8 4?? <F G;4G ;8 @HFG ABG :B BA ?<>8 G;<F...V
222
3Table of Contents
Gauguin had offered this explanation of his self-portrait:
U! ;4I8 7BA8 4 F8?9-CBEGE4<G 9BE .4A GB:; J;B 4F>87 @8 9BE <G. ! 58?<8I8 <G <F BA8 B9 @L 58FG 899BEGF: 45FB?HG8?L <A6B@CE8;8AF<5?8 (HCBA @L JBE7) FB 45FGE46G <F <G. F<EFG G;8 ;847 B9 4 5E<:4A7, 4 "84A .4?=84A ($8F %<FNE45?8F), ?<>8J<F8 C8EFBA<9L<A: 4 7<FE8CHG45?8 <@CE8FF<BA<FG C4<AG8E 5HE78A87 9BE 8I8E J<G; 4 6;4<A 9BE G;8 JBE?7. ,;8 7E4J<A: <F 4?GB:8G;8E C86H?<4E, 58<A: 6B@C?8G8 45FGE46G<BA. ,;8 8L8F, G;8 @BHG;, G;8 ABF8, 4E8 ?<>8 G;8 9?BJ8EF B9 4 (8EF<4A 64EC8G, G;HF C8EFBA<9L<A: G;8 FL@5B?<64? F<78. ,;8 6B?BHE <F 4 6B?BHE E8@BG8 9EB@ A4GHE8; <@4:<A8 4 6BA9HF87 6B??86G<BA B9 CBGG8EL 4?? GJ<FG87 5L G;8 9HEA468! A?? G;8 E87F 4A7 I<B?8GF FGE84>87 5L 9?4@8F, ?<>8 4 9HEA468 5HEA<A: 9<8E68?L, G;8 F84G B9 G;8 C4<AG8EXF @8AG4? FGEH::?8F. ,;8 J;B?8 BA 4 6;EB@8 546>:EBHA7 FCE<A>?87 J<G; 6;<?7<F; ABF8:4LF. C;4@58E B9 4 CHE8 LBHA: :<E?...V
Note that Vincent gave Gauguins painting equal weight with Gauguins own written comments. He took him at his word: what he says in his letter, gave me absolutely the impression of its representing a prisoner. Not a shadow of gaiety. Absolutely nothing of the flesh... Vincent criticized what Gauguin said, finding it confusing. Gauguin used the language of a Symbolistvague and indeterminate. One is never sure how to take it. Vincent did not play at words. He knew how to get to the essence of things. With words or paint, Vincent remained unswervingly committed to reality in contrast to the obscurity of the Symbolists. By comparison, Gauguins Symbolist language was exaggerated, ambiguous, and strange where Vincent's letters were clear, concise and descriptive. Debora Silverman explained the difference between Van Gogh and Gauguin in this way:
U,;8 6BA68CG<BA B9 4EG 4F 4 ?8FFBA, 84EA8FG?L 6BAF<78E87 5L .<A68AG <A G;8 F<@C?<6<GL B9 %<??8GXF ?45BE GLC8F 4A7 G;8<E 8@H?4GBEF, J4F I8;8@8AG?L E8=86G87 5L G4H:H<A; G4H:H<AXF 78?<58E4G8?L 4@5<:HBHF FL@5B?<F@ @478 ;<F JBE> 4A 4EG 9BE G;8 <A<G<4G87 BA?L. !GF @84A<A: @<:;G 58 FH::8FG87 BA?L <9 G;8 ;8E@8G<6 6B78 B9 G;8 4EG<FGXF I<F<BA J4F 6E46>87 5L G;8 JBE7F B9 G;8 6E84GBE ;<@F8?9.V TD85BE4 +<?I8E@4A, 2000
3Table of Contents
223
In his self-portrait, Gauguin imagines himselfsome might say in a sinister wayto be in the bedroom of a "pure young girl". His painting and supporting letter projects guilt and self-loathing. When Vincent wrote, What Gauguins portrait says to me before all is that he must not go on like this. he meant quite simply that Gauguin was charting a dangerous path, deliberately advertising moral depravity as a sign of genius. This contrivance of Gauguin was later emulated by many avant garde artists for whom despair and moral depravity were to become proof of genius, and by association set progressive art outside the realm of morality and humane values. In 1897, Gauguin wrote:
UEI8E F<A68 @L <A94A6L @<F9BEGHA8 ;4F CHEFH87 @8. &8I8E 4AL ?H6>, A8I8E 4AL =BL. EI8ELBA8 4?J4LF 4:4<AFG @8, 4A7 ! 8K6?4<@: GB7 A?@<:;GL, <9 0BH 8K<FG, ! 6;4E:8 0BH J<G; <A=HFG<68 4A7 FC<G89H?A8FF.../;4G HF8 4E8 I<EGH8, JBE>, 6BHE4:8, <AG8??<:8A68? CE<@8 4?BA8 <F ?B:<64? 4A7 E4G<BA4?.V
Despair was something Vincent tried to stave off for it had incapacitated him following his Borinage dismissal. But with Gauguin, anguish, spitefulness, and rebellion were an indication that his flesh could hardly contain the powerful flowing lava of his fevered imagination. Eventually, these ideas were canonized as the myth of the suffering artist. After the nineteenth century, one artist after another would be eager to wallow in Gauguins wake as proof of their own genius. But Vincent fought against the despair that Gauguin celebrated. When we see Vincents later self-portraitswith his bandaged ear, for instanceit is sobering, and certainly not ambiguous or confounding as was Gauguin's portrayal. The injured ear, like Vincents supporting letters, was a reminder that he had again ignored his health and paid a tragic price. Vincent wanted others to learn from his suffering and how to avoid it. His late letters are filled with regret over the ruination of his own health, and he hoped there would one day be a generation of artists with good health. Vincent clearly saw tragedy, but instead of spitefully
224
3Table of Contents
celebrating it in cryptic fashion as Gauguin did, he saw the light beyond leading to hope. His view of art was not a hermetic code to be cracked by a cryptic colleague but rather a covenant pledged to lifea commitment based on a promise to redeem not only his life but the lives of others. He said even more vehemently in the last days of his life what he had said at the beginning:
U!G 4?J4LF FGE<>8F @8, 4A7 <G <F I8EL C86H?<4E, G;4G J;8A8I8E J8 F88 G;8 <@4:8 B9 <A78F6E<545?8 4A7 HAHGG8E45?8 78FB?4G<BA B9 ?BA8?<A8FF, CBI8EGL 4A7 @<F8EL, G;8 8A7 BE 8KGE8@8 B9 4?? G;<A:F, G;8 G;BH:;G B9 GB7 6B@8F <AGB BHE @<A7FV.
Gauguin was a self-proclaimed egotist who rejected his own family in the name of his geniussomething that Vincent would never have done. We recall, for example, how Vincent tried to persuade Sien to accompany him to Drenthe. But Gauguin left his wife and family behind, and would take several child mistresses. For Gauguin, art was a private drive that made personal mythologizing part of a ritual of artistic exhibitionism, whereas for Vincent, art was tied to action taken on behalf of others in order to fulfill a moral calling. The disreputable side of Gauguin was something that Vincent sensed even before sharing his studio with him in 1888: I feel instinctively that Gauguin is a schemer... Gauguins estranged wife Mette was all too familiar with this side of her husband:
UA;! !9 ! 7<7 ABG ;4I8 FH6; 78IBG87 9E<8A7F, J;4G JBH?7 586B@8 B9 @8! GB7 <A ;84I8A! BHG @L ;84EG <F 9<??87 J<G; 5<GG8EA8FF 4G G;8 G;BH:;G G;4G (4H? 6BH?7 58 FB 6E<@<A4??L 8:B<FG<6, 4A7 A8I8E ;4I8 ! ;84E7 BE F88A FH6; 4 G;<A:. &B, +6;H99, 9EB@ ;<@ ABG;<A: 64A 58 8KC86G87! 8 A8I8E G;<A>F B9 4ALG;<A: 5HG ;<@F8?9 4A7 ;<F J8?94E8; ;8 CEBFGE4G8F ;<@F8?9 <A 6B@C?8G8 47@<E4G<BA 589BE8 ;<F BJA @4:A<9<68A68. ,;4G ;<F 6;<?7E8A ;4I8 GB 58 987 G;EBH:; ;<F J<98XF 9E<8A7F <F 4 @4GG8E B9 C8E986G <A7<998E8A68 GB ;<@, ;8 7B8F ABG J4AG GB 58 GB?7 B9 <G!V
As their letters reveal, Gauguin not only abandoned his family, he ignored Vincents pathetic cries for help following his ear-slitting episode. Instead of staying to help his so-called friend and benefactor,
3Table of Contents
225
he precipitously boarded a train for Paris. Later, Gauguin said he hadnt wanted to awaken Vincent who rebutted this claim. Vincent told how, instead of being asleep, he had strenuously begged Gauguin to stay and help but to no avail. Vincent paralleled the Russian writer Dostoevsky in his moral and spiritual stance, opposing the cult of artistic egoism that Gauguin embraced and embodied. Dostoevsky had toured Europe in 1862 and was alarmed by the growing spread of egotism. Vincent offered the same indictment of Gauguin, and the hubris so prevalent in Paris and elsewhere at that time.
. . . UG;8 C8EFBA4? CE<A6<C?8, G;8 CE<A6<C?8 B9 <FB?4G<BA, B9 <AG8AF8 F8?9-CE8F8EI4G<BA, B9 F8?9-FB?<6<GBHFA8FF, B9 G;8 F8?9-78G8E@<A4G<BA B9 BA8XF BJA 8:B, B9 BCCBF<A: G;<F 8:B GB 4?? B9 A4GHE8 4A7 4?? BG;8E C8BC?8 4F 4 F8C4E4G8, 4HGBAB@BHF CE<A6<C?8 6B@C?8G8?L 8DH4? 4A7 8DH<I4?8AG GB 8I8ELG;<A: BHGF<78 <GF8?9. AA7 =HFG 4F FH6; F8?9-45FBECG<BA J4F 4 64E7<A4? @BE4? 94<?<A:, FB G;8 F8?9?8FF ?BI8 B9 BG;8EFTGB G;8 CB<AG B9 F8?9-F46E<9<68, <9 A887 58TJ4F G;8 ;8<:;G B9 @BE4? AB5<?<GL.V T+64A?4A 2002
Counter to the veiled meanings of Gauguins portrait, in his own self-portrait Vincent presented himself as a clearly-lit artist who retained his ties to the natural order of things. And contrary to Gauguins misuse of Les Misrables and identification with the criminal element, Vincent instead extolled its moral meanings and themes. Gauguin ignored the moral transformation of the novels character Valjean from convict to saint. Moral transformation and love of others to the point of self-sacrifice was the central theme of Les Misrables. Vincent was drawn to the saintly Bishop Bienvenu, and embraced the storys redemptive message. The Bishop had reflected an aesthetic was consoling, not confounding, vague, or abstract as in Gauguins case. In 1894, four years after Van Goghs death, Gauguin wrote as part of a tribute to Vincents compassionate example:
226
3Table of Contents
.../;8A G;8 JBHA787 @4A, 9<A4??L F4I87, 78F68A787 <AGB G;8 @<A8 4:4<A GB E8-
FH@8 ;<F JBE>, LBH 6BH?7 ;4I8 F88A, F4<7 .<A68AG, G;8 ;847 B9 "8FHF G;8 @4EGLE, 64EEL<A: BA ;<F 9BE8;847 G;8 ;4?B 4A7 G;8 =4::87 6EBJA B9 G;BEAF...V (4H? G4H:H<A, 1894. (/E<GG8A 9BHE L84EF 49G8E .<A68AGXF 784G; 4F 4 GE<5HG8 GB .4A GB:;XF 6B@C4FF<BA4G8 8K4@C?8).
In surprising contrast to Gauguins portrait with his self-projection as a loathing menace, he had a soft underbelly that occasionally revealed itself in spite of his desire to hide it. When he did allow these moments of tenderness to arise, he was able to produce works of the highest magnitude and spiritual depth. Perhaps because these mellow moods were so seldom visited in his daily life, when they did surface they came on with unrelenting power and held him in a heart-bending grip; the stinging pangs of depravity stirred by his troubled conscience. So it was with Gauguin, as his friends and enemies reported. But as bad as he wanted to seem, he was no Marquis de Sade. Religious art still moved him and he found himself transfixed by Romanesque crucifixes and Pilgrimage shrines and markers. He was drawn to it so much that he began to use it in his art (though he tried to maintain it was simply the style he liked so much not the content). He moved to Brittany and immersed himself in the colorful local processionals, religious festivals and pious legends. He claimed it was like the hermetic Symbolist poetry, and absinthe-induced visions promoted by the head shops and arcane practices of the Paris art underworld. Gauguin loved to be noticed in such places especially when there was an attractive young woman to meet. Debora Silverman, in her groundbreaking study of the religious roots of Van Gogh and Gauguin, suggests that Gauguin, like Van Gogh, made a return to his Christian moral foundation but only in his last days. Vincent never really abandoned his as his letters and story show. In support of the view that there was a return to religion, there is an extensive manuscript presently in the Getty archive in Los Angeles. Debora Silverman has noted this in the Appendix of her book, Van Gogh and Gau-
3Table of Contents
227
guin: The Search For Sacred Art. Silverman writes:
UFHEG;8E 8I<78A68 B9 G4H:H<AXF E8?<:<BHF 6BA68EAF, G8KGHE4? @8G;B7F, 4A7 E4A:8 B9 >ABJ?87:8 <F 4CC4E8AG <A 4ABG;8E F8G B9 JE<G<A:F G;4G ;4I8 A8I8E 588A CH5?<F;87 BE 7<F6HFF87 5L F6;B?4EF. ,;8F8 FH::8FG 4:4<A G;8 ?BA:-G8E@ ;B?7 B9 ;<F F8@<A4EL 9BE@4G<BA. ,;8 G8GGL *8F84E6; !AFG<GHG8 CB??86G<BAF ;4I8 4 F8E<8F B9 ;4A7JE<GG8A @4AHF6E<CG C4:8F 5L G4H:H<A <A J;<6; ;8 CE8F8AGF 7<F6HFF<BAF B9 G;8 FC?<G 58GJ88A W@4GG8E 4A7 FC<E<GX; WG;8 @LFG8EL B9 G;8 <@@4G8E<4?X; 4A7 G;8 FG4GHF B9 C;E<FG 4F 4 WFHC8EA4GHE4? 9BE68.X ,;8F8 C4:8F <A6?H78 <AG8ECE8G4G<BAF 4A7 DHBG4G<BAF 9EB@ +G. %4GG;8J, +G. (4H?, 4A7 +G. $H>8. ,;8 G8GGL @4AHF6E<CG C4C8EF 4E8 4E6;<I87 4F W(4H? G4H:H<A, $8GG8EF 4A7 /E<G<A:F.X
Such papers have been dated to around 1897the year in which he suffered a heart attack. It is believed that he was preparing a book or series of articles for publication in newspapers or he had a book on religious questions in mind. These were well-formulated essays on free will and revelationthoughts on institutionalized religious control that minimized private insight and personal access to sacred experience. His focus was in many ways Protestant in that he believed that scripture provided direct access into the Mind of the Spirit. Additional more extensive writings have recently been found that offer a conceptual frame of reference for the ideas expressed in his most ambitious work. The brooding religiously inspired monumental canvas Dou Venons-nous? Que Sommes-Nous? Ou Allons-Nous ? (Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?). Silverman reported the following about this fascinating canvas:
