At Eternity's Gate: The Spiritual Vision of Vincent van Gogh

by Kathleen Powers Erickson

Most scholars have argued that van Gogh was insane and that his religious life was a product of this madness - and was something he happily abandoned when he left the Christian ministry to pursue a career as an artist. This biography by Kathleen Powers Erickson is the first to demonstrate the falsehood of such assumptions and to argue that van Gogh's spiritual life was essential to the unfolding of his unique artistic vision. Basing her study on solid biographical evidence, van Gogh's personal correspondence, and informed insight into the painter's artistic imagery, Erickson clearly traces van Gogh's pilgrimage of faith, from his early religious training, through his evangelical missionary period, to his struggle with religion and modern thought, and finally to the synthesis of traditional Christian beliefs with the modern world-view that he achieved in both his life and his art. Unique to this study is Erickson's in-depth examination of van Gogh's mental illness, culminating in her convincing argument that van Gogh's "insanity," long assumed - indeed mythologically contrived - to be schizophrenia, was in fact a psychological disorder resulting from a form of epilepsy. Erickson shows that this famous facet of van Gogh's life, too, was not without a spiritual dimension. In addition, the volume includes five black-and-white pictures of van Gogh and members of his family and a collection of nineteen black-and-white illustrations that reproduce important pieces of van Gogh's artwork.

Genres: Art, Biography, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Religion

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the life of painter Vincent van Gogh during the time he lived in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

[Tim Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vincent van Gogh was a complicated, yet simple individual of deep faith and great ability whose life was interrupted by uncontrollable mental instability as a result of epilepsy.

At Eternity's Gate digs deep into his religious upbringing and his inner-spirituality - made evident through his letters to his brother Theo and through his paintings. in his young life, van Gogh wanted to follow in his father and uncle's footsteps. both were pastors. but Vincent had a different outlook on ministry and service and was ultimately rejected by both the local and institutional church. this defeat lead him down a path of self discovery that never sadly fully came to fruition.

van Gogh did, however, before heading down an artistic path, spend some time serving the poor and needy, as he strived to follow and imitate Christ. as a matter of fact, The Imitation of Christ and Pilgrim's Progress were his two favorite books.

van Gogh witnessed to and served coal miners of the Belgian Borinage - particularly after a mining disaster. He also gave away his possessions and clothes to those whom he felt needed it more. Despite being rejected by the church and despite feelings that the pastors and people within the church were hypocrites, van Gogh lived his faith through acts of service similar to St. Francis of Assisi.

the splendor of his capability as a painter may not have been realized until the latter years of his life and beyond. As mental instability crept in, he spent time in and out of asylums. it was during this time, particularly the last 5 years of his life (he took his own life in a wheat field at the age of 37) when his artistic talents took shape.

throughout his paintings and drawings, you can see examples of his spiritual devotion to Christ. you can also see his disdain and brokenness that came about after his dismissal from the church.

this is noted in his famous painting Starry Night, where the buildings and homes are well lit - yet the church and spire in the center are dark and ominous. this is also prevalent in my favorite van Gogh painting The church at Auvers.

Kathleen Powers Erickson does a fabulous job retracing a more accurate history of Vincent van Gogh including his most intriguing story. there are so many layers to van Gogh and his art. i'd highly recommend this book. it really fascinated me. Sadly, only one of van Gogh's paintings ever sold before his untimely death. had it not been for his brother's wife - who collected his works and brought them to the public's attention, the world may never have noticed the majesty found within van Gogh's work.

[Jeanette]

"As he said himself (with respect to his famous Starry Night canvas), 'That does not keep me from having a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion. Then I go out at night to pain the stars.'" (6)

"In subscribing to Victor Hugo's maxim, 'Religions pass, but God remains,' van Gogh indicated that his own faith went outside the boundaries of the institutional forms available to him and engaged a profound and private search for God." (6)

"Vincent described his father as one '...who so often goes long distances, even in the night with a lantern, to visit a sick or dying man, to speak with him about One whose Word is a light, even in the night of suffering and agony.'" (12)

"He wrote to Theo, his brother, 'It is God who makes real men and who can enrich our lives with moments and periods of higher feeling. Has t6he sea made itself, has an oak tree? But men like our father are more beautiful than the sea.'" (13) // written at the age of ~23

"'God sees the trouble and sorrow,' he wrote, 'and He can help in spite of all. Faith in God is firm in me - it is not imagination nor idle faith. It is so, it is true, there is a God who is alive, He is with our parents, and His eye is also upon us; and I am sure that he plans our life and that we do not quite belong to ourselves, as it were. This God is no other than Christ.'" (13) // written at the age of ~24

