At Eternity's Gate: The Spiritual Vision of Vincent Van Gogh

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Summary: very informative, interesting biography of a great artist
Review: "At Eterntiy's Gate" opened my eyes to see the spiritual dimensions in van Gogh's life and art I didn't know existed. Also, the detatiled explanation of his illness helped put the myth of his insanity to rest. The writing was very clear and I especially enjoyed the last chapter in which the author explains the religious significance of "Starry Night."

Rating:
Summary: very informative, interesting biography of a great artist
Review: "At Eterntiy's Gate" opened my eyes to see the spiritual dimensions in van Gogh's life and art I didn't know existed. Also, the detatiled explanation of his illness helped put the myth of his insanity to rest. The writing was very clear and I especially enjoyed the last chapter in which the author explains the religious significance of "Starry Night."

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Summary: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, July 13, 1998
Review: "Erickson's account of the spiritual dimensions of van Gogh's work is an important corrective to two widespread assumptions: first, that his background was theologically Calvinist; second, that he abandoned religion when he began his professional career as an artist....This work is a lucid and accessible contribution to understanding the religious character of van Gogh's artistic vision."

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Summary: a readable, accessible study of van Gogh's spirituality
Review: A readable, accessible study that will reward the unquenchable interest among a broad reading public in an artist whose mythic proportions cry out for historical understanding and a "sane" view of religion in modern life. Erickson approaches her subject with sympathy and a willingness to go where the widely ignored evidence will take her. Prof. David Morgan, Valparaiso University

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Summary: A must in understandiing the real influences in Van Gogh
Review: An absolutely outstanding work by Kathleen Erickson. This is a must read that sets aside the smoke and mirrors by other acclaimed historians. I was also fortunate to attend her talk at one of her book signings. The years of extensive research involved in bringing this new evidence to us is invaluable. Although the first chapter is a little tricky to follow, it sets the foundation for the rest of the book and is the appropriate passageway into it. This book should be added to college art history as well as theological courses so tomorrow's public is not mislead by past fables.

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Summary: a rich understanding of suffering, faith, and creativity
Review: Erickson does van Gogh a considerable service by returning to the voluminous letters he wrote, in order to help the reader see the roots and meaning of his devotion. She views van Gogh as essentially a mystic inspired by the Gospels and by the writings of John Bunyan and Thomas a Kempis. Their words and images were internalized and remained with the artist in spite of his break with organized Christianity. . . . Erickson provides yet another corrective by carefully reconstructing the etiology of van Gogh's mental disturbances that resulted in an extended hospitalization after the celebrated event in which he severed a part of his own ear and presented it to a local prostitute. By returning to van Gogh's letters and utilizing a finely tuned clinical understanding, Erickson plausibly concludes that the artist suffered from epileptiform illness with attendant depression. She thus provides an alternative view to the varied and sometimes poorly researched conclusions that have led previous scholars and clinicians to arrive at a wide variety of diagnostic hypotheses. . . . Erickson offers a portrait of van Gogh as a visionary struggling to find the means to express his felt spiritual experience. In so doing, she provides us with an enlarged and richly nuanced understanding of the interdependence of suffering, faith, and the act of creation.

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Summary: At Eternity's Gate
Review: I have always viewed Van Gogh's art with a feeling of sadness thinking he was a man driven insane and living a meager existence without much choice. I now enjoy his paintings so much more having read a new perspective about his life. I see his work as full of life and hope and believe he lived a life according to his convictions. He was a man who took his stand against a tide he didn't agree with. I am refreshed.

Rating:
Summary: At Eternity's Gate
Review: I have always viewed Van Gogh's art with a feeling of sadness thinking he was a man driven insane and living a meager existence without much choice. I now enjoy his paintings so much more having read a new perspective about his life. I see his work as full of life and hope and believe he lived a life according to his convictions. He was a man who took his stand against a tide he didn't agree with. I am refreshed.

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Summary: a study of van Gogh's pilgrimage of faith
Review: I wrote "At Eternity's Gate" because I felt van Gogh's religious life had been almost completely ignored by his other biographers. For example, this book has the only discussion available (in English or Dutch) of van Gogh's theological background and his family's role in the various controversies that plagued the church in the nineteenth century. I also go into great detail discussing van Gogh's illness, a type of epilepsy coupled with depression that affected his religious life and his artistic choices, particularly with regard to subject-matter. While I am primarily an historian of Christianity, with a Ph. D. from the University of Chicago, I also studied art history there, with my emphasis on the contexts in which artists create. I discuss some well-known works, such as "Starry Night" and some other religious works that are barely mentioned in art history texts, such as "The Resurrection of Lazarus" and "The Good Samaritan." My primary concern is not with formal art criticism, but simply to tell the complex, compelling story of van Gogh's journey of faith. Kathleen Powers Erickson, Ph.D

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Summary: Great book!!!!!
Review: It is very hard to do biographies at all. Many other authors who write about Vincent Van Gogh are usually vauge, and you can't follow through. This book is the exact opposite.