UG4H:H<AXF <@@8AF8, 9E<8M8-?<>8 C4<AG<A: 78C<6G87 G;<EG88A 9<:HE8F 4?BA: 4 E<I8E54A> BA 4 64AI4F 9BHE 4A7 4 ;4?9 988G ;<:; 4A7 GJ8?I8 988 ?BA:. G4H:H<A ;<@F8?9 CEBI<787 8KG8AF<I8 6B@@8AG4EL <A ;<F ?8GG8EF BA G;8 6<E6H@FG4A68F 4A7 @84A<A: B9 G;8 64AI4F, J;<6; B998E87 <F FB@8 J4LF 4 I<FH4? C4E4??8? GB G;8 G;8@8F 4A7 DH8FG<BAF B9 ;<F J<78-E4A:<A: E8?<:<BHF JE<G<A:F B9 1887. !A BA8 FH@@4EL B9 G;8 C4<AG<A:, 9BE 8K4@C?8, G4H:H<A 78F6E<587 ;BJ ;8 ;47 6B@C?8G87 W4 C;<?BFBC;<64? JBE> BA 4 G;8@8 6B@C4E45?8 GB G;8 GBFC8?F.XV
228
3Table of Contents
We recall that Van Gogh remained lifelong an advocate of the simple messages of the Gospel with their practical parables and appeal to every man, woman and child. Gospel themes permeate the monumental frieze and some surprising previously unacknowledged details have been noted by Silverman, namely, a preliminary drawing for this work which reveals its underlying Christ centric scheme and its personal meaning for Gauguin. We return to Silverman again:
U"HFG 45BI8 G;8 7E4J<A: ;8 ?<FG87 G;8 G;E88 DH8FG<BAF G;8 64AI4F 477E8FF87, 846; BA 4 F8C4E4G8 ?<A8 5HG =B<A87 5L 4 6HE?<A: 5E46>8G. ,B G;8 ?89G F<78 B9 G;8 G;E88 ?<A>87 DH8FG<BAF, G4H:H<A C?4687 4 6EBFF. A F86BA7 6EBFF 4CC84E87 <A G;8 HCC8E ?89G 6BEA8E B9 G;8 <A> 7E4J<A:, J;<?8 G;8 HCC8E E<:;G 6BEA8E F;BJ87 4 9<F;, F<:A B9 "8FHF C;E<FG, 4A7, HA78E <G, G4H:H<AXF F<:A4GHE8.V
The latter personal appeal to Christ is unmistakable. Silverman enlarges vastly on the sophisticated philosophical and religious foundation of the painting, and additionally devotes an important chapter in her book on Gauguins extensive education in a seminary school in Orleans. This preparatory school was, according to Silverman, ahead of its time in its tutorial methods. The school was founded by Felix-AntoinePhilibert Dupanloup (1802-1878), a leading French Bishop and cuttingedge educator. Bishop Dupanloup wrote and published two sets of widely-known books on educational theory, De Leducation en General and De la Haute Education Intellectuelle, each in six volumes which appeared between 1850 and 1863. Gauguin had been given sophisticated courses in theological and philosophical thought by the Bishop himself who took a personal interest in Paul Gauguin as he did with each of his students. Dupaniloup made it his mission to devote private time outside the classroom getting to know his students. He took them on walks in the seminary garden and encouraged spontaneous exchanges. He believed that the imagination should be stimulated rather than relying on pure thought alone. His approach was very close to the Montessori School Method in current practice in the 21st century where children are encouraged to be ac-
3Table of Contents
229
tively involved in imaginative decision making and creative problem solving. Gauguins ability to think abstractly as an advanced artist of his time was due in no small part to his training in systematic thought. He had polished writing skills which were developed at the same time and made evident in his numerous letters and autobiographical writings. In summary, his background in religious thought, while not as extensive as Van Goghs (who went on to the University of Amsterdam to study theology and prepare for the ministry) was still impressive enough to dazzle Vincent who wrote admiringly of Gauguins intelligence and range of knowledge. We know that religious debates and discussions were part of the evening fare following one of Gauguins well-cooked meals. Vincent had no cooking skills whatsoever so he was amazed that Gauguin was able to transform a ham flank into a delicious stew. Vincent noted that Gauguin cooked marvelously and how convenient it was to be able to eat well using fresh produce purchased in the open market instead of eating in a cafe. There were in fact many things about Gauguin that he admired in spite of his awareness that Gauguin was an opportunist not given to loyalty. Having sacrificed his wife and five children, he was a practiced survivor. He had hardened himself as a result with some strange consequences. He claimed a good row sustained him. Gauguin once wrote that he knew he was alive when he either took a fist to the face or administered one to an opponent. But in an artistically aesthetic vein, he rhapsodized over the dull, muffled sound that his wooden shoes made on flint pathways, and sought to bring a somber gravity into his paintings. Gauguins aesthetic preferences were made up of a complex composite of unlikely sources and forms. His privileged education in an elite boys seminary school and its mystical visual culture, its High Masses and stained glass light, had steeped him in spiritual beauty. Then, in stark contrast to this sublime foundation, he went to sea as a merchant mariner and was exposed to the native arts of South America and the brilliant patterns and shapes of tropical cultures. He hired onto the con-
230
3Table of Contents
struction of the Panama Canal in 1887 and worked as a laborer under harsh and excessive conditions where malaria was rampant. He learned how to cook on the high seas and in labor camps. He was a quick student, and made economical use of everything that could sustain him. Then, as if transformed, he married into a Danish upper class family, became a successful merchant, and eventually a highly successful stockbroker with a strong preference for fine clothes and cuisine. His cooking skills improved all the more as his fortune grew. Then, the great bank failure of the late nineteenth century in France decimated his savings. He took private painting lessons and made rapid progress. Art quickly became an obsession and he never looked back. Knowing the methods of the market place allowed him to sustain his insatiable art habit, he promoted and exhibited his work finding clever ways to make a sale. He was a natural promoter. But he was undeniably a great artist. His aesthetic senses were highly developed and he had a knack for finding fresh ways of saying things. He soon took up with the leading Impressionists, meeting them in bars and cafes. He studied with Pissarro, and was soon on speaking terms with Rodin, Degas, Manet and Monet. Before long, Gauguin was showing with the elite of the Paris art world and came to the attention of Theo Van Gogh, a highly respected advocate of progressive painting. And he met Vincent through Theo. Gauguin was offered free housing and a guaranteed income by Theo who would now be providing for the two adult painters in addition to his family and retired parents. Arles seemed to reignite Gauguins religious feelings as the local population held colorful feast-day celebrations and processions. He found similar themes in Les Misrables and wrote of it and titled works of art after it. Like Van Gogh, he was touched by Bishop Bienvenu and Valjean. Hugos saintly Bishop touched Gauguin in a very personal way. It brought back the memory of Bishop Dupanloup and the unique bond he had with this remarkable man. He was also strangely touched by the honesty and courage of Vincent who, by all reports, was on the short side, in almost comical contrast to the taciturn and tall Gauguin who
3Table of Contents
231
was as strong as an ox. Gauguin reported that he once carried Vincent home under his arm following a night of absinthe consumption. But pious moods seemed to gather around Vincent whose nature tended toward exaltation and sacred thought. Proof of Gauguins pious leanings, sporadic as they may have been, can be seen in several deeply felt works that seem refreshingly free of the unsettling characteristics of his art he tended most often to promote. It is almost as if taking on the role of a hardened egotist he was embarrassed to admit to having moments of vulnerability and tugs of compassion. But we see flashes of compassion in the tribute he wrote about Vincent and his role as a missionary artist descending into the mines. Gauguin used madness as a poetic way of saying that Vincent displayed a profound selflessness in treating miners suffering from firedamp burnsyes, he was decidedly mad. This tribute was not purely altruistic but the strong sentiment for Vincent as a suffering fellow artist is evident all the same. Examining the art of Gauguin offers more evidence of a wellformed Christian belief systema system of thought that he did not attempt to live out but which, like a well-loved pious melody, moved him all the same. We have a series of radiant Madonnas in Tahitian garb perhaps inspired by Puvis de Chavannes who created similar religious works and whose clear outlines and strong areas of flat design Gauguin admired. We can easily move into the mood of these ethereally beautiful works that glisten in with radiant hues drawn as much from the pallet of the tropical forests and flowers as from a Persian carpet, and designed to display the piety of a medieval believer. We know that Gauguin had in mind actually painting a religious fresco in a church in Brittany. But the offer was rejected by the officiating priest when he caught wind of Gauguins reputation as a womanizer and carouser. All the same the primitive piety of a Brittan peasant appealed to the self-proclaimed primitive of art and stuck some ancient cord in his religious memory. Hegel reminds us that spiritual ideals do not die an easy death in art or in life. The Gospel themes that haunted Gauguin and compelled him to produce what he believed was his artistic credo and last will was
232
3Table of Contents
cut from the same cloth as Van Goghs desire to paint the pages of the Gospel written in the snow-blanketed landscape of the forsaken Borinage mining region. It was that very descent into darkness that Gauguin eulogized in his tribute to Van Gogh. He was wounded himself and dying from heart failure, skin disease and massive fluid retention, Gauguin could now identify with the victims Van Gogh had saved. In his eulogy to Vincent, it was not just his skills as a nurse that he celebrated; he likened Van Gogh to Christa servant sent to offer light in the darkness of suffering. Seven years after Vincents death we find a similar theme in Gauguins life and work. At the very center of Gauguins vast composition, we see the main subject, a golden-skin man Adam in a Tahitian Garden of Eden, reaching upward as if to receive a miraculous gift. With a radiantly red fruit in his grasp he looks heavenward in rapt adoration to something above and just out of view. It is as if he is seeing something or someone who is redeeming him and transforming his corruptible body into immortality. We see the Resurrection itself, the lifelong aesthetic preoccupation of Van Gogh to which his entire body of work was devoted, most notably his Starry Night and Resurrection of Lazarus. Placed side by side, these two works tell the same Gospel story they heard first in their youth, that the Kingdom of God belongs to children reborn and washed clean as the sincere in heart. Heavenly kingdoms are not taken by storm; they are entered by the repentant. In devoting himself to paying final tribute to Vincent in his eulogy, and in painting his extended series of religiously inspired works, Gauguin was performing acts of atonement. Like Vincent, who sought forgiveness with his father through his penitent portraits of Patience Es-
calier, Gauguin too used his sacred works to make peace with Van
Goghs memory, and that of his family and country.
S
3Table of Contents
233
,;8 45BI8 JBE> J4F CEB7H687 <A 1903, <A G;8 ?4FG L84E B9 (4H? G4H:H<A'F ?<98. <F 9<A4? G;BH:;GF J8E8 <A6E84F<A:?L CE8B66HC<87 J<G; ?<98'F 9<A4? @84A<A:. ,;8 4CC84E4A68 B9 G;8 4A:8? <A ;<F JBE> <F ABG FHECE<F<A: 9BE <A 477<G<BA GB FH6; BI8EG?L "H78B-C;E<FG<4A <@4:8EL ;<F JE<G<A:F J8E8 B9G8A 7<E86G87 GBJ4E7 G;8B?B:<64? @4GG8EF 4F ABG87 5L D85E4 +<?I8E@4A <A ;8E 8K;4HFG<I8 FGH7L B9 G4H:H<A'F E8?<:<BHF CE8B66HC4G<BAF.
234
A5BI8: U+8?9-(BEGE4<G &84E GB?:BG;4V 5L (4H? G4H:H<A, 1896. '<? BA 64AI4F. !A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 +4B (4B?B %HF8H@ 78 AEG8.
235
VINCENTS ENDURING BEQUEST

