Vincent van Gogh went to Bible College - what happened?
Self-Portrait, Spring 1887, Oil on pasteboard, 42 × 33.7 cm., Art Institute of Chicago (F 345). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Vincent van Gogh aspired to become a Calvinist pastor, like his dad. He pursued ministry in the Dutch Reformed Church until he hit a roadblock by failing his academic training, and then experienced what personal failure often breeds: disillusionment. He became disenchanted with pastoral ministry and then left the church for good in 1880 at the age of 27. From that point on van Gogh redirected all his ambitions to art. Of all van Gogh’s famous works, I’m most struck by a painting he feverishly finished in one day: “ Still Life with Bible ” (1885). The symbolic painting features two books. The large book in the background is the Bible of van Gogh’s pastor-father. The Bible is opened to Isaiah 53 . The yellow book in the foreground is a French novel by naturalist Émile Zola . The book is titled La Joie de Vivre , or in English, The Joy of Life (1884). So w