Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch artist and Post-Impressionist. He made over 2100 pieces in his career, which measured just over a decade, including 860 paintings. He was troubled, misunderstood and rejected in his own time.

His art is bold, colorful, dramatic, driven, impulsive, expressive and recognizable. His use of thick paint called impasto and broad brushstrokes seems to add a sense of exclamation to his every view. Vincent’s father was a minister and it can be easy to see his inherited deep honoring of God’s creation in his work.

Green Wheat Fields is just such an interpretation of spring. His tints and shades of green, blue and also yellow can take your breath in appreciation. His pieces and this one are quizzical, holding both peace and frenetic energy. They are quiet scenes in hymns to creation with paints pushed onto canvas quickly as if time was running out. . . which in retrospect it actually was. Over the years, many have concluded that this artist lived and worked in the very place where madness and creativity converge. Maybe he could have only found his genius there.

As Vincent cut off his ear and took his own life, we must hope he knew something of God’s loving commitment to him beyond the critics of the world. We pray his eventual, posthumous acclaim can steer each of us from our judgements of art or anything else. May Vincent van Gogh help us leave the ugly, unsettling and hateful out of our thoughts and focus on the world he saw, a beautiful celebration of newness and hopeful perspectives. If an ordinary sky and field we all see can look like that to someone, what is there to hold but hope?

May it be so.

Amen.

In gratitude, faith and hope,