U,;8L FC8AG @BFG B9 G;8<E G<@8 GB:8G;8E 2<A G;8 ?4FG @BAG;F B9 .<A68AGXF ?<98 4A7 5864@8 :E84G 9E<8A7FT4 9E<8A7F;<C ABG 8A787 5L 784G;, 9BE DE. G46;8G 4A7 ;<F 6;<?7E8A 6BAG<AH87 GB ;BABE .<A68AGXF @8@BEL J<G; E4E8 C<8GL, J;<6; 5864@8 4 9BE@ B9 JBEF;<C, GBH6;<A: <A <GF F<@C?<6<GL 4A7 F<A68E<GL. U,;8 @BE8 ! G;<A> B9 <G, G;8 @BE8 ! G;<A> .<A68AG J4F 4 :<4AG. &BG 4 74L C4FF8F G;4G ! 7B ABG ?BB> 4G ;<F C<6GHE8F. ! 4?J4LF 9<A7 G;8E8 4 A8J <784, FB@8G;<A: 7<998E8AG 846; 74L...! G;<A> 4:4<A B9 G;8 C4<AG8E 4A7 ! 9<A7 ;<@ 4 6B?BFFHF. B8F<78F, ;8 J4F 4 C;<?BFBC;8E...V, G46;8G JEBG8 GB ,;8B F;BEG?L 49G8E .<A68AGXF 784G;. +C84><A: B9 G;8 ?4GG8EXF ?BI8 9BE 4EG, ;8 F4<7, U$BI8 B9 4EG <F ABG 8K46G; BA8 @HFG 64?? <G 94<G;T4 94<G; G;4G @4>8G; @4EGLEF!V &BA8 B9 ;<F 6BAG8@CBE4E<8F ;47 HA78EFGBB7 ;<@ 58GG8E.V T "B;4AA4 I4A GB:;-BBA:8E
Ezra Pound proposed in his ABC of Reading (1934) that the great writer manifests certain characteristics. He then produced a controversial six-tiered chart of literary greatness which applied to all of the arts. At the top of Pound's chart he placed inventiveness and mastery. These were set above mere imitation and art lacking salient, or enduring qualities. At the bottom of his chart he placed "starters of new crazes." Crazes are expedient, generally generated by less than laudable intentions, and are for the most part short-lived and emotionally shallow. The essential Van Gogh story is, accordingly, not the tale of a man and a fad but of one who stood against moral decay and compromise. To borrow the metaphor of the starVincents star rose slowly over a bedrock of study, application, audacity and courage. Furthermore, this courage was demonstrated in holding to the values of the past while he took readily from the future. He was both innovator and conservator, inventor and pioneer, progressive and conservative, all at once. To this balance of apposites was the most important quality of allVincent's ardent decision to produce works of art that could speak universal truths in a common language to a vast majority of viewers across time.
'CCBF<G8:U(BEGE4<G B9 DB6GBE G46;8GV 5L .<A68AG I4A GB:;, 1890. '<? BA 64AI4F. (E<I4G8 6B??86G<BA
3Table of Contents
237
In this spiritual sense he was very much akin to Charles Dickens whose populist writing merged and married the timeless and contemporary into a time-tested modernity. In America, in the 21st century, Bob Dylan comes closest to embodying these characteristics. He too has creatively merged the moods and methods of the past with an ear for the present-day, and in so doing provides a sense of stability in the face of constant change. In the visual arts, Chuck Close now offers a similar fusion and the late American painter, Andrew Wyeth, even more so. Van Gogh is great, according to Ezra Pound, because his work is inventive and ingenious. But, like Dickens, he was also audacious in creating a body of morally uplifting work when he could easily have done otherwise. Simply put, his creativity was used to create images of awe-inspiring beauty and transcendent logic. Vincents worldview, while cast in suffering, resonated with redemption. Furthermore, the art is honest. What we admire in his painting we find in his life and letters, again a daring commitment to eternal values in the face of their erosion and steady declinebeliefs evident in his devotion to by-gone artistic mentors and literary heroes, many of whom were viewed as passe. Gauguin, for example, dismissed many of his artistic predecessors over minor stylistic matters. Vincent on the other hand, rather than dismiss them, tended to revere painters like Delacroix and Millet. He defended a host of artists who were considered to be well out of fashionRembrandt, Millet, Breton, Daumier. Also on the list of dismissed talents were hundreds of illustrators, relegated to the dustbin of the obsolete, according to theories of advanced European art of the time. Vincent, in true Dickensian manner, praised these artists for their honesty and strength of expression, and for their narrative skill and social conscience. He believed that those strong, virile characteristics would outlive the vague, trendy, and style-for-style-sake art that was current in the social circles of his time. Having said that, it is important to reassert what Ezra Pound proposed about greatness, namely that such work should be highly inventive and original. Such qualities do apply in great measure to Vincents work but in a surprising way. His innova-
238
3Table of Contents
EC<FB78 F<I8: .<A68AGXF EA7HE<A: B8DH8FG
tions in color, expressive brushwork and radical design were married to traditional components. Vincent exploited plunging perspective when perspective was being rejected by advanced painters of the time. Vincent resurrected many practices from history that had been ignored, minimalized, and relegated to the past. We see this in his use of kitchen cuisine and antique lead to bolster the physical elements of his art. He was innovative in very complicated ways. To this diet of the past he added modern color theory, Japanese design, flattening of form alongside strong shapes, and powerful swirling calligraphy. His methods created a bridge to the past and a link to the future. Much like Dickens, he stood solidly on tradition in the most progressive of ways. Viewed within the perspective of the history of art, what strikes us about Vincent was his wise appraisal of values in art. Ezra Pound helped us see just what those values were. Instead of glamor, fads and crazes, we were presented with sackcloth and coal dust, blanketing a world shining under starlight, and guided by spiritual yearnings. We saw a man weak and broken at times but who told his story true to life. In all his undertakings, in his art and in his letters, his allegiance was to reality. The testimony of his life gives us grace, and shows the value of honesty even when it is not expedient or faddish. In our contemporary world of overtly explicit media, Vincents art and his life resonate with grit and courage. Even his peccadillos are there for us to learn from, as we can from the imperfections and corrections in his art. More than anything, what made Vincent great, in addition to his creativity and endless inventiveness, was his endurance, an endurance rooted in the universal truisms of faith, hope and love. This covenant of human and divine ways of thinking, transfigure and redeem life. Great art offers a window or, as Vincent repeatedly said, a Gospel page in which we more clearly see the glorious potential life has to offer. Art is a covenantan agreementbecause it unites by sacred bond the extremes of life, death, time and history. It offers people hope that life is meaningful, and that miracles are as common as the next staggering
3Table of Contents
239
sunrise or sunset. The miracle is the foundation of such art for it requires faith to believe it can be created, and faith to believe its ardent message. It is a miracle that such things are preserved and passed on to posterity, a common message rescued from the violence of wars or ethnic strife. Vincent's rising star was not suddenly seen. His credibility was challenged, and his genius not only questioned but vehemently denied by some. By what means, therefore, did he triumph, and at what cost? Vincent, in life and death, provoked strong reactions. There were those, like Dr. Gachet and Emile Bernard, who revered Vincent, and wrote his eulogy. Bernard wrote:
"'A G;8 J4??F B9 G;8 EBB@ J;8E8 G;8 5B7L E8CBF87, 4?? ;<F ?4FG 64AI4F8F J8E8 A4<?87, @4><A: 4 ><A7 B9 ;4?B 4EBHA7 ;<@ 4A7, 5864HF8 B9 G;8 ?HFGE8 B9 :8A<HF G;4G 8@4A4G87 9EB@ G;8@, E8A78E<A: G;<F 784G; 8I8A @BE8 C4<A9H? 9BE HF 4EG<FGF. 'A G;8 6B99<A, 4 F<@C?8 J;<G8 7E4C8EL 4A7 @4FF8F B9 9?BJ8EF, G;8 FHA9?BJ8EF G;4G ;8 FB ?BI87, L8??BJ 74;?<4F, L8??BJ 9?BJ8EF 8I8ELJ;8E8. !G J4F ;<F 94IBE<G8 6B?BE, <9 LBH E8@8@58E, FL@5B? B9 G;8 ?<:;G G;4G ;8 7E84@87 B9 9<A7<A: <A ;84EGF 4F <A 4EGJBE>F. A?FB A84E5L, ;<F 84F8?, ;<F 9B?7<A: FGBB?, 4A7 ;<F 5EHF;8F ;47 588A C?4687 BA G;8 9?BBE <A 9EBAG B9 G;8 64F>8G. %4AL C8BC?8 4EE<I87, @BFG?L 4EG<FGF, 4@BA: J;B@ ! E86B:A<M87 $H6<8A (<FF4EEB 4A7 $4HM8?, G;8 BG;8EF HA>ABJA GB @8; G;8E8 J8E8, 4F J8?? C8BC?8 9EB@ G;8 4E84 J;B ;47 >ABJA ;<@ 4 ?<GG?8, F88A ;<@ BA68 BE GJ<68, 4A7 J;B ?BI87 ;<@, 9BE ;8 J4F FB :BB7, FB ;H@4A."
In contrast, another account of his death was penned by the Dutch artist, Anton Tommy Hirschig who, upon his arrival in Auvers on June 16, 1890, had taken the room adjacent to Vincents at the same inn. Hirschig wrote:
"! FG<?? F88 589BE8 @8 4?? G;4G JBE>, J;<6; <F ABJ CE8F8EI87 2<A @HF8H@F3, 4F <9
<G J8E8 F46E87, J<G; G;8 :E84G8FG 64E8, =H@5?87 GB:8G;8E <A G;8 7<EG<8FG FGL <@4:<A45?8, 4 FBEG B9 ;BI8? <A 4 546>L4E7 54EA J;8E8 :B4GF J8E8 C8AA87 HC. !G J4F
240
3Table of Contents
74E> G;8E8, G;8 5E<6> J4??F J8E8 HAC?4FG8E87 4A7 9H?? B9 FGE4J. AG G;8 8A7 G;8E8 J8E8 FG8CF. ,;8E8 J4F ;HA: G;8 JBE> B9 .4A GB:;, 4A7 8I8EL74L ;8 5EBH:;G <A A8J C<868F. ,;8L ?4L BA G;8 :EBHA7 4A7 ;HA: BA G;8 J4??F, 4A7 AB BA8 64E87 9BE G;8@. ,;8E8 J4F ,;8 ,BJA 4?? B9 AHI8EF BA B4FG<??8 D4L J<G; 9?4:F, 4 CBEGE4<G B9 G;8 74H:;G8E B9 G;8 J<A8 @8E6;4AG J;8E8 J8 ?<I87, 4A7 FB @4AL BG;8EF. ! FG<?? F88 ;<@ F<GG<A: BA G;8 58A6; <A 9EBAG B9 G;8 J<A7BJ B9 G;8 ?<GG?8 649N, J<G; ;<F 6HG-B99 84E 4A7 58J<?78E87 8L8F <A J;<6; G;8E8 J4F FB@8G;<A: <AF4A8 4A7 <AGB J;<6; ! 74E87 ABG ?BB>.../;8A ;8 J4F 7847, ;8 J4F G8EE<5?8 GB 58;B?7, @BE8 G8EE<5?8 G;4A J;8A ;8 J4F 4?<I8. FEB@ ;<F 6B99<A, J;<6; J4F 547?L @478, G;8E8 8F64C87 4 FG<A><A: ?<DH<7: 8I8ELG;<A: J4F G8EE<5?8 45BHG G;<F @4A..."
What can we learn from these contrasting accounts of Vincents last days, one made immediately after Vincents death by Bernard and the other by Hirshig from memory forty-four years later in 1934? It could be argued that they are simply personal narratives, each revealing some important truth or mischaracterization. It might be argued that the two contrasting narratives serve to cancel each other out and simply demonstrate that there is no singular, simple truth to be gleaned from Vincents life and art. Some say that truth is purely relative. In Hirschigs portrayal of Vincent, his flesh, art and existence are seen as horrible, even too terrible to look at. Many of the apocryphal stories surrounding Vincents suicide, insanity, severed ear, and so forth indicate that his art was contaminated and diseasedthe outpouring of a degenerate mind, a stammering robotic corpse, determined to fail by virtue of bad genetics. In the very decade of the 1930's, when Hirschig made his damning assessment of Van Gogh, the notion of genetic degeneracy was widespread, endorsed for example by Hitler who put the genetic fallacy to devastating effect in the Holocaust.
Note how such views have come full circle, how closely Tommys depiction of Van Gogh matches some current postmodern views of humankind:
3Table of Contents
241
U/8T(BFG@B78EA<FG ;H@4A<GLT4E8 J;4G <F ?89G BI8E 49G8E G;8 8A7. AA7 J;4G <F ?89G BI8E <F CE86<F8?L G;4G I464G87 F8?9, ?L<A: ?<>8 9?BGF4@ BA G;8 5846; B9 8G8EA<GL...,;8E8 64A 58 AB @84A<A:9H? 46G<BA 9EB@ G;<F EB5BG<6 6BECF8, J;<6; 46GF BA?L 9EB@ <GF 6BA7<G<BA<A:. AF A?8K4A7E8 #B=8I8 JEBG8, UG;8 8A7 B9 ;H@4A ,<@8, BE <FGBELTG;4G <F, G;8 789<A<G<I8 4AA<;<?4G<BA B9 %4A CEBC8E?L FC84><A:, BE B9 G;8 9E88 4A7 ;<FGBE<64? !A7<I<7H4?T@84AF DH<G8 F<@C?L G;8 68FF4G<BA B9 46G<BA 28@C;4F<F @<A83 <A G;8 9H?? F8AF8 B9 G;8 G8E@.V T%6EI<??8L, 1997
Like many current day deterministically based views of mankind, Hirschig suggests that genius is non-existent. He finds it absurd that people would regard Vincent's work as having any intrinsic value. Vincent is nothing more than a list of negatives. The facts Hirschig offers are based almost entirely on Vincent's physical appearance. We find no reference to anything other than the immediate and observable, no mention of his letters which Hirschig had decades to read had he so chosen. Bernard's contrasting report contains the very things missing in Hirschig's report, namely spiritual resonance and acceptance. "On the walls of the room where the body reposed, all his last canvases were nailed, making a kind of halo around him and, because of the lustre of genius that emanated from them, rendering this death even more painful for us artists.... Bernard and Hirschig had both seen Vincent when he was suffering the most. In fact, Bernard was far more familiar with Van Gogh's illness having known him over a much longer period of time than had Hirschig. Yet Bernard arrived at a completely sympathetic view of Vincent. When put alongside many other similar accounts of those who knew him best and over a long period of time a clear picture emerges. It is the picture of an honest man guided by spiritual yearnings who left an enduring and undeniable legacy. The adulation of his admirers was sincere given by some of the most talented young artists of the era: Bernard, Pissaro, Monet and even (begrudgingly) Gauguin. They all
242
3Table of Contents
noted his greatness enlarging on Vincent's bequest to humankind. Vincent himself said, especially using the example of his own life:
"BHG <9 BA8 4A4?LM8F 9EB@ HC 6?BF8, BA8 F88F G;4G G;8 :E84G8FG 4A7 @BFG 8A8E:8G<6 C8BC?8 B9 G;8 68AGHEL ;4I8 4?J4LF JBE>87 4:4<AFG G;8 :E4<A, 4A7 G;8L ;4I8 4?J4LF JBE>87 BHG B9 C8EFBA4? <A<G<4G<I8. BBG; <A C4<AG<A: 4A7 <A ?<G8E4GHE8. (! 7B ABG >ABJ 4ALG;<A: 45BHG @HF<6, 5HG ! FHCCBF8 <G ;4F 588A G;8 F4@8 G;8E8.) ,B 58:<A BA 4 F@4?? F64?8, GB C8EF8I8E8 DH4A7 @O@8, GB CEB7H68 @H6; J<G; F@4?? 64C<G4?, GB ;4I8 6;4E46G8E <AFG847 B9 @BA8L, @BE8 4H746<GL G;4A 6E87<G, ?<>8 %<??8G 4A7 +8AF<8E, B4?M46, 1B?4, 78 GBA6BHEG, D8?46EB<K."
Audacity was one of Vincents favorite words; it implies boldness, fearlessness, heroism, strength of spirit. Equally for him, it is backed by wisdom which is perceptive, insightful, astute, judicious, and sound. These attributes guided his artistic techniquesand dictated the themes or content of his art. Content has to do with the contribution or critique a work of art offers the world. For Vincent, content was identical with universal values such as appreciation of nature, love, kindness and compassion. In advocating such values he went against the grain of his time for these were the immortal virtues of a by-gone era, that of Dickens and Millet. Vincent van Gogh remains a great artist because his work continues to communicate timeless truths from one generation to the next. Even his mistakes and missteps are there for us to learn from, just as his art contains imperfections and corrections left for us to see and ponder. This sort of transparency is not often seen as an artistic or moral value but they are values because they are true. The Gospel pages that Van Gogh saw written in coal fields extended to his surrounding world and it is a vision much needed in our era.
Debora Silverman put it this way:
3Table of Contents
243
U,;8 6BA68CG<BA B9 4EG 4F 4 ?8FFBA, 84EA8FG?L 6BAF<78E87 5L .<A68AG <A G;8 F<@C?<6<GL B9 %<??8GXF ?45BE GLC8F 4A7 G;8<E 8@H?4GBEF, J4F I8;8@8AG?L E8=86G87 5L G4H:H<A; G4H:H<AXF 78?<58E4G8?L 4@5<:HBHF FL@5B?<F@ @478 ;<F JBE> 4A 4EG 9BE G;8 <A<G<4G87 BA?L. !GF @84A<A: @<:;G 58 FH::8FG87 BA?L <9 G;8 ;8E@8G<6 6B78 B9 G;8 4EG<FGXF I<F<BA J4F 6E46>87 5L G;8 JBE7F B9 G;8 6E84GBE ;<@F8?9.V
More than anything else, what makes Vincent important is not that he was totally authentic or supremely inventive although he was undoubted both of these things to an usually high degree. Van Gogh's very endurance provides us with proof that the universals of faith, hope and love are real and when they chart and guide art and life they ennoble. It might even be said that these human and divine ways of thinking, transfigure and resurrect life. Great art like Vincent's offers a window or a Gospel page in which we more clearly see the glorious potentiality of life. Hegel, like Van Gogh demonstrated that the rational unity we can see everywhere in nature is found even more so in the deepest levels of human consciousness. In order for rational unity and meaning to be seen art must embody it. A redemptive work of art is a concrete covenant made to make peace between the mind and body and the internal and external world. Its power is in its implicit unity and finite reality. This covenant concept was found in the Dutch art of the seventeenth century.Rembrandt, for instance, expressed the supernatural by representing sublime aspects of natural rather than mystical religious subjects such as swooning saints.Rembrandt made the spiritual real and the finite, spiritfilled. His was a covenant form binding together the world of God and mankind. That is what covenants do; they are binding agreements. They are the marriage vows taken to stay together till death. For the Dutch, it was a sacred agreement between God and his chosen people. The Dutch of the seventeenth century saw themselves as chosen and protected, and their art reflected this in ways that Van Gogh fully un-
244
3Table of Contents
derstood. The Gospel is echoed in all of Van Gogh's art and writings as Mark Roskill so eloquently explains:
U 8 J4F ABG 4I8EF8 GB CEBI<F<BA4? 8KC8E<@8AG, 5HG <A G;8 ?BA: EHA ;8 4?J4LF 98?? 546> BA GB 9HA74@8AG4?F; G;8 6BAG8AG B9 G;8 B<5?8, 9BE 8K4@C?8, J4F 4F @H6; B9 4 9HA74@8AG4? GB ;<@ 4G G;8 8A7 B9 ;<F ?<98 4F <G ;47 588A <A ;<F LBHG;, 8I8A G;BH:; FC86<9<6 E898E8A68 GB <G 64@8 GB C?4L 4 @H6; F@4??8E C4EG <A ;<F ?8GG8EF G;4A <G ;47 <A G;8 L84EF J;8A E8?<:<BA ;47 B998E87 ;<@ 4 CE46G<64? :B4?...,;8 FB?<7<GL B9 .4A GB:;XF G;BH:;G ;4F 4 9HEG;8E 4A7 5EB478E 4FC86G.S!A G8E@F B9 G;8 6H?GHE4? CE87<64@8AG B9 ;<F G<@8, G;<F GBB> G;8 9BE@ B9 4 C4FF<BA 9BE J;B?8A8FF GB F8G 4:4<AFG G;8 9E4:@8AG4G<BA B9 4EG<FG<6 F8AF<5<?<GL G;4G ;47 <A6E84F<A:?L 6;4E46G8E<M87 G;8 A<A8G88AG; 68AGHEL...AF ;8 2.4A GB:;3 F4J <G, @8A J8E8 G;8 CBBE8E <A G;4G 4EG J4F AB ?BA:8E FB@8G;<A: BA8 98?G 64??87 GB, <A G;8 J4L ;8 7<7, 4F 4 J4L B9 GE4AF@<GG<A: G;8 54F<6 6B@@BA GEHG;F B9 ?BI8 4A7 94<G; 4A7 FH998E<A:.S !AFG847, G;8 FH5=86GF B9 4EG ;47 FC?<G 4C4EG 9EB@ BA8 4ABG;8E 4A7 FB ;47 <GF G86;A<64? @84AF... !G J4F 45BI8 4?? A868FF4EL G;4G 4EG 45FBE5 546> <AGB <GF 5?BB7FGE84@ G;8 HA<I8EF4?F B9 ;H@4A 8K<FG8A68...!G ;47 GB 6B@@4A7 G;8 CE8F8A68 B9 I4?H8F, ABJ ?BFG, <A JBE>F B9 4EG 4A7 ?<G8E4GHE8 GE4AF@<GG87 9EB@ G;8 C4FG...4A7 <G A88787 4?FB 4 J;B?8FB@8 4A7 GB7?L FBHA7A8FF B9 <GF BJA.V
In the end, Vincents art was the finite expression of a covenant made between Vincent and life itself. Through the mediatory power of art, Vincent returned to the sacred origins of life. Art was a covenant that helped promote peace between Vincent and his own divided nature. This covenant was extended through the mediation of Bernard and his final account of Vincents last moments and now, at this moment, in our reflecting upon it. Arts future can be shaped by the wisdom revealed in Vincents art and life. What we can glean from Vincents legacy is as star-studded as his Starry Night leading to arts starry dawn. Art is part of a mysterious covenant that is dateless .It is as awe-inspiring as a wing or a flame and beckons like a rainbow overarching the crisp horizon of cloud-banked
3Table of Contents
245
Brabant...like the pages out of the Gospel and the resurrection promise that Van Gogh and Dickens could never let go. Without it their art and lives were stripped of moral grandeur and value. The Vincent we most admire was described by Dr. Paul Ferdinand Gachet, who, as a medical practitioner, was well aware of Vincents brokenness. In fact, he was the attending physician at Vincents death. Yet, according to Gachet, illness, weakness, and corrupting flesh did not describe Vincent any more than they epitomize Abraham Lincoln. Rather than Vincents insanity, it was a cluster of other strengths that characterized him. It was the heroic way he dealt with his illness and made practical plans to prepare for it by admitting himself to the St. Remy asylum. Vincents art embodies a unity of the virtues that made his character something to admire. The following comments by Van Gogh are a reminder of the qualities Gachet admired in himhis clear mindedness and willingness to stare down the vague, purely theoretical, or the inartistic:
U! F4J %8F74:XF W(4ABE4@4X. ! J4F G;8E8 J<G; G;8 C4<AG8E D8 BB6>, J;B 6B??45BE4G87 BA <G, 4A7 ;8 GB?7 @8 B9 4A <A6<78AG G;4G ;4CC8A87 49G8E G;8 (4ABE4@4 J4F 9<A<F;87 4A7 G;4G ! G;BH:;G J4F DH<G8 9HAAL. (8E;4CF LBH >ABJ G;8 C4<AG8E D8FGEN8.SB8GJ88A LBH 4A7 @8 4A7 G;8 ?4@CCBFG: G;8 <A64EA4G<BA B9 @84?L@BHG;87 4EEB:4A68.S/8??, BA8 74L G;<F :8AG?8@4A 64@8 HC GB D8 BB6> 4A7 F4<7 GB ;<@, I8EL ;4H:;G<?L, I8EL 5?4A7?L, I8EL 6BA78F68A7<A:?L, WD8 BB6>, ! J4F <AI<G87 GB C4<AG G;4G (4ABE4@4 GBB, 5HG 5864HF8 <G J4F FB <A4EG<FG<6, ! E89HF87.X ,B J;<6; D8 BB6> 4AFJ8E87, W%E. D8FGEN8, J;4G <F 84F<8E, GB C4<AG 4 (4ABE4@4 BE GB E89HF8 GB C4<AG 4 (4ABE4@4? /;4G <F @BE8 4EG<FG<6, GB 7B 4 G;<A: BE ABG GB 7B <G?X ! G;BH:;G G;<F 4AFJ8E I8EL @H6; GB G;8 CB<AG....G;8 CBF<G<I8 6BAF6<BHFA8FF B9 G;8 946G G;4G 4EG <F FB@8G;<A: :E84G8E 4A7 ;<:;8E G;4A BHE BJA 47EB<GA8FF 4A7 466B@C?<F;@8AGF BE >ABJ?87:8; G;4G 4EG <F FB@8G;<A: J;<6;, 4?G;BH:; CEB7H687 5L ;H@4A ;4A7F, <F ABG 6E84G87 5L G;8F8 ;4A7F 4?BA8, 5HG FB@8G;<A: J;<6; J8??F HC 9EB@ 4 788C8E FBHE68 <A BHE FBH?F; 4A7 G;4G J<G; E8:4E7 GB 47EB<GA8FF 4A7 G86;A<64? F><?? <A 4EG ! F88 FB@8G;<A: G;4G E8@<A7F @8 B9 J;4G <A E8?<:<BA @4L 58 64??87 F8?9-E<:;G8BHFA8FF. %L FL@C4G;<8F <A G;8 ?<G8E4EL 4F J8?? 4F <A G;8 4EG<FG<6 9<8?7F 4E8 FGEBA:?L 4GGE46G87 GB G;BF8 4EG<FGF <A J;B@ ! F88 G;8
246
3Table of Contents
JBE><A: B9 G;8 FBH? CE87B@<A4G<A:.V