"The van Gogh family, beginning with Cornelius van Gogh, who was a Remonstrant preacher at Boskoop, avowed the Arminian doctrines on free will and atonement from the seventeenth century forward." (15)

"The Groningen School based its understanding of the religious experience on the encounter between God and man in the person of Jesus Christ, whom Schleiermacher also taught was the one sufficient mediator between the finite and the Infinite. De Groot stated the dominant notion of the Groningen School as ' the revelation and education by God in Jesus Christ, given to us in order to make us more and more similar in form to God. In Him, God reveals to us that which we should contemplate and observe; and by Him, educates us to that which we must become.' Jesus did not come to save by His death on the cross, but rather, to lead us all into union with God by teaching us to follow His example. Human beings are relieved of the burden of sin by following the example of Christ and trying to imitate his life. The event of the cross is the ultimate sacrifice and revelation of who Jesus was. Through imitation of the life of Jesus Christ, humans could develop their full potential and become more like God. In this, Groningen also echoes the basis of Schleiermacher's ethical teaching in which he claimed that man's chief vocation was to create in himself the consciousness and character of Jesus." (19) // don't entirely agree

"However, while Calvin and Luther argued that man was sinful by nature, the teachers of the Groningen School, de Groot, van Oordt, and Pareau, argued that man was sinful by his condition of being apart from jesus Christ. The Groningers distinguished between man's nature, which is godlike, and his condition, which is sinful." (20)

"'Ethics is not religion, but religion is ethics [or should be]. The religion of love is the root from which ethics grows.'" (34)

"Many historians of van Gogh's art and life portray these years as a time of religious fanaticism which van Gogh happily abandoned when he decided to leave the Church to become a full-time artist in 1880. Rather than a form of extremism, however, van Gogh's piety during this period is remarkably consistent with a long-established religious tradition. He simply embraced his 'religious cause' with the same characteristic intensity with which he was later to embrace his artistic cause." (42)

"'But my dear van Gogh, how is it possible that you can go to three different churches of such divergent creeds?' He said, 'Well, in every church I see God, and it's all the same to me whether a Protestant pastor or Roman Catholic priest preaches; it is not really a matter of dogma, but of the spirit of the Gospel, and I find this spirit in all churches.'" (46) [emphasis added] // in a letter to P.C. Gorlitz

"Yet van Gogh's Jesus was not the triumphant Christ of the Ascension, but the 'Man of Sorrows' in the agony of Gethsemane, as he prayed for deliverance from his fate, and Calvary, where he died a tormented death on the cross. He viewed Jesus as the prototypical servant, who came to save the lost, heal the sick, feed the hungry, and bring hope to a dying world. He believed that to be a Christian meant, above all else, to imitate Christ both in his suffering and in his service to humankind." (46)

"'You must not be astonished when, even at the risk of your taking me for a fanatic, I tell you that in order to love, I think it absolutely necessary to believe in God (that does not mean that you should believe all the sermons of the clergymen) . . . far from it. To me, to believe in God is to feel that there is a God, not dead or stuffed, but alive, urging us toward airmer encore [steadfast love] with irresistible force.'" (62) // Vincent in a letter to his brother Theo

"'. . . I think that everything which is really good and beautiful - of inner moral, spiritual and sublime beauty in men and their works - comes from God, and that which is bad and wrong in men and in their works is not of God, and God does not approve of it. But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things. Love a friend, a wife, something - whatever you like - you will be on the way to knowing more about Him.' . . . His [Vincent's] faith was now more existential than evangelical, but still centrally concerned with the ethic of love." (66) [emphasis added]

"'It is true that the Bible is eternal and everlasting, but Michelet gives such very practical and clear hints, so directly applicable to this hurried and feverish modern life. . .'" (68) // a much preferable perspective, in my opinion, but sad the events that led him to reach it

"Those art historians who have seen van Gogh's oeuvre as incompatible with religion, or at least Christianity, have fundamentally misconstrued this religious turning point in 1881. Typical of this misunderstanding is the statement that van Gogh's 'existence as an artist started with his rejection and abandonment of Christianity.' An artist who painted more than thirty representations of sowers, as well as the overtly religious subjects of the raising of Lazarus, the Good Samaritan, and the Pietà, in which he depicted the face of Christ with the features of his own face, cannot be understood in terms of an absolute rejection of religion or Christianity." (69)

* Jozef Israels (1824 - 1911) best known of the Dutch painters of the nineteenth century. (74)

"'"Love thy neighbor as thyself" - act so that you can answer for it to God.'" (75) // letter from Vincent

