Dutch expressionist painter. He came from a strong Lutheran family background and, like John Wesley, was influenced by The Imitation of Christ. His years in England (1873-1876) were formative for the faith which underpinned much of his life and work. While in London, living in Kennington Road, he attended Baptist services but moved easily between at least six denominations writing 'In every church I see God, and it's all the same to me whether a Protestant pastor or a Roman Catholic priest preaches. It is not really a matter of dogma, but of the spirit of the gospel.’

It was the Rev Thomas Slade-Jones, Congregational minister at Isleworth and Turnham Green, who offered Vincent a post which is variously described as 'co-worker' and 'assistant preacher'. He was also given preaching appointments at Kew Road and Petersham churches in the Richmond (Surrey) WM Circuit.

‘When I stood in the pulpit I felt like someone emerging from a dark vault underground into the friendly light of day, and it is a wonderful thought that wherever I shall go from this day forward I shall be preaching the Gospel. To do that well, one must have the Gospel in one's heart; may He grant that. 'God said Let there be light. And there was light!’ [letter to Theo Van Gogh, Isleworth, 31 October 1876].

His sketch of Petersham chapel is now in the Courtauld Institute.

Returning home in December 1876, he failed to become a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church but undeterred from his calling as an evangelist, he took an independent initiative to move in December 1878 to the Belgian coalmining district of the Borinage. There he threw himself into the work of ministry, visiting the sick and reading the Bible to miners, placing himself on the same level of poverty as poor working people. His compassion for the poor and his ideal of a community of artists may have owed something to the example of John Wesley and the Methodist class meeting.

With an allowance from his brother Theo, Van Gogh then became a full-time artist. Rarely in his paintings did he depict the figure of Christ. Rather, his continuing preoccupation is with the symbols and subjects employed by Jesus to speak of the kingdom of God - sowers, reapers and wheat fields. "He explored new ways to represent the presence of Christ, often depicting him as a glowing light, or a blazing sun, and using the colour yellow to imply a divine presence" [Jonathan Evens, Van Gogh’s Religious Journey Around London]

One of his most famous paintings, The Starry Night (1889), reflects a fascination towards the end of his life with the starry sky. It was painted at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint Remy where Vincent had admitted himself after moving to Arles in the South of France.

Entry written by: JAV and SM
Category: Person
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