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

Rating:
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.

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.

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.

Rating:
Summary: the most reliable resource to date on van Gogh's life
Review: Soundly informed and judiciously handled, notably with respect to van Gogh's formative religious background and its long-term effects on his life, thought,and motivation, including his artistic choices. Erickson also provides remarkable insight into van Gogh's legendary illness, showing his religious dimensions and demonstrating its impact on his art from a novel perspective. Prof. John Walford, Wheaton College