What we admire in his painting we find in his life and letters, namely an audacious commitment to human and divine values in the face of their erosion and decline. Beliefs shown in his devotion to bygone artistic mentors and literary heroes. For instance, where Gauguin disdained earlier artists over minor technical matters, Vincent saw beyond his personal preferences to bigger issues. Van Gogh always revered Rembrandt, Millet, Breton, and Daumier for the spiritual radiance of their work, in spite of the fact that stylistically they were out of fashion in nineteenth century Parisian circles. Like his dismissal of Rembrandt, Gauguin also broke promises, marriage vows and art partnerships for expedience and personal aggrandizement. As one considers Van Gogh within the broad perspective of the history of art, one comes to admire his steady, reliable, even predictably strong values. With Vincent, instead of obscurity and irony, we get honesty. Instead of glamor and crazes, we get sackcloth and coal dust blanketing a world illuminated by starlight. We see a man weak and broken at times but who ultimately makes his story true to life. The honest testimony of his life gives us grace to keep the faith and tell the truth even when it is not expedient, or especially when it is not fashionable or politically correct. In the final poignant scene in Hugo's Les Misrables, we are given the last words and covenant of Jean Valjean. His adopted daughter Cossette and her husband Marius are at his side. The scene is like the one Vincent once disclosed when he journeyed on foot to the bedside of a dying family friend and then waited for the dawn to invade the simple cemetery where his brother was buried.Valjean promises with a binding covenant blessing that God will protect them. To make real his words, he lays his hands on the heads of the Cosette and Marius. The covenant is a physically administered act like a marriage ceremony given publicly that God will never desert them as long as
3Table of Contents
247
they ardently seek Him. This promise was given in the most profound covenant agreement ever enacted according to the Gospel namely the Incarnation and Sacrifice of the God/Man. The theological meaning of this act is understood as a cosmic expression of unutterable love who become fully human and dies on mankind's behalf and to offer absolution to appease a previously broken covenant made at Sinai and confirmed by Moses. This awesome binding written in blood was well understood by both Vincent and Gauguin. They were willing to covenant with the divine in order to make real and evident tangible works of art as a minor form of resurrection. A final eulogy is closely related to a covenant for in the eulogy one binds oneself to the memory of a departed loved one and agree to live for that person. This solemn act resurrects the departed in memory and walks bound forever with the meaning of that life. So too works of sacred art are covenantal in ways that can never be fully explained. We meet this mystery in Les Misrables.Now we know why in his twilight hours Vincent resurrected this cosmically themed book and pledged his life to God. Now perhaps we better understand Bishop Bienvenu's mysterious dialogue with the ineffable starlit presence of God in the dark confines of his garden. Without his art to work as a healing mode he felt uprooted, and disconnected from the world on which he had lavished his eye, mind and spirit with ecstatic embrace. It was as if the Bishops starry prayer was suddenly interrupted, or his sacred garden destroyed. Vincent had made a covenant with himself to work faithfully on behalf of the forsaken and to produce works of art that would deeply move, comfort and assure others. When he no longer had the means to sustain this profound dialogue with nature, he felt banished from life. It was as if the binding agreement he had made to use art to grow, to share, and to heal had been broken by an outside force. Vincent knew that he was responsible for abusing absinthe and alcohol. He admitted this to his mother in one of his last letters to her in which he sought her forgiveness. But he also said that in some important
248
3Table of Contents
ways it was too late to remedy his ruined health. He was convinced that it was irredeemable. True, his moral redemption should have included forgiving himself for even the long-term destruction of his body, but we must recall that Vincent was passionately self-sacrificial to begin with and had little fear of death. We recall that he began his life closely bound to his stillborn brother and namesake. In the most mortal sense, part of his being resided in a grave that bore his first, middle and last name. We know he had an extremely strong sense of belonging with his deceased brotherthe unknown Vincentand one can only imagine how it would feel to stand next to a grave stone with ones own identity etched upon it. Vincent had a powerful desire to die, and when his reason for living was gone, it was hardly surprising that he chose to end it all. When most of the known pieces are assembled, Vincents suicide, as tragic and sudden as it may seem, could be predicted. He was uprooted from his life-giving therapeutic art, and he was a strain on his closest loved ones, namely Theo and Johanna. Vincents end was the result of the same resolute pragmatism that had allowed him to accomplish so much in his short life. He had conducted his painting campaigns with the utmost care and precision counting the cost at every step. He had made a covenant to live for others though his art, and when this covenant was shattered by a collapsing body his purpose was gone. The fact that his art provides so many viewers so much sustenance is living proof that Vincent had achieved his stated purposes. That many are moved and changed by his passionate example of self-expending love as evidenced in his letters is even further proof. His legacy is powerful because it contains lessons about the preciousness of life. A glorious life made all the stronger in stark contrast against the shadowed thrust of death. Victor Hugos inspired words offer a blessed eulogy for Vincent: "+H6; 4E8 G;8 7<FGE<5HG<BAF B9 GB7.
8 <F BA ;<:;, ;8 F88F HF 4??, 4A7 ;8 >ABJF
J;4G ;8 7B8F <A G;8 @<7FG B9 ;<F :E84G FG4EF. +B ! 4@ :B<A: 4J4L, @L 6;<?7E8A.
3Table of Contents
249
$BI8 846; BG;8E 784E?L 4?J4LF. ,;8E8 <F F64E68?L 4ALG;<A: 8?F8 <A G;8 JBE?7 5HG G;4G: GB ?BI8 BA8 4ABG;8E. 0BH J<?? G;<A> FB@8G<@8F B9 G;8 CBBE B?7 @4A J;B 7<87 ;8E8. '; @L CBF8GG8! !G <F ABG @L 94H?G, <A7887, <9 ! ;4I8 ABG F88A LBH 4?? G;<F G<@8, <G 5EB>8 @L ;84EG; ! J8AG 4F 94E 4F G;8 6BEA8E B9 G;8 FGE88G, ! @HFG ;4I8 F88@87 FGE4A:8 GB G;8 C8BC?8 J;B F4J @8 C4FF, ! ?BB>87 ?<>8 4 6E4ML @4A, BA68 ! J8AG BHG J<G; AB ;4G. %L 6;<?7E8A, ! 7B ABG F88 I8EL 6?84E?L ABJ, ! ;47 FB@8 @BE8 G;<A:F GB F4L, 5HG <G @4>8F AB 7<998E8A68. ,;<A> B9 @8 4 ?<GG?8. 0BH 4E8 5?8FF87 6E84GHE8F. ! 7B ABG >ABJ J;4G <F G;8 @4GG8E J<G; @8, ! F88 4 ?<:;G. CB@8 A84E8E. ! 7<8 ;4CCL. $8G @8 CHG @L ;4A7F HCBA LBHE 784E 58?BI87 ;847F...CBF8GG8 4A7 %4E<HF 98?? BA G;8<E >A88F, BI8EJ;8?@87, 6;B>87 J<G; G84EF, 846; :E4FC<A: BA8 B9 "84A .4?=84A'F ;4A7F. ,;BF8 4H:HFG ;4A7F @BI87 AB @BE8. 8 ;47 94??8A 546>J4E7, G;8 ?<:;G 9EB@ G;8 64A7?8FG<6>F 98?? HCBA ;<@; ;<F J;<G8 9468 ?BB>87 HC GBJ4E7 ;84I8A, ;8 ?8G CBF8GG8 4A7 %4E<HF 6BI8E ;<F ;4A7F J<G; ><FF8F; ;8 J4F 7847. ,;8 A<:;G J4F FG4E?8FF 4A7 I8EL 74E>. /<G;BHG 7BH5G, <A G;8 :?BB@ FB@8 @<:;GL 4A:8? J4F FG4A7<A:, J<G; BHGFGE8G6;87 J<A:F, 4J4<G<A: G;8 FBH?."
S
'CCBF<G8: CLCE8FF8F J<G; ,JB F8@4?8 F<:HE8F, 1889. '<? BA 64AI4F.
!A G;8 6B??86G<BA B9 G;8 #EQ??8E-%R??8E %HF8H@, 'GG8E?B, ,;8 &8G;8E?4A7F.
250
3Table of Contents
APPENDICES
255 261 262 263 264 265 266 270 277 A Literary Review Literary & Other Sources: Episode One Literary & Other Sources: Episode Two Literary & Other Sources: Episode Three Literary & Other Sources: Episode Four Literary & Other Sources: Episode Five Image Sources & Citations Bibliography Observations & Reflections: Van Gogh & Modernist Theory
Please note: The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has created an excellent
online resource for Vincent van Goghs letters, paintings, drawings, and sketches. This may be accessed at www.VanGoghMuseum.com.
The sizes of Van Goghs paintings remained within a modest range (24" x 32" ) generally. Vincent was limited to smaller canvases due to the fact that he was shipping his work as railway cargo to Theo, and he would have paid a premium for exceeding specified size requirements.
254
A LITERARY REVIEW
The two most extensive, long-term studies of Van Gogh were based upon his letters following their publication in 1914: Marc Edo Tralbauts (1969) monumental biography, Van Gogh, and Van Gogh: A Documentary Biography by A.M. and Renilde Hammacher (1982). Remarkably, both Tralbaut and A. M. Hammacher began their research in 1917! And both studies, took over fifty years to complete! They were written by Dutch scholars who were friends of the Van Gogh family. Tralbauts biography included interviews with remaining Van Gogh family members, including Vincents sisters, sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, and her son Vincent. The Hammachers documentary biography shares important similarities with the Tralbaut study in its dependence on private documents, including Vincents personal collection of prints, books, and studio items. However the Hammachers traced Vincent's travels, reading habits, and other activities, shedding light on his psychological and creative processes where Tralbaut stresses the more historic and tangible side of Van Gogh. Taken together along with Johannas personal reflections these studies provided a solid foundation for later Van Gogh research. Many present-day scholars of the nineteenth century history have mined the private letters of artists, poets, and social commentators. They discovered a virtually unknown nineteenth century; one that is more complex in ethical and religious questions and contradictory than historians realized. By turning to personal letters and historical documents, they began to reappraise longstanding or canonized views not only of Van Gogh but also of his era. A few selected examples of this research include: Van Gogh by Judy Sund (2004), Van Gogh and Gauguin: The
Search for Sacred Art by Debora Silverman (2000), Romanticism and Its Discontents by Anita Brookner (2000), Differencing the Canon: Feminist Desire and the Writing of Arts Histories by Griselda Pollock (1999), At Eternitys Gate: The Spiritual Vision of Vincent van Gogh by Kathleen Powers Erickson (1998), Van Goghs Progress: Utopia, Modernity, and Late-Nineteenth-Century Art by Carol Zemel
(1997), The Glory of van Gogh: An Anthropology of Admiration by Natalie
Heinich (1996), The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh selected and edited by Ronald
de Leeuw (1996), The Copy Turns Original: Vincent Van Gogh and a New Ap-
proach to Traditional Art Practice by Cornelia Homburg (1996), True to Temperament: Van Gogh and French Naturalist Literature by Judy Sund (1992), The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh edited and introduced by Mark Roskill (1991), The Genesis of Modernism: Seurat, Gauguin, Van Gogh, & French Symbolism in the 1880s by Sven Loevgren (1971), and Realism by Linda Nochlin (1971).
255
I will begin by discussing Linda Nochlins (1971) Realism, a milestone work that indirectly influenced many scholarly studies that followed. Nochlin describes how nature and the external world were rejected as subjects in art by advanced painters of the nineteenth century in favor of privatized formal experimentation. This change of attitude was the outgrowth of an art for the sake of art alone mentality. Within this context Nochlin showed how Van Gogh and a few others were able to resist the tendency to turn from traditional moral values in art while remaining open to aspects of technical experimentation, optical research and personal experience. The previously mentioned scholars made extensive use of nineteenth-century documents and data to reconstruct the spiritual disquietude of Van Goghs time. Subsequently, they were able to shed new light on lesser known concerns. In particular, private religious experience in an era previously thought of as deeply secular. These findings were underscored by Erickson (1998) and Silverman (2000), from whom we learn that Van Goghs and Gauguins religious preoccupations, while extremely different from each other, were not as rare in European nineteenth-century cultural and artistic life as previously believed. We learn from Pollock (1999) that canons of taste affected the content and practice of art and in particular how women were seen exploited, trivialized and marginalized. These attitudes appear in many guises in the painting and popular novels of the era and Van Gogh and Gauguin for example were not immune to some of the gender bias reflected in public media. Erickson (1998), Silverman (2000), and Zemel (1997) enlarge on the religious implications of Van Goghs sympathy with the nineteenth-century English Art and Craft Movement of the 1840s and 50s. The title of Zemels work, Van Goghs
Progress: Utopia, Modernity, and Late-NineteenthCentury Art, makes reference

