Van Gogh’s Struggle & Faith
Van Gogh’s struggle & faith are well-documented. Few painters represent the image of the starving artist as does van Gogh. Books and songs refer to his misfortune both as an artist and as a man. Born in 1853 in the Netherlands, he was only thirty-seven years old when he died from a gunshot wound to the chest. However, in his brief but troubled life, the masterful artist found an expression for his art and life that few others find.
Van Gogh’s Struggle With His Mother
That van Gogh was conflicted should not have been a surprise. His mother Anna, an artist herself, was a disturbed and complicated person. Exactly 1 year before Vincent was born, his mother, Anna, delivered a stillborn baby boy, also named Vincent. When he was a child, his mother often took Vincent to visit his dead brother’s grave, a grave marked with his very name and birthday. It seemed that Anna projected the vision she had for the dead Vincent, onto the living one. As a result, instead of praising and encouraging the young artist’s skill, she was unkind and critical.
Van Gogh’s Struggle With His Father
Van Gogh’s Struggle & Faith
In a way, van Gogh’s life resembled that of the Prodigal Son. While in Belgium, he became captivated by the laborers who worked in the fields. Seeing the needs of the people, he gave up his housing for those in need and slept in a room on a bed of straw. Soon, he took in a pregnant prostitute who also had a young child. Of course, his family disapproved and pressed him to leave the arrangement. He eventually complied and enrolled in AcadémieRoyale des Beaux-Arts.
Vincent van Gogh’s Prolific Art
One of five children, Vincent had strained relationships with nearly everyone, not only his parents. Still, also his brother, Theo – with whom he lived and worked for a while, to art instructors, potential lovers, and other artists – most famously Paul Gaugin. But it was also his relationship with other artists and instructors that helped bring van Gogh’s art to fullness. In his short life, he was a prolific artist. His works include:
- thousands of watercolors,
- wood-block prints,
- oil paintings including
- nature scenes,
- still life,
- family portraits,
- and the post-impressionist prints we are most familiar with such as The Starry Night, which he painted while a patient at an asylum in France.
The Artist’s Mental Health
The famous story of van Gogh cutting off his ear is one of mental and emotional instability as well as trauma. When he shot himself, he was most likely painting in a field. He didn’t die immediately. Instead, he found the strength to walk home. His brother was able to come to him the next day. Since the doctors were not able to remove the bullet he developed an infection that probably hastened his death two days after the incident. A Letter from Theo van Gogh to Elisabeth van Gogh Paris, August 5, 1890 quotes Vincent’s last recorded words, “The sadness will last forever.”
Recent Thoughts on van Gogh’s Struggle
It has been suggested that van Gogh suffered from 1 or more of the following:
- bipolar disorder,
- temporal lobe epilepsy,
- syphilis,
- borderline personality disorder,
- cycloid psychosis,
- schizophrenia
- Still others think that his mental issues stemmed from lead paint (he was known to chew on his paint brushes while working).
On Art and Faith
Van Gogh’s struggle & faith is like that of most artists. When artists struggle they often struggle in every aspect of life but also they can produce breathtaking art. Like the myriad colors of a forest in autumn, beauty often comes at a price. Still, through his suffering, Vincent van Gogh sought to maintain his faith. He once said, ‘Christ alone, of all the philosophers, magicians, etc., has affirmed eternal life as the most important certainty, the infinity of time, the futility of death, the necessity and purpose of serenity and devotion. He lived serenely, as an artist greater than all other artists, scorning marble and clay and paint, working in the living flesh. In other words, this peerless artist, scarcely conceivable with the blunt instrument of our modern, nervous, and obtuse brains, made neither statues nor paintings nor books. He maintained in no uncertain terms that he made … living men, immortals.’ (Letter to Emil Bernard on June 26, 1988).
The Artistic Work of Vincent Van Gogh
Among his collective works are religious paintings that depict the suffering he was all too familiar with. The Pieta, The Raising of Lazarus, The Good Samaritan, and At Eternity’s Gate, among others, portray humanity and divinity as well as suffering and salvation.
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