"'I have always believed that "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is no exaggeration, but a normal condition.'" (75) // letter from Vincent in reference to the prostitute he took in with her two children

"Rather than the pantheist some historians such as Kodera have imagined, van Gogh was more of a panentheist, someone who has a profound experience of the divine through the natural world, but still views God as separate from nature. Van Gogh's God remained the Creator, omnipotent and above his creation, awesome and transcendent. He wrote to Theo: '. . . all Nature seems to speak; and going home, one has the same feeling as when one has finished a book by Victor Hugo, for instance. As for me, I cannot understand why everybody does not see it and feel it; Nature or God does for everyone who has eyes and ears and a heart to understand. For this reason I think a painter is happy because he is in harmony with Nature as soon as he can express a little of what he sees.'" (76) //

"I think it a splendid saying of Victor Hugo's 'les religions passent, mais Dieu demeure' [religions pass away, but God remains] and another beautiful saying of Gavarni's is 'Il s'agit de saisir ce qui ne passe pas dans ce qui passe' [what matters is to grasp what does not pass away in what passes away]." (79) // letter from Vincent to Theo

"Bent over with his fists clenched against a face hidden in utter frustration, the subject appears engulfed in grief. Certainly, the work would convey an image of total despair had it not been for the English title van Gogh gave it, At Eternity's Gate. It demonstrates that even in his deepest moments of sorrow and pain, van Gogh clung to a faith in God and eternity, which he tried to express in his work:
' . . . There is something noble, something great, which cannot be destined for the worms . . . This is far from all theology, simply the fact that the poorest little woodcutter or peasant on the hearth or miner can have moments of emotion and inspiration that give him a feeling of an eternal home, and of being close to it.'" (86)

"It [Jozef Israels' Frugal Meal] was an attempt to show that the sacred, depicted in the most mundane acts of human experience, conveyed the presence of the divine with far more poignancy than the traditional subjects of cross and cathedral." (88) // brackets added

"Because van Gogh's father, Theodorus, died suddenly on March 26, 1885, virtually all critics of this painting [Still-life with Open Bible] view it as a type of memorial to Theodorus. Recently, Father van Gogh's Bible was discovered; its clasp is identical to the Bible van Gogh painted and it also shows considerable wear throughout the book of Isaiah." (90) // brackets added

"Rather than a criticism of Theodorus and a rejection of the Bible in favor of French naturalist literature, Still-life with Open Bible is a symbolic representation of the reconciliation between van Gogh's traditional Christian past and his present interest in modern literature. It does not depict a substitution of literature for the Bible, but the supplementation of the Bible with literature." (91)

"These rudiments, developed by modern scientists, have led to the conjecture of certain laws that form an illuminating theory of colors, a theory with Eugène Delacroix commanded scientifically and thoroughly, after grasping it instinctively. If one combines two of the primary colors, for instance yellow and red, in order to produce a secondary color - orange - this secondary color will attain maximum brilliancy when it is put close tot he third primary color not used int he mixture. In the same way, if one combines red and blue in order to produce violet, this secondary color, violet, will be intensified by the immediate proximity of yellow. And finally, if one combines yellow and blue in order to produce green, this green will be intensified by the immediate proximity of red. Each of the three colors is rightly called complementary with regard to the corresponding secondary colors. Thus, blue is the complementary color of orange; yellow the complementary color of violet; and red, the complementary color of green. Conversely, each of the combined colors is the complementary color of the primitive one not used in the mixture. The mutual intensification is what is called the law of simultaneous contrast." (97) // letter from Vincent to ??

"Van Gogh was reluctant to paint a realistic representation of Christ because he felt Christ to be too important a figure to paint without proper models, so adopted a symbolic vocabulary [of using yellow as Christ's representative]." (99) // brackets added

"In evaluating the influence of his illness on his changing style, I have followed one simple principle: any change in style that was a deliberate working out of an aesthetic problem, such as his attempts to lighten the colors in his paintings, I attribute to artist choice, not illness. For example, much is made of the dizzying perspective of van Gogh's works painted in France, such as his painting of his bedroom at Arles, with its distorted perspective of a shortened foreground and unrealistically expanded background. It actually appears to have been painted from several different perspectives. Many art historians, such as Meyer Schapiro, as well as many physicians who have examined van Gogh's biography, attribute this varying perspective to mental disturbances such as schizophrenia and toxic brain poisoning from absinthe. If this stylistic change were attributable to mental illness, one would assume that van Gogh would have no control over it and would perhaps be unaware of it. Yet, in drawings down of the same subjects, executed at the same time, this distortion of perspective is decidedly absent from his work. . . It [the perspective change] became a tool for artistic expression much like exaggerated and unrealistic use of color became a tool to express emotion. Distortion of perspective was one way in which van Gogh attempted to 'modernize' his painting." (103)