to Bunyans religious allegory, Pilgrims Progress, one of Vincents favorite devotionals. Expanding on these themes, Judy Sundin her 2004 study, Van Gogh, and her earlier 1992 work, True to Temperament: Van Gogh and French Natu-
ralist Literature, demonstrates how rooted in realist literature and social awareness Van Gogh was in contrast to the majority of nineteenth-century artists. This perception is supported by Deborah Silverman (1992) in Pilgrims Progress and
Vincent van Goghs Metier. Here we discover his involvement in illustration as

an art form with ties to populist literature. All of these Van Gogh scholars enlarge on his identification with the alienated lower classes, their symbolic appearance as Christ-like, despised servants or pilgrims and their connection with rural life and humble occupations such as weaving, farming, mining, blacksmithing, etc. Within the city, the theme of the alien, outsider, or underground man, factory worker, menial office employee, servant and hired man became a favored subject for writers such as Hugo, Dickens and Dostoevsky. Van Gogh also saw coal
256
weavers, miners, exploited children, prostitutes and marginalized women as part of this broad cast of unfortunate people. Natalie Heinich (1996) examines major aspects of the Van Gogh myth. She shows how Van Gogh became the subject of adulation as a genius/martyr within the fabric of nineteenth-century artistic life. She explains how his association with the lower classes acquired for him a romantic status as an artistic rebel freed from the excesses and social distortions taking place in European society. Heinichs (1996) research like that of Carol Zemel (1997) demonstrates that the rural craft practices that Vincent identified with were of a grass-roots origin. This connection between modernism and the common man has been downplayed by critical art historians Nochlin (1971), Kathleen Powers Erickson (1998), and others show how Van Gogh resisted the trend away from redemptive themes in art. These scholars began to recognize that Vincent had a profound understanding of his artistic enterprise than was previously known. Researchers such as Mark Roskill (1991) came to see that Van Gogh had the literary skill and philosophical insight to describe philosophical issues and ability to chronicle the finite realities of studio life and to record unapologetically his personal failures and artistic shortcomings. Debora Silverman (2000), in contrast to Heinichs focus on urban intellectual developments, reconstructs the rural religious roots and educational background of Van Gogh and the traditional Catholic upbringing of Gauguin. She relates these religious roots to specific paintings Gauguin and Van Gogh created together at Arles in 1889. Her research makes it clear that these modernist artists were profoundly involved with religious ideas, even though they often criticized some traditional religious practices such as the worship of saints, relics, Mariology etc., they continued to have distinctly spiritual views of art and life. Her discoveries, along with those of Anita Brookners, are forcing a reappraisal of modernist art history, reversing the long-held theory that modern art is essentially a secular, anti-religious, anti-traditional movement. A strong indication of this renewal can be seen in the overtly religious paintings of Van Gogh and Gauguin that were shown together for the very first time in a major exhibition at the Chicago Institute of Art (2000). Since 2000, other important exhibitions of religious art can be cited; for instance, El Greco at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2003-2004 and Rembrandts Late Religious Portraits at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2005 and Holy Image, Hallowed Ground Icons from Sinai in 2006-2007. Such exhibitions within the United States alone indicate that there is a strong interest in religious experience within art historical and studio practice. This interest in religious experience is part of a much wider return to religion taking place in America and throughout the world at the present time. Heinich (1996) considers the para-
257
dox of the skyrocketing prices ($83 million, for example) for a Van Gogh in light of the fact that Vincent sold virtually nothing during his lifetime. She suggests that the staggering prices of Vincents work may be a form of cultural expiation, a way to relieve accumulated guilt for his neglect and social ostracism by a culture now profiting from his actual suffering (1996, 101-103). The secular sanctification of Van Gogh is, like critical art historical theory, a way of thinking that makes Vincent the real person secondary to an abstract process in the grip of a deterministic force. The image of the mythical-martyr is not something Vincent wanted to promote. He hoped to be remembered for his unremitting personal honesty and dedication to gospel values. He wanted to leave written epistles (and often used this New Testament word) concerning what art can be as a form of communication having a public impact and redemptive role to play. According to Erickson, leaving specific examples of Van Goghs religious work in basement storage vaults is not an isolated thing. What she noted clearly was part of a long tradition of ignoring art based on moral or religious themes within nineteenth and twentieth century art. In effect, ignoring religious art meant leaving not only certain paintings in basements, but also ignoring sacred themes and uplifting spiritual moments in art generally: Some art historians have openly lamented van Goghs religious paintings, claiming, The return of so many of his earlier ideas was unhappily flawed by a reemergence of religious hysteria [Chetham, 1976]. This view reveals both disgust with the deepening of van Goghs faith at St. Remy and the view that Van Goghs former pursuit of a clerical vocation was a kind of fanatical hysteria. (154) Ericksons comments regarding the rejection of sacred themes in Van Goghs art and more generally within nineteenth and twentieth century art historycan be substantiated easily by examining any standard college modern art textbook. Few, if any of them, contain sacred images, even though a great number of important paintings based on sacred themes were created by major artists during this period. Ericksons account reveals yet another tendency within art historical practice: namely, to ignore artists personal commentaries on their art when they differ from historians personal bias and agendas. This is demonstrated by the fact that Van Gogh made numerous suggestions regarding the installation of a number of his works (1978/1889, 3:171). He diagrammed several sets of paintings, including his well known and frequently reproduced Sunflowers series, and suggested that they be arranged as triptychs (sets of three) and by this configu-
258
ration make reference to traditional three-part altarpieces. As of the twenty-first century, the Sunflowers remain separated in various museums and denied their meaning as a sacred still-life triptych. The Sunflowers are not a simple, isolated installation problem. They underscore the fact that many of his paintings were intended as triptychs with formal references made between specific works. The disregard of Vincents instructions and diagrams has resulted in installation practices which suppress aspects of his intended moral meanings and sacred vision. This disregard offers a graphic demonstration of what also has happened to a balanced and complete account of his art/life. Ericksons reference to sacred themes and the neglect or dismissal of artists letters is more significant than it might appear, for it raises an important issue regarding art historical practices. The issue is to what extent an artists written statements regarding works of art, especially ones reflecting sacred themes, should be taken into consideration in historical analysis, reproductions in publications, and exhibitions of art. Another way of putting it is to what degree should so-called secondary documents, such as private letters, manifestos, and first-person statements, be used to interpret primary aesthetic objects, such as finite 3-D works of art, religious or otherwise when they are presented publicly? In The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, Ronald de Leeuw (1997) has selected a thoughtful overview of Van Goghs letters along with a critical commentary and introduction. Since he was the director of the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, he has access to the actual letters and other materials in the Van Gogh Museums archives. In his book, he has included never before published letters that shed light on the complex situation brought about by Vincents fathers attempt to have him committed to a mental institution. In True to Temperament: Van Gogh and
French Naturalist Literature, Judy Sund (1992) has produced one of the most important studies of the literary dimensions of Van Gogh. She takes us into the heart of European reading habits from the middle of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth. She tracks Vincents tendency to read particular books to provide him entrance into the thoughts or attitudes of a region or cultural context. In The Copy Turns Original: Vincent Van Gogh and a New Approach to Tradi-
tional Art Practice, Cornelia Homburg (1996) similarly demonstrates how Van
Gogh could adapt another artists work into his personal vision by translating, expressively transforming, or rearranging it. He would take a black and white print, for instance, and render it in vibrant colors or ratchet up a low-impact color scheme. Homburg underscores what Judy Sund had noted in her literary study,
259
that Van Gogh was unusually adept at reinterpreting a theme, subject, or concept from a literary or visual source.
The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, edited and introduced by Mark Roskill (1991),
offers a selection of letters that complement Ronald de Leeuws compilation, since the two authors do not always select the same letters to discuss. Roskill weaves a dense, deeply reflective commentary into the body of his personal letters and enlarges and contextualizes their broader cultural meanings. What is most remarkable about Roskills work is his introduction where he offers profound insights into Van Goghs moral views of art and life and describes his unique cluster of operational skills, perceptive powers, and unitary vision. I am heavily indebted to Roskill for his philosophical views and I have endeavored to flesh out and follow several his thoughtful leads while adding a number of my own to the list. Sven Loevgrens (1971) The Genesis of Modernism: Seurat, Gauguin, Van Gogh, &
French Symbolism in the 1880s is essential reading. His study probes the way in
which neurotic attitudes and narcotics were features of much late nineteenth century Symbolist thought. The Symbolists can be linked in a number of important ways to the early twentieth century Dada movement and in turn to the Beatniks and Hippies. The dark side of the arts of this period and their destructive tendencies are evident in Sven Loevgrens work. Van Goghs rejection of the Symbolist ideology and exiting Paris where such practices were common was as much a quest for personal health and stability as it was an artistic difference of opinion.
260
LITERARY & OTHER SOURCES: EPISODE ONE

