Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84F        Vincent van Gogh J A S O N L A N D S E L F rom outdoor installations to film, music, and even themed hotel rooms, tributes to Vincent van Gogh’s art can be found everywhere these days. And no wonder. His aggressive brushstrokes, like those in his most recognized work, Starry Night, burst with a wild adrenaline and convey a lust for life. But who was van Gogh? In many ways, he was almost a caricature of the tor- tured artist. A social outcast who suffered from a long list of mental and physical ailments, some self-inflicted, he shot himself at the age of thirty-seven in a wheat field in Auvers, France. Born in 1853 to a devout Christian family in the Netherlands, van Gogh was determined to follow in his father’s footsteps as a clergy- man. Passionate to a fault, his efforts only led to failure and to rejection by the church establishment. However, his missionary work with impoverished coal miners left its mark and gave him a deep empathy for human suffering. At the age of twenty-seven he began to draw and paint seriously. His attempt to serve the church had failed–now he would preach with colors and brush. Over eight hundred letters, written primar- ily to his brother and benefactor, Theo, convey van Gogh’s journey and development as a person and as an artist. Far from mere mad rantings, they reveal a depth and intelligence, a search for truth. Van Gogh wanted to create a new mode of art that could reach the soul. He wanted his viewers to absorb the explosive “I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambi- tion, based less on resentment than on love in spite of every- thing, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony, and music inside me. I see paint- ings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.” Vincent van Gogh life force of the sun, to acknowledge the miraculous cycle of fertility in a freshly plowed field, to see heaven here on earth in the flight of the stars. “One cannot do better than hold on to the thought of God through everything, under all circumstances, at all places, at all times, and try to acquire more knowledge about him, which one can do from the Bible as well as from all other things. It is good to continue believing that everything is more miraculous than one can comprehend, for this is truth,” he wrote. “It is good to remain sensitive and humble and tender of heart.” In his book The Power of Art, Simon Schama explains the artist’s mission to convey the miraculous: “Van Gogh yearned to make painting that was charged with the visionary radiance that had once been supplied by Christianity. Jesus, he wrote, was an artist whose medium had been humanity. Vincent wanted modern art to be a gospel, a bringer of light, that would comfort and redeem through ecstatic witness.” Sadly, during van Gogh’s lifetime his color- soaked proclamations were mostly ignored; he sold only one of his approximately nine hundred paintings. “A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it,” he lamented. Though our culture encourages us to idolize fame and success, van Gogh’s story challenges us to consider a different path. He reminds us that in a life lived with passion for the gospel, weakness and failure are not the last word. Jason Landsel is the artist for Plough’s “Forerunners” series, including the painting opposite.