New book from Yale University Press changes our view of Van Gogh as a consummate nature painter

What follows is an excerpt from a recent conversation between David Ebony and Michael Lobel. David is a writer, critic, and curator; Michael is a professor of art history at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and is the author of the new book Van Gogh and the end of nature. It complicates the view of Vincent van Gogh as a consummate painter of nature, presenting instead an artist whose paintings are inextricably linked to the modern industrial era in which he lived and worked. You can read the full interview on the Yale University Press blog.

David Ebony: You’ve organized the book very nicely, with chapter headings: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Color. You start with the topic of air – hence the chimneys and the issue of air pollution. You say that the smoke emissions from the chimneys and trains were as interesting to Van Gogh as the clouds. Art audiences who love those clouds, like we all do, tend to ignore those chimney plumes. You also talk about other innovations and inventions of the time, like nationally synchronized clocks for train scheduling, and how important that was to Van Gogh.

Michael Lobel: I think once we put Van Gogh in this historical context, we discover all sorts of new things about him, his world and his work. In the first chapter, I write about Joseph Roulin, an important figure for Van Gogh in Arles in 1888, who is usually referred to as Roulin the postman. Van Gogh befriends Roulin and his family and paints their portraits. But he was not a conventional postman. He