Page 16 Page 31 Page 34 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 51 2nd Paragraph, Line 12: Judy Sund (BIB 84) 2nd Paragraph, Line 7: M.E. Traulbaut (BIB 88) 1st Paragraph, Line 5: Stevens and Swan (BIB 82) 2nd Paragraph, Line 5: Hilary Spurling (BIB 80) Last Paragraph, Line 3: M.E. Tralbaut (BIB 88) 3rd Paragraph, Line 3: Dr. Mendes da Costa (BIB 14) 2nd Paragraph, Line 1: John Forster (BIB 28) 3rd Paragraph, Line 2: Tralbaut (BIB 88) 1st Paragraph, Line 1: Ackroyd (BIB 1) 2nd Paragraph, Liine 1: Dickens (BIB 18) 2nd Paragraph, Line 1: Ackroyd (BIB 1) 2nd Paragraph, Line 7: Judy Sund (BIB 84) 2nd Paragraph, Line 7: John Roth (BIB 72) 3rd Paragraph, Line 1: Mark Roskill (BIB 70) Last Paragraph, Line 4: Judy Sund (BIB 84) 1st Paragraph, Line 1: Dickens (BIB 21)
Page 52
Page 55 Page 62 Page 63
Page 70 Page 71
261
LITERARY & OTHER SOURCES: EPISODE TWO

Page 87 Page 88 Page 90 Page 92 end of quote, Victor Hugo (BIB 47) end of top paragraph, ...prior to that time. (BIB 50) bottom of page, end of quote by Pierard (BIB 64) end of quote, October 1, 1879. (BIB 34)
Page 102 end of Dickens quote (BIB 22) Page 104 at top, end of Dickens quote (BIB 22) Page 104 first paragraph, Levin (BIB 53) Page 108 top, end of Ackroyd quote (BIB 01) Page 108 end of Hammacher quote at bottom of page, (BIB 39) Page 109 end of Dickens quote (BIB 19) Page 110 Chekhov quote (BIB 13) Page 110 Dickenss quote (BIB 19) Page 111 top, end of Dickens quote (BIB 19) Page 111 end of Dickens quote (BIB 19) Page 114 end of Merleau-Ponty quote in first paragraph and then at end of long quote (BIB 58) Page 114 end of Roskill quote (BIB 70) Page 114 end of Erickson quote (BIB 26) Page 117 end of Gauguin quote (BIB 30) Page 121 top, end of Victor Hugo quote (BIB 47) Page 114 end of Roskill quote (BIB 70) Page 114 end of Erickson quote (BIB 26) Page 117 end of Gauguin quote (BIB 30) Page 121 top, end of Victor Hugo quote (BIB 47)
262
LITERARY & OTHER SOURCES: EPISODE THREE

Page 139 Page 145 Page 148 Page 149 Page 149 Page 157 Page 158 end of Silverman quote (BIB 77) top quote by Cartwright (BIB 12) end of Millet quote (BIB 59) end of Millet quote (BIB 59) end of Dickens quote (BIB 01) end of Dickens quote (BIB 20) end of Millet quote (BIB 59)
263
LITERARY & OTHER SOURCES: EPISODE FOUR

Page 168 Page 174 Page 176 Page 177 Page 178 Page 185 Page 187 Page 188-189 Page 194-195 Page 198 Page 201-202 Page 204 Page 206 end of Sund quote (BIB 85) Hugo quote at bottom (BIB 47) middle of page, Sund (BIB 85) after quote in middle of page by A. Bonger (BIB 7) end of long quote, Trachtman (BIB 87) quote under title, Hugo (BIB 47) top, end of Scanlan quote (BIB 73) Schapiro quote (BIB 75) quote by Hugo (BIB 47) quote by Silverman (BIB 78) quote by Hugo (BIB 47) quote by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (BIB 36) quote by Hugo (BIB 47)
264
LITERARY & OTHER SOURCES: EPISODE FIVE

Page 218-221 Page 223 Page 224 Page 224 Page 226 Page 226 Page 227 Page 228-229 Page 237 Page 237 Page 240 Page 240-241 Page 242 Page 243 Page 245 Page 246-247 Page 250 quote from Vernier (BIB 92) quote from Gauguin (BIB 34) Silverman quote (BIB 78) Gauguin quote (BIB 31) Mette Gauguin quote (BIB 29) quote by Scanlan (BIB 73) quote by Gauguin (BIB 30) quotes by Silverman (BIB 78) top, quote by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (BIB 36) 1st para., line 1: Ezra Pound (BIB 68) 1st para., line 4: Bernard (BIB 04) quote by Hirschig (BIB 45) top, quote by McEvilley (BIB 57) bottom to 244, quote by Silverman (BIB 78) top, quote by Roskill (70) quote by Gachet (BIB 34) quote from Hugo (BIB 47)
265
IMAGE SOURCES & CITATIONS

Page 10
The Sheaf Binder [After Millet], 1889. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Peasant Mowing. Vincent van Gogh, 1885. Charcoal with black crayon. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Women Miners Carrying Coal, 1882. Watercolor on paper heightened with white pigment. Krller-Mller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands.
(Same as Page 18)
Page 13
Page 18
Page 19 Page 20
Self-Portrait at the Easel, 1888. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Photograph of Joanna Bonger with Vincent Willem Van Gogh, 1890.
Page 22 Page 26
Woman Sewing with a Girl, 1883. Chalk, pen, ink, and watercolor. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh, and Johanna van Gogh-Bonger. Images in the Public Domain.
Page 29
Page 30
Portrait of the Artists Mother, 1888. Oil on canvas. Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California.
Van Gogh Family Coat of Arms. Image in the Public Domain. Source Unknown. Image in the Public Domain.
Page 32
Page 34
Page 43
Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier), 1888. Oil on canvas. Private Collection.

Source Unknown. Image in the Public Domain. Bottom image: The State Lottery Office, 1882. Watercolor. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Source Unknown. Image in the Public Domain.
Page 44
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Van Goghs Chair with Pipe [detail], 1888. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
266

Page 55 Charles Dickens. Image in the Public Domain.
Page 56
Self-Portrait at the Easel (detail), 1888. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Van Goghs Chair with Pipe, 1888. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jacob van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem, 1670. Oil on canvas Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. William Powell Frith, Ramsgate Sands: Life at the Seaside, 1852-54. Oil on canvas. Royal Collection, London
Page 59
Page 61
Page 71
Page 77
The Raising of Lazarus [After Rembrandt], 1890. Oil on paper. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jacob van Ruisdael, The Jewish Cemetery, 1657. Oil on canvas Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, USA.
Page 78
Page 79
Mining Town in the Borinage, 1882. Watercolor on paper. Whereabouts unknown. Le Moulin de la Galette, Montmarte, 1886. Oil on canvas. Glasgow Museum, Glasgow, Scotland. Peasant Burning Weeds, 1883. Oil on panel. Private collection. The Miners Return, post-1881. Pencil, pen, and brush. Krller-Mller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands.
A Pair of Shoes, 1886. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Page 81
Page 87
Page 88
Page 91
Page 97
The Iron Mill in the Hague, 1882. Gouache, watercolor, wash, pen, India ink, and pencil on paper. Christies Backyards of Old Houses in Antwerp in the Snow, 1885. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Page 99
Page 113 Snowy Landscape with Arles in the Background, 1888. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
267

Page 118 Portrait de lartiste (Self Portrait), Paul Gauguin, 1893-94. Oil on canvas. Musee dOrsay, Paris, France. Page 122 Still Life with Bible, 1885. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Page 124 View of Paris from Montmarte, 1886. Oil on canvas. Offentlische Kunstsammalung, Kuntsmuseum, Basel, Switzerland Page 125 (Same as Page 124) Page 129 Bowl with Peonies and Roses, 1886. Oil on canvas. Krller-Mller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands. Page 143 House in Auvers, 1890. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA. Page 144 The Man is at Sea [after Demont-Breton], 1889. Oil on canvas. Private collectio. Page 153 Girl Kneeling by a Cradle, 1883. Pencil and charcoal, heightened with white. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Page 159 Farmhouse in Provence, 1888. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA. Page 160 Still Life: Drawing Board, Pipe, Onions, and Sealing-Wax, 1889. Oil on canvas. Krller-Mller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands. Page 161 (Same as Page 160) Page 162 The Good Samaritan (After Delacroix), 1890. Oil on canvas. Krller-Mller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands. Page 164 Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888. Oil on canvas. Musee dOrsay, Paris, France. Page 183 Bedroom in Arles, 1888. Oil on canvas. Musee dOrsay, Paris, France. Page 184 A Lane in the Public Garden at Arles, 1888. Oil on canvas. Krller-Mller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands. Page 207 Vincents House in Arles, 1888. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
268