"His illness actually had more of an impact on his selection of subject-matter than it did on his style, prompting a habitual choice of images of Christian suffering and redemption. Van Gogh's affliction made him more acutely aware of the need for solace that the Christian experience provides, the acceptance of earthly suffering as a temporary struggle in hope of eternal release after death." (104)

"The months van Gogh spent in Arles brought great progress in his work. He successfully incorporated the lighter, brighter colors of the French artists, such as Delacroix's luminous sapphires and crimsons and Monet's oscillating pastel pinks and greens, into his palette. While he had struggled in Paris to find a style, often attempting to copy the works of the Impressionists, in Arles he became comfortable with his own unique way of painting, a style that was at once brilliant in color and profound in expression. He explained to his sister, 'the young school of painting concentrates particularly on getting sunshine into their pictures.' This contrasted sharply with the lack of color in Paris: 'you will easily understand that the gray days we were having offer few subjects of painting.' Van Gogh had gained the confidence to pursue his dream of creating an artists' studio in the south of France. He perceived his community in religious terms, as he referred to the artists who might join him there as the 'Apostles of Art.' In preparing for the arrival of the first 'apostle,' Paul Gauguin, van Gogh purchased twelve chairs to decorate his house. For Gauguin's room, he painted a portrait of the postman Roulin's wife rocking a baby cradle, which he intended to flank on either side with two sunflower paintings, forming a triptych of pious devotion, the portrait recalling the Madonna's devotion to the baby Jesus and the sunflowers (recalling the myth of the flower following the course of Apollo's chariot across the sky) symbolizing devotion to God." (104)

"The same evening, however, after the two argued at a local cafe, van Gogh became agitated, and for an unknown reason, he mutilated himself by cutting off a portion of his ear. The police found him the next morning in the yellow house, unconscious, bleeding to death. He was then admitted to the hospital in Arles. A local newspaper, Le Forum Republican, printed the following account of the incident on December 30, 1888.
'Last Sunday night, at half past eleven, a certain Vincent van Gogh, painter, native of Holland, appeared at the Maison de Tolerance No. 1, asked for a girl called Rachel, and handed her . . . his ear saying, "Keep this object carefully." Then he disappeared. The police, informed of these facts which could only be attributed to a poor madman, looked the next morning for this individual, whom they found in his bed, barely showing a sign of life. The unfortunate man was urgently admitted to the hospital.'
This was van Gogh's first psychotic episode and the beginning of a debilitating illness that would lead to his treatment in the asylum at St. Rèmy and eventually culminate in his suicide." (105)

"Also, many of the aforementioned characteristics of schizophrenia clearly do not apply to van Gogh's medical history. He did not believe in the reality of his hallucinations, and while we do not know the nature of his hallucinations, except to say that they were often religious, he was clearly aware that they were abnormal occurrences." (116) // sensitive to spiritual things?

"'I think Dr. Payron is right when he says that I am not strictly speaking mad, for my mind is absolutely normal in the intervals, and even more so than before. But during the attacks, it is terrible - I lose consciousness of everything. But that spurs me on to work and to seriousness, like a miner who is always in danger, makes haste in what he does.'" (131) // letter from Van Gogh to ??, he rushed to accomplish between the attacks which means he recognized the attacks which means his creations could not be a result of the attacks

**What is the Virgin of Lourdes? Van Gogh considered it in the same grouping as other "sickly religious aberrations" (132)

"'...You understand that I have tried to compare the second attack with the first, and I only tell you this, it seemed to me to be caused by some outside influence than by something within myself. I may be mistaken, but however it may be, I think you will feel it quite right that I have a horror of all religious exaggeration.'" (133)

"'There - once back here I set to work again - though the brush almost slipped from my fingers, but knowing exactly what I wanted, I have painted three more big canvases since.
They are vast fields of wheat under troubled skies, and I did not need to go out of my way to try to express sadness and extreme loneliness.'" (143)

"But if we date the painting to July 7 - 10 (the matter is uncertain), it would correspond to a letter in which van Gogh described the canvases he was currently painting as 'vast fields of wheat under troubled skies,' painted to show 'the healthful and restorative forces that I see in the country' - a perspective consistent with van Gogh's representation of wheatfields in more than forty other works painted from 1888 to 1890." (161)

