At Eternity's Gate: The Spiritual Vision of Vincent Van GoghMost 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 seven black-and-white illustrations and twelve color plates that reproduce important pieces of van Gogh's artwork. |
Contents
Crisis ΙΟΙ | 4 |
The Faith of Our Fathers | 9 |
Pilgrims and Strangers | 37 |
Copyright | |
3 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
At Eternity's Gate: The Spiritual Vision of Vincent Van Gogh Kathleen Powers Erickson No preview available - 1998 |
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Amsterdam argued Arles Arminian artistic Auvers believed Bible biblical Borinage Bunyan's Calvinist Catholic Christian Church color Crows death depicting divine doctrines Dutch Emile Bernard epilepsy eternal Eternity's Gate evangelical experience explained faith feeling French Gachet Gauguin God's Gogh suffered Gogh's Gogh's father Gogh's illness Gospel Groningen School Groningen theology Groningers Groot Hervormd Kerk hope Ibid Imitation of Christ Jesus Christ Jezus van Nazareth journey kingdom Letters living Mendes da Costa miners modern mystical nature Netherlands notion November oil on canvas painting peasants Peyron Pietà piety Pilgrim's Progress pilgrimage poor preaching Raising of Lazarus reading Reformed rejected religion Rémy Renan Samaritan schizophrenia Schleiermacher September 1877 sermon sorrow Sower spiritual Starry Night suicide symbol temporal lobe Theo van Gogh Theodorus things Thomas à Kempis tradition Uncle Stricker Van Gogh Museum Vincent and Theo Vincent van Gogh wheat Wheatfield wrote to Theo York Zundert