Page 208 The Starry Night, 1889. Oil on canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York Page 209 (Same as Page 208) Page 210 Self-Portrait, 1889. Oil on canvas. Musee dOrsay, Paris Page 212 La Orana Maria (Hail Mary), 1891. Paul Gauguin. Oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Page 216 Top: Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait Les Miserables, 1888. Oil on canvas. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Page 216 Bottom: Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ, 1889. Oil on canvas. Private collection. Page 221 Photograph of Paul Gauguin. Source unknown Page 222 Paul Gauguin, Christmas Night, 1896. Oil on canvas. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA. Page 235 Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait Near Golgotha, 1896. Oil on canvas. Sao Paolo Museum de Arte. Page 236 Portrait of Doctor Gachet, 1890. Oil on canvas. Private collection. Page 251 Cypresses with Two Female Figures, 1889. Oil on canvas. Krller-Mller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands. Page 252 Reaper. Vincent van Gogh. Charcoal with black crayon. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Page 253 (Same as Page 252)
269
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 2 Ackroyd, P. 1990. Dickens. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Bacharach, S. 2005. Toward a metaphysical historicism. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 63 (Spring): 165-173. Bedarida, F. 1970. Cities: Population and the Urban Explosion. In the nineteenth century: The contradictions of Progress, ed. A. Briggs, 99-130. New York: McGraw-Hill. Bernard, E. 1986. Letter from Emile Bernard to G.-Albert Aurier: On Vincents burial, 1 August 1890. In Van Gogh: A retrospective, ed. S. A. Stein, 219-222. New York: Park Lane. Biro, M. 1998. Anselm Kiefer and the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Blocker, H. G. and J. M. Jeffers, 1998. Introduction in Contextualizing aesthetics: From Plato to Lyotard. Edited by H. G. Blocker and J. M. Jeffers. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Bonger, A. 1978. Excerpt in The complete letters of Vincent van Gogh. 2d ed. 3vols., trans. J. van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood. Boston: New York Graphic Society. Original work published 1914. Briggs, A. 1970. The shape of the century: Man at the Crossroads of History. In The nineteenth Century: The Contradictions of Progress, ed. A. Briggs, 11-38. New York: McGraw-Hill. Brookner, A. 2000. Romanticism and its Discontents. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.
10 Carroll, N. 2002. The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature, and Moral knowledge. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 60 (Winter): 3-26. 11 Carlyle, T. 1927. Letter to the author. In The life of Charles Dickens, Vol. 1, by J. Forster, Dedication (n.p.). New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. Original work published 1874. 12 Cartwright, J. 1902. Jean Francois Millet: His life and letters. New York: The MacMillan Co. 13 Chekhov, A. 1947. A day in the country. In A treasury of Short Stories, ed. B. Kielty. New York: Simon & Schuster. 14 Costa, M. B. 1978. Personal Memories of Vincent van Gogh During His Stay at Amsterdam. In The complete letters of Vincent van Gogh, 2d ed. 3vols., trans. J. van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood. Boston: New York Graphic Society.
270
BIBLIOGRAPHY
15 Daum, M. (2005). B-List TV: Just 15 Minutes More. Los Angeles Times (June 26): E1 & E27). 16 de Leeuw, R. 1997. Introduction. In The letters of Vincent van Gogh, ed. R. de Leeuw, trans. A. Pomerans, ix-xxvi. London: Penguin Books. 17 Devereaux, M. 2004. Moral judgments and works of art: The case of Narrative Literature. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (Winter): 3-11. 18 Dickens, C. 1946. A Christmas carol. In Christmas Stories, 13-110. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company. Original work published 1843. 19 1961. Hard times. New York: The New American Library. Original work published 1854. 20 1983. A tale of two cities. London: Dent. Original work published 1859. 21 1985. American notes. New York: St. Martins Press, Inc. Original work published 1842. 22 1998. The Old Curiosity Shop: With the original illustrations. Edited and with an introduction by Elizabeth M. Brennan. Original work published 1841. 23 Dostoevsky, F. 1960. Notes from underground and the grand inquisitor. Translated by R.E. Matlaw. New York: E. P. Dutton. Original work published 1864. 24 Elkins, J. 1999. What painting is. New York: Routledge. 25 Ellison, R. 1972. The invisible man. New York: Vintage Books. Original work published 1947. 26 Erickson, K. 1998. At eternitys gate: The spiritual vision of Vincent van Gogh. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans. 27 Feagin, S. L. and P. Maynard. 1997. Introduction. In Aesthetics, ed. S. Feagin and P. Maynard, 3-10. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 28 Forster, J. 1927. The life of Charles Dickens. 2 vols. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. Original work published 1874. 29 Gauguin, M. 2003. Letter from Mette Gauguin to Emile Schuffenecker. In Letters to his wife and friends. Edited by M. Malingue. Translated by H.J. Stenning. Boston: MFA Publications. Original work published 1949. 30 Gauguin, P. 1986. Essais dart libre: Still Lifes. In Van Gogh: A retrospective, ed. S. A. Stein, 121-122. New York: Park Lane.
271
BIBLIOGRAPHY
31 2003. Letters to his wife and friends. Edited by M. Malingue. Translated by H.J. Stenning. Boston: MFA Publications. Original work published 1949. 32 Gilson, E. 1952. Being and some philosophers. 2d ed. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 33 Gogh, V. 1955. Verzamelde brieven van Vincent van Gogh. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Wereld-Bibliotheek. 34 1978. The complete letters of Vincent van Gogh. 2d ed. 3 vols. Translated by J. van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood. Boston: New York Graphic Society. Original work published 1914. 35 1982. The reaper with cap, moving to the right. Drawing, August 1885. As reproduced in A. M. Hammacher and R. Hammacher, Van Gogh, a documentary biography, plate 84. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. 36 Gogh-Bonger, J. 1978. Memoir in The complete letters of Vincent van Gogh. 2d ed. 3vols., trans. J. van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood. Boston: New York Graphic Society. Original work published 1914. 37 Grun, B. 1982. The timetables of history: A horizontal linkage of people and events. NewYork: Simon and Schuster. 38 Guass, C. E. 1949. The aesthetic theories of French artists: 1855 to the present. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins Press. 39 Hammacher, A. M. and R. Hammacher, 1982. Van Gogh, a documentary biography. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. 40 Hegel, G. W. F. 1977. Phenomenology of spirit. Translated by A. V. Miller. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Original work published 1807. 41 1988. Lectures on the philosophy of religion. Edited by P. C. Hodgson. Translated by R. F. Brown & J. M. Stewart. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Original work published 1827. 42 1998. Aesthetics: Lectures on fine art. 2 vols. Translated by T. M. Knox. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Original edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975. Original work published 1835. 43 Heinich, N. 1996. The glory of van Gogh: An anthropology of admiration. Translated by P. L. Browne. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 44 Hilburn, R. (2005). With Live 8, rock changes the way it calls for change. Los Angeles Times (July 3): A13.
272
BIBLIOGRAPHY
45 Hirschig, A.. 1986. Letter from Anton Hirschig to Dr. A. Bredius: Oud-Holland: Recollections of Vincent van Gogh, 1934. In Van Gogh: A retrospective, ed. S. A. Stein, 210-211. New York: Park Lane. 46 Homburg, C. 1996. The copy turns original: Vincent van Gogh and a new approach to traditional art practice. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. 47 Hugo, V. 1997. Les Miserables. Translated by C. E. Wilbour. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Original work published 1862. 48 Huizinga, J. H. 1968. Dutch civilisation in the seventeenth century, and other essays. Translated by A. J. Pomerans. London: Collins. 49 Ives, C. 2005. Out of line: How Van Gogh made his mark. In Vincent Van Gogh: The drawings, by C. Ives, S. A. Stein, S. van Heugten, & M. Vellekoop, 3-20. NewYork: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 50 Joll, J. 1970. Authority and protest: Patterns of change from 1848-1900. In the nineteenth century: The contradictions of progress, ed. A. Briggs, 71-98. NewYork: McGraw-Hill. 51 Kodera, T. 1990. Vincent van Gogh: Christianity versus nature. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. 52 Lambert, J. C. 1984. Cobra. New York: Abbeville Press. 53 Levin, D. M. 1999. The philosophers gaze: Modernity in the shadows of enlightenment. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 54 Levinson, J. 2004. Intrinsic value and the notion of a life. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (Fall): 319-329. 55 Lewis, R. and V. Bennett. 2005. Start to make it better, Live 8 urges. Los Angeles Times (July 3): A1, A12. 56 Loevgren, S. 1971. The genesis of modernism: Seurat, Gauguin, Van Gogh, & French symbolism in the 1880s. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 57 McEvilley, T. (1997). The millennial body: The art of the figure at the end of humanity. Sculpture Magazine: 10-12. 58 Merleau-Ponty, M. 1968. The visible and the invisible: Followed by working notes. Edited by Claude Lefort. Translated by Alphonso Lingis. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. Original work published Hamburg, Classen & Goverts, 1948.
273
BIBLIOGRAPHY
59 Millet, J. F. 1902. Letter. In Jean Francois Millet: His life and letters, by Julia Cartwright. New York: The MacMillan Co. Original letters 1850-1865. 60 Moltmann, J. 1993. God in creation: A new theology of creation and the Spirit of God. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Original work published Munich, Christian Kaiser Verlag, 1985. 61 Mullin, A. 2004. Moral defects, aesthetic defects, and the imagination. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (Summer): 249-261. 62 Nochlin, L. 1990. Realism. New York: Penguin Books. Original edition, New York: Pelican Books, 1971. 63 Obama, B. 2005. What I see in Lincolns eyes. Time (July 4): 74. 64 Pirard, L. 1978. La vie tragique de Vincent van Gogh. In The complete letters of Vincent van Gogh. 2d ed. 3 vols., translated by J. van GoghBonger and C. de Dood, 222-230. Boston: New York Graphic Society. Original work published 1914. 65 Podro, M. 1982. The critical historians of art. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 66 Pohl, F. K. 2002. Framing America: A social history of American art. New York: Thames & Hudson. 67 Pollock, G. 1999. Differencing the canon: Feminist desire and the writing of arts histories. London: Routledge. 68 Pound, E. 1934. ABC of reading. New York: New Directions Paperbook, 1960. 69 Rosenberg, J., S. Slive, and E. H. ter Kuile 1972. Dutch Art and Architecture: 1600 to 1800. Rev. ed. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd. 70 Roskill, M. 1991. Introduction. In The letters of Vincent van Gogh, ed. M. Roskill, 1131. New York: Atheneum Publishers. Original edition, London: William Collins Sons & Co., Ltd., 1963. 71 Roth, J. 1976. American dreams: Meditations on life in the United States. SanFrancisco: Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc. 72 1997. Private needs, public selves: Talk about religion in America. Urbana and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press. 73 Scanlan, J. P. 2002. Dostoevsky the thinker. New York: Cornell University Press. 74 Schama, S. 1999. Rembrandts eyes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
274
BIBLIOGRAPHY
75 Schapiro, M. 1978. Modern art, 19th & 20th centuries: Selected papers. New York: George Braziller. 76 Scigliano, E. 2005. Michelangelos mountain: The quest for perfection in the marble quarries of Carrara. New York: Free Press. 77 Silverman, D. 1992. Pilgrims Progress and Vincent van Goghs Metier. In Van Gogh in England: Portrait of the artist as a young man, ed. M. Bailey, 95-113. London: Barbican Gallery. 78 2000. Van Gogh and Gauguin: The search for sacred art. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 79 Solomon-Godeau, A. 1994. Going native: Paul Gauguin and the invention of Primitivist Modernism. In Modern art and society: An anthology of social and multicultural readings, ed. M. Berger, 73-94. New York: HarperCollins. 80 Spurling, H. 1998. The unknown Matisse: A life of Henri Matisse: The early years, 1869-1908. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 81 Stetson, B. 2005. Disagreeing isnt intolerant: Tolerance has been redefined to require approval of the nontraditional. The Orange County Register (August 28): Commentary 2. 82 Stevens, M. and A. Swan. 2004. de Kooning: An American master. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 83 Stokvis, B. J. 1978. Investigations about Vincent van Gogh in Brabant. In The complete letters of Vincent van Gogh. 2d ed. 3 vols. Trans. J. van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood. Boston: New York Graphic Society. Original work published 1926. 84 Sund, J. 1992. True to temperament: Van Gogh and French naturalist literature. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. 85 2002. Van Gogh. London: Phaidon Press Limited. 86 Ten Boom, C. 1974. The hiding place. Toronto: Bantam Books. 87 Trachtman, P. 2005. Toulouse-Lautrec. Smithsonian 36 (May): 84-90. 88 Tralbaut, M. E. 1969. Vincent van Gogh. New York: The Viking Press, Inc. 89 Tyrangiel, J. 2002. Bruce rising: An intimate look at how Springsteen turned 9/11 into a message of hope. Time (August 5): 52-59. 90 Van Crimpen, H. 1987. The Van Gogh family in Brabant. In Van Gogh in Brabant: Paintings and drawings from Etten and Nuenen, trans. P. Wardle, 72-91. Zwolle, Netherlands: Waanders.
275
BIBLIOGRAPHY
91 Van de Wetering, E. 1997. Rembrandt: The painter at work. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. 92 Vernier, P. 1987. Letter from Paul-Louis Vernier to Jean de Rotonchamp. In Gauguin: A retrospective, ed. M. Prather and C. F. Stuckey, 336-338. New York: Park Lane. Original work 1904. 93 Washington, P. 2002. Introduction. In Dostoevsky the thinker, trans. C. E. Wilbour, ix-xxii. New York: Cornell University Press. 94 Wolin, R. 2005. Jrgen Habermas and post-secular societies. The Chronicle of Higher Education (September 23): B16-B17. 95 Wolfe, T. 1976. The painted word. New York: Bantam Books. 96 Worth, S. E. 2004. The ethics of exhibitions: On the presentation of religious art. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (Summer): 277-284. 97 Zemel, C. 1997. Van Goghs progress: Utopia, modernity, and late-nineteenth-century art. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
276
OBSERVATIONS & REFLECTIONS:

