http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/ Copyright 2006 Thu, 30 Dec 2004 15:54:53 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype//?v=1.03 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss To gain further insight into van Gogh's religious beliefs as they can be seen in the Nuenen Church Tower art, what better source to serve as interpreter than his own writings? The artist was a prolific writer, constantly sending letters... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/in_the_artists.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/in_the_artists.html Thu, 30 Dec 2004 15:54:53 -0500 This watercolor, painted by van Gogh in May of 1885, reveals a different facet of the artist's spiritual character. Sale of Building Scrap is, once more, a portrayal of the old church tower in Nuenen, although this time van Gogh... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/churchyard_in_w_1.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/churchyard_in_w_1.html Wed, 29 Dec 2004 15:49:47 -0500 The time that Vincent van Gogh spent in the Borinage area of Belgium was one of the most intense episodes of his life, and can be recognized as the true turning point in both his art and his religion. At... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/van_gogh_in_the.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/van_gogh_in_the.html Tue, 28 Dec 2004 17:24:25 -0500 Thomas à Kempis' The Imitation of Christ is a classic book of Christian literature that greatly affected Vincent van Gogh's personal theology. Born in 1380, Kempis was a monk (and later a priest), living as a member of the Bretheren... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/a_kempis_imitat.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/a_kempis_imitat.html Mon, 27 Dec 2004 17:23:59 -0500 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... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/funeral_in_the.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/funeral_in_the.html Sun, 26 Dec 2004 15:50:22 -0500 This drawing is responsible for beginning my ponderings about the tension-filled paradox of Vincent van Gogh's personal religion. After examining the purposes the artist seems to convey through this work, the symbolism in the church tower, figure, and horizontal... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/van_goghs_old_n.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/van_goghs_old_n.html Sat, 11 Dec 2004 20:37:26 -0500 Sarah Vander Ploeg's interest in Vincent van Gogh has existed for as long as she can remember, falling in love with his work as a young girl. The original attraction to his art probably had almost as much to do... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/about_the_autho.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/about_the_autho.html Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:34:42 -0500 Much gratitude belongs to my writing partners, Ioannis Avramides, Antonia Devine and Meghan Howard, as well as to Hannah Johnson from the Writing Center, for their invaluable aid in the drafting and revising of this essay. Also, many thanks to... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/works_cited_1.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/works_cited_1.html Wed, 08 Dec 2004 16:01:40 -0500 Having explored van Gogh's complex spiritual struggle through his depictions of the Old Nuenen Church Tower, a return to Melancholy concludes our understanding with new revelations. As the viewer notices the dark figure's sorrowful gaze towards the distant building, it... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/conclusions.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/conclusions.html Tue, 07 Dec 2004 16:11:33 -0500 Finally, in Old Church Tower at Nuenen ("The Peasants' Churchyard") van Gogh's rejection of the organized Church appears complete, and his sorrowful longing for God has led him to search for consolation outside its decrepit influence. By the time of... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/the_peasants_ch.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/the_peasants_ch.html Tue, 07 Dec 2004 16:11:15 -0500 Sadly, van Gogh saw the Organized Church progressively falling apart as time went on, his depressing portrayal of the Old Church Tower becoming even more dilapidated in The Old Church Tower at Nuenen, painted in May 1884. The gray monolith... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/the_old_church.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/the_old_church.html Tue, 07 Dec 2004 16:10:55 -0500 This longing that van Gogh felt for personal faith while finding the Church distant and ineffective is felt even more acutely in the figure-tower relationship in Winter Garden. Drawn only a few months later than Churchyard in Winter, in March... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/winter_garden.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/winter_garden.html Tue, 07 Dec 2004 16:10:41 -0500 Not surprisingly, when van Gogh returned to live with his family in Nuenen a few years later, this religious tension between divine longing and disregard for the Church appeared vividly in his church tower-focused works, apparent as early as December... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/churchyard_in_w.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/12/churchyard_in_w.html Tue, 07 Dec 2004 16:10:03 -0500 Before delving into the tensions of religious struggle in van Gogh's Nuenen art, we must first investigate the role organized religion played in the artist's life. Growing up with a pastor father and an uncle who was a celebrated theologian,... http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/11/page_one.html http://blogs.princeton.edu/writingart22/2004/11/page_one.html Tue, 30 Nov 2004 19:51:05 -0500