"Art critics. who have seen Crows over the Wheatfield as a disturbing symbol of van Gogh's imminent suicide, have misunderstood van Gogh's intent because they have misunderstood van Gogh's idea of death. He did not view death as a despairing finale to life, but as a passage from one form of existence into another, higher form; this was the view held by Bunyan and Kempis. Van Gogh's positive view of death is clear in his rendition of another painting, done earlier at St. Rèmy, Wheatfield with a Reaper (1889, plate 11), which depicts a reaper cutting his way through a field of bright yellow wheat under a blazing golden sun and a sky flooded with light. He described it in a letter to Theo: ' For I see in the reaper - a vague figure fighting like the devil in the midst of the heat to get to the end of his task - I see him as the image of death in the sense that humanity might be the wheat he is reaping. So it is - if you like - the opposite of the sower I tried to do before. But there is nohting sad in this death, it goes its way in broad daylight, with a sun flooding everything with a light of pure gold.'" (164)

"While many have argued that the painting [Starry Night] indicates van Gogh's rejection of Christianity and the supernatural, his observation (often quoted in conjunction with essays on Starry Night) that 'When all sounds cease, God's voice is heard under the stars.' actually comes from the heart of his 'evangelical period,' 1877, and reflects a lifelong spiritual conviction." (172)

"'It is a very good thing that you read the Bible . . . The Bible is Christ, for the Old Testament leads up to this culminating

[Matthew Gage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a much needed look at Vincent van Gogh's faith by someone who has a understanding of and respect for the Christian faith. Other works I have read on van Gogh have dealt with the subject poorly. The author deals with some common misconceptions about the beliefs of his family (they were not staunchly Calvinist like typically portrayed) and shows that Vincent's faith journey continued into his later years. Even though he did denounce "organized religion" after it had rejected him and his attempts to be a minister, he did continue to have a faith as displayed in his paintings, letters, and friend's accounts.

The author does spend an unnecessary amount of time defending van Gogh's diagnosis of epilepsy vs. other theories. Part of this is to defend that his religious activities did not stem from insanity, but it did seem out of place. There are also some hotly debated topics the author's opinions may differ from some more recent works, such whether or not he committed suicide (the author simply assumes he did).

[Charlotte Gunther · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author aims to correct past evaluations of Van Gogh's life and works that did not take proper measure of his religion. Many biographers have assumed Van Gogh was a Calvinist. He was not. Many have assumed he rejected God. He did not. The author supports her views with her in-depth research and quotes from Van Gogh's letters.
I would have liked to hear more of the narrative of his life and struggles, but that was, apparently, outside the scope of this work.
A book of Van Gogh's works with his comments about them from his letters would be a fine project for someone to take up. Maybe someone has done it.
Before I read this book I saw the new movie, "Loving, Vincent". It was an outstanding tribute to Van Gogh's work.

[Mark Jurgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published over twenty years ago, the author blithely accepts the fable that Van Gogh committed suicide. More recent books, especially Naifeh's and Smith's biography, offer pretty convincing proof that the artist did not take his own life. However, Erikson provides much needed balance to the unfortunate and prevailing view that Van Gogh's rejection of organized religion somehow negates the spiritual vision that inspired his greatest paintings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, in the pages of this book we find not the madman of myth and folklore, but an artistic genius of great vision, deep love, and profound faith.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book to get a further in depth understanding of this internationally celebrated painter. Thoroughly researched and supported hypothesis of his state of mind are supported with scientific data from the present.

Allow this well written book take you for a walk through Vincent Van gogh's young formation years and receive a clearer understanding of his choice of subject matter in his paintings.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erickson's thorough, articulate, and scholarly treatment of the questions surrounding Van Gogh's faith, illness, and death is at once both warm and intelligent. I loved this book and highly recommend it.

[Sammy Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book -- especially the final chapter.

[Holly1673 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to follow and boring at times. Had trouble staying focused.

[Robert W]

Excellent bio on Vincent Van Gogh! Looks at his spiritual life and his Christian faith as expressed in his art.

[Julie Kittredge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent study of Van Gogh's life and intentions. I recently viewed a fabulous Van Gogh exhibit in Chicago, but it didn't touch on some of this history of his faith journey outside of is brief education in the seminary -- the story I experienced at the exhibit actually fell into the "misconceptions" category. Interesting how {faith} elements of a story {in the exhibit} can be left out to paint a completely different picture of a person than what's actually true. If you're interested in studying Van Gogh - this is a must read. Maybe I loved this because I felt like his faith journey -- a little off the mainstream -- resonates with my own.

[Joshua Nomen-Mutatio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this while "donating" plasma in Milwaukee during the Indian Summer/Autumn of '06 on the bad side of town so I could get whiskey and cigarette money. Ahhh, those were the days...

[Chris J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent study of Van Gogh's relationship with God.