Vincent van Gogh’s Funeral in the Snow near the Old Tower of 1883 (drawn at the beginning of his time in Nuenen) provides another penetrating look into his religious struggle. Here, not only are the figures separated from the church tower by a wall, 
their black bodies form a visual obstacle between the viewer and the tower. As they approach the gate, their thick line will continue to separate the observer from the church, creating an impenetrable barrier. The bleak winter landscape adds to the desolation of the sorrowful scene, showing no sign of life except for the cheerless people. Most significantly, these figures are part of a funeral procession. While they are approaching the church tower, it is only because of the death which has occurred within their midst. Their approach, then, lends no life to the scene nor to the church’s grounds, but instead makes the building even more barren and depressed. This dying, closing in on the church building, intensifies van Gogh’s message about turning from the organized Church in this drawing. Not only is the surrounding land dead, but the figures – the one sign of life in so many of these Nuenen Church Tower works – are dying now, as well. More importantly, they now only travel to the religious building because of death. The church tower – or, for van Gogh, the organized Church in general – has lost its drawing power over the people, and the only real purpose for its existence in their lives is the adjoining graveyard. In the barren wasteland of the surrounding world, the organized Church provides only a dying end, not the comfort for which van Gogh so desperately longed.