VAN GOGH & MODERNIST THEORY
277
OBSERVATIONS & REFLECTIONS

Van Goghs literary passions ran counter to the early doctrines of modernism that minimized literacy and the use of literary content in art. By contrast, for Van Gogh the literary and visual arts were inseparable because they gave form to primary human experience. One of the most remarkable things about Van Gogh is that he challenged the very idea of aesthetic dualismfor instance, the modernist idea that the visual arts are merely retinal and the literary arts essentially linguistic or that the human universals which bond private and public life can be easily severed. Van Goghs holistic aesthetic approach challenges the modernist tendency to see each of the arts as representative of an independent sense perception or a hyper-private experiencemovement for dance, audio perception for music, touch for sculpture, sight for painting, verbal language for literatureand that which is derived from these separate sources having no meaning beyond itself. This splintered view of the senses led away from common sense or the shared import of the senses together (i.e., common sense) to uncommon isolated sense experience or non sense. This in turn produced artistic theories and practices that removed art from the reality of public life and its problems, claiming art had no other purpose than to provide isolated, private aesthetic sensation which by definition (according to Kant) was non-utilitarian. The inevitable result was an art for arts sake alone, mentality with art disconnected from a sense of public vocation, cultural meaning, purpose and tradition. As the history of art demonstrates, the result of all this was to remove contentliterary, spiritual, moral, and otherwise from the arts and replace them with private, isolated experience, ambiguity, and confusion. The Impressionists, in spite of their progressive ideals, provided the motivation for the modernist tendency of looking out at the world or even away from it altogetherwith dispassionate eyes and elevating
278

purely private visual sensation above all of the troubling things of life in the real world. VanGogh, on the other hand, made it clear that for him personal vision and the broader themes of life must be intimately connected. There was no fundamental separation between public and private worlds in his artistic conception. Vincent made reading, painting, and writing a social activity, not a purely private passivity. For him art was tied to action, taken to fulfill moral and ethical needs, not simply retinal sensation or isolated optical research devoid of social meaning. Van Gogh wanted to engage others in his letters and art; he did not keep an exclusively private diary or make art for himself alone. His letters, even when written about himself, are directed outward, toward others. This is why his letters are important: they contain the objective and subjective poles essential to cultural reflection; in other words, they offer a dialogue between his private and public experience. They include personal analysis and broad cultural reflection, symbolic subjective discourse, and analytical objective evaluation set within a real life. The letters provide both a deconstruction and a reconstruction of art and its meaning as it pertains to his actual life. They also include a critique of art itself within this life. In a real sense, the letters provide us with the components needed to consider art as a central part of life experience, not divorced from its social roles as in much modernist thought. What will surprise those who have not studied Vincents letters is that he had a real understanding of the philosophical issues of art, including the processes of historical reconstruction. The more one studies Van Gogh the more it becomes evident that he believed that the arts constituted what can be called experiential knowledge or embodied truth. Further, he believed that these experiential truths could be consulted and acted upon, provided they were accurate reflections of human nature in dialogue with the real world. For instance, he believed that a novel or painting had a collective cul-
279

tural value because it offered greater reflective depth than private experience alone. Van Gogh believed, like the philosopher Hegel, that good art gathers up, or Begreifen [grips together], accumulative cultural content and by its very nature unifies private and public experiences, thereby bridging cultural divides. This is all the more potent because Vincent actually began to rely on such literature and art to navigate through life, not always knowing where his explorations would lead but always wanting to leave a record of his experiences in his letters so others after him could learn from his successes and failures. Within a shifting cultural context, Van Gogh and a few others were able to resist the tendency to turn away from traditional and moral values in art while at the same time remaining open to aspects of technical experimentation, optical research and personal experience. However, VanGoghs adherence to people, places, and subjects drawn literally from life is contrasted by Nochlin (1971) with trends toward exclusively personal abstract experimentation with form and the increasing rejection of cultural content and subject matter in art in 1880s Paris. To demonstrate this change of focus, Nochlin comments on a letter Van Gogh sent the young modernist painter, Emile Bernard: How severely Van Gogh criticizes Emile Bernard in 1888 for too great a concentration on formal problems in isolation; while he himself may talk about the expressive qualities of line or colour, he almost never talks about them in isolation from the larger context of emotion, feeling, imagination or reality in which they occur. For Van Gogh, reality and truth mean what they meant to the Realists; they have not been transvalued. In 1888, he writes to Bernard: In the matter of form, I am too afraid of departing from the possible and the true. . . . My attention is so fixed on what is possible and really exists that I hardly have the desire or the courage to strive for the ideal as it might result from . . . abstract studies.
280

Nochlin underscores the cultural tensions that existed in Paris at the time this letter was written and upon which she elaborates throughout her book. She reveals how the larger content of emotion, feeling, imagination, or reality, and art as a vocation, was exchanged by visual artists for concentration on formal problems in isolation. For instance, rather than abandoning his commitment to the larger context of emotion . . . or reality, Van Gogh followed, the vocational and artistic example of Charles Dickens in creating a body of work that communicates common public messages, beliefs, and ideas rooted in daily life. In late 2003 through 2004, The Metropolitan Museum in New York mounted a major exhibition of the ecstatic, religiously inspired paintings of the sixteenth-century Spanish painter, El Greco. In 2005, the Metropolitan opened another long-awaited blockbuster, this time of Van Goghs drawings. The accompanying catalog states: A self-taught artist, he [Van Gogh] succeeded between 1881 and 1890, in developing an inimitable graphic style . . . [the exhibition highlights] the diversity of his technical invention and the striking continuity of his vision (www.metmuseum.org). Up to that time, there has never been a large-scale exhibit of Van Goghs drawings, and it has revealed just how important Vincents religious views were in shaping his sacred aesthetic. In the exhibition catalog, Colta Ives (2005) wrote: Van Gogh built a career on the acuity of his vision and the profundity of his faith. His most closely held beliefs were rooted in the religion of his father, a Dutch Reformed pastor . . . . There were however important and notable exceptions to these developments. These included the views of painters such as Millet and Van Gogh and writers such as Dostoevsky, Hugo, and Dickens for whom the artistic and spiritual realms remained inseparably united. Each of these painters or writers maintained the view that arts primary purpose was to reflect the sacred wholeness of things. Art had value because it mediated truths from beyond time into a rapidly changing world in
281

need of eternal assurance and hope. Van Goghs artistic consciousness was an outgrowth of the small village where each individual had a measurable impact on the whole. It was a place where earnest, earthy labor and Christian charity were inseparable. As Vincent wrote: What I have done is a rather hard and coarse reality beside their abstractions, but it will have a rustic quality, and will smell of the earth. ...art is something which although produced by human hands, is not created by these hands alone, but something which wells up from a deeper source in our souls.
The personal and public realms of selfhood were not separate for Van Gogh, which is why he said art made by human hands is not created by [or for] the artists hands alone. Van Goghs meaning is clear: art is not made for the artist alone but is designed with others in mind. Van Gogh passionately desired to uplift others through his work, caring deeply how the work would impact his viewer. The social broadcast of his work was modeled by the good news emphasis of the Gospel as it flowed outward through Western art and literature. In our time, moral and religious themes are being widely discussed. Perhaps these discussions have always taken place; but with expanded communications systems and network television broadcasting, we are far more aware of them. For instance, Roths (1997) Private Needs, Public Selves: Talk about Religion in America articulated the important roles religion has always played in America, especially following national disasters such as the extensive flooding of the Mississippi River in the Midwest in the 1990s or the recent hurricanes in the South. He also demonstrated the varied ways religious thought is expressed in popular musical themes and in movies. His research has shown how essential religion has been to Americas identity and history.
282

The thirst for spiritual solace is, in part, a response to the myriad fears and uncertainties that shadow our troubled world. It is a quest for inner peace in sea of noise and confusion and hope for an unseen eternity. A sampling of articles appearing from 2002 to 2005 in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism reveals an intense interest in moral and ethical themes in art: The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature, and Moral Knowledge (Carroll, 2002), Moral Judgments and Works of Art: The Case of Narrative Literature (Devereaux 2004), Moral Defects, Aesthetic Defects, and the Imagination (Mullin 2004), The Ethics of Exhibitions: On the Presentation of Religious Art (Worth 2004), Intrinsic Value and the Notion of a Life (Levinson 2004), and Toward a Metaphysical Historicism (Bacharach 2005). Thousand-year segments have a sobering impact on humankind, provoking many to soul search and reexamine lifes purposes. This often leads to the belief in God and the sense that time is somehow consecrated; the random is rendered providential and promising, rather than bleak and meaningless. Historians and aestheticians have demonstrated the resurgence in spirituality at the beginning of the first millennium, manifested in Romanesque and Gothic art and architecture. In tandem with recent interest in moral concerns, an article by Richard Wolin about Jrgen Habermas (who is widely regarded as the worlds most influential living philosopher) appeared in the September 23, 2005 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. The article explained that Habermas is encouraging the practice of discourse ethics, a form of international discussion in which the covenant tradition which he demonstrates is at the core of Western political and legal practicesis manifested in human discourse. Habermas found inspiration for this covenantal format in the philosopher Immanuel Kants categorical imperative. Through discourse, one is asked to examine various points of view, seeing if they can pass
283

the categorical test of universality. Here something is deemed moral, if it can be demonstrated that it would benefit humankind if it were made into universal law. One must prove that anyone in a similar situation should act the same way: According to Kant, lying and stealing are immoral insofar as they fall beneath the universalization threshold; only at the price of grave self-contradiction could one will that lying and stealing become universal laws (Wolin). Considered in the light of the above, we can see how well VanGoghs artistic beliefs and practices fit into Habermass ethical discourse. This is because VanGoghs art and letter writing were a form of discourse embodying covenantal ideals and processes which gave his art the sacred character we have noted. In this way, the reappraisal of Van Gogh presently underway can be understood as part of a much larger reappraisal (and part of an ethical discourse) taking place within Western culture more generally.
284
Proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to PROGENYan international organization dedicated to the rescue, safety, treatment, and rehabilitation of exploited and endangered children, and the pursuit of justice on their behalf. For more information, please visit www.EndangeredChildren.org
About the Author

Dr. William Havlicek, pictured here with his wife Jeanne, has over 30 years of experience in college teaching, museum administration, publishing and fine art/studio production and exhibition. He holds a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University and is a graduate of the University of Iowa with both Masters of Arts and Masters of Fine Arts Degrees. He also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. He currently teaches at the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach, California. His military experiences as a psychiatric technician included a study of psychology and art therapy. With combined strengths in art history, studio art, and aesthetics, he brings a broad range of experience to his subject. He is recognized in his field as an innovative instructor, practicing artist, lecturer and writer. His experience in writing and publishing includes the position of Associate Publisher for an international magazine, as well as producing regular articles on art and art history. As a practicing artist, Havlicek has merited important commissions, and has exhibited his work in galleries and museums both in the United States and abroad.
3Table of Contents
PRAISE FOR "VAN GOGH'S UNTOLD JOURNEY"

In my judgment, William Havliceks manuscript on Vincent van Gogh breaks new and important ground. Drawing on Van Goghs own testimony, Havlicek shows how religious motivations and themes are central in that masters painting. His study of Van Gogh not only provides a corrective to much art history that has underplayed or underestimated the religious dimensions of Van Goghs art but also draws out new insights about Van Goghs relevance for the spiritual searching that characterizes much of life in the early twenty-first century. John K. Roth, Ph.D.Edward J. Sexton Professor of Philosophy, Director of The Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights. _______________________________________________________________ The clarity of William Havliceks prose breaks through much of the myth and romance that have accumulated around the figure of Vincent van Gogh over the last century and cuts straight to the heart of the artist. What remains is a familial drama and a struggle with faith that were integral to the man and his work. "Van Gogh's Untold Journey" is filled with fresh insights. Mr. Havlicek's interpretation of the painter's most famed work "Starry Night" is particularly stunning. George F. BedellChief Artistic Advisor, Shumei Arts Council of America _______________________________________________________________ William Havlicek has undertaken a thorough reading of the numerous letters written by and to Vincent Van Gogh. He has also examined in detail the artist's personal life and the historical period in which he worked, drawing on the writings of historians, philosophers, art historians, literary critics and scholars of religion. The result is a complex picture of the artist and his religious and artistic ambitions. Havlicek's analyses of a number of Van Gogh's works, in particular "Starry Night" and "Portrait of a Peasant" are provocative. He has made fascinating connections between the paintings of Van Gogh and the writings of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens, bringing them together in his discussion of the impact of the social gospel on Van Gogh's thinking and artistic practice....Havlicek writes with both clarity and passion. Frances K. Pohl, Ph.D.Pomona College, Claremont, California. _______________________________________________________________ "Van Goghs Untold Journey" keeps Van Gogh up close and personal. This thoughtful and sensitive study of Van Gogh through the lens of his correspondence brings to life and makes visible the ideas and passion driving the artist. The Untold Journey is the captivating story of Van Goghs struggle to transform the profane into the sacred through acts of atonement in his life and his art. Patricia Easton. Ph.D.Associate Professor of Philosophy, Claremont Graduate University.
CREATIVE STORYTELLERS Publishers of Books & Digital Media

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

VanGogh Ebook

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

VanGogh Ebook

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

VAN GOGHS

WILLIAM J. HAVLICEK, PH.D.

VAN GOGHS UNTOLD JOURNEY

VAN GOGHS UNTOLD JOURNEY

Creative Storytellers Book Designers & Publishers Postbus 59267

Printed in Belgium by Bigger Dot.

2010 William J. Havlicek, Ph.D.

VAN GOGHS UNTOLD JOURNEY

Please visit: www.EndangeredChildren.org

EPISODE ONEFAMILY & EARLY AESTHETIC INFLUENCES

EPISODE TWODESOLATION & EMERGENCE

EPISODE THREEA CALM ARDOR FOR WORK

EPISODE FOURVINCENTS MORAL HERITAGE

EPISODE FIVEA STARRY LEGACY

William J. Havlicek Dana Point, California

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

True to Temperament: Vincent and French Naturalist Literature, makes

Vincent himself wrote,

FAMILY & EARLY AESTHETIC INFLUENCES

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: "B;4AA4

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: "B;4AA4

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: "B;4AA4

THE FAMILY VAN GOGH

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

B??4A7. "B;4AA8F .4A GB:;, @4:<FGE4G8 B9 1HGC;8A, J4F 4CCB<AG87

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

The Unknown Matisse (1998) reports:

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 F4@<?L .4A GB:;

U...B;, G;8 <A9<A<G8?L 78?<64G8, G8A78E 4A7 ?BI8?LS2DH4?<GL3 B9 G;4G E8?4G<BA.

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

THE INSPIRATION OF CHARLES DICKENS

Christmas Carol, and its transformation of the fabled Scrooge, addresses

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 !AFC<E4G<BA B9 C;4E?8F D<6>8AF

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 !AFC<E4G<BA B9 C;4E?8F D<6>8AF

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 !AFC<E4G<BA B9 C;4E?8F D<6>8AF

As Ackroyd noted in his exhaustive biography of Dickens (1990):

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 !AFC<E4G<BA B9 C;4E?8F D<6>8AF

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 !AFC<E4G<BA B9 C;4E?8F D<6>8AF

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: ,;8 !AFC<E4G<BA B9 C;4E?8F D<6>8AF

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

SORROWFUL BUT ALWAYS REJOICING

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: +BEEBJ9H? BHG A?J4LF *8=B<6<A:

.4A GB:;XF -AGB?7 "BHEA8L

EC<FB78 'A8: +BEEBJ9H? BHG A?J4LF *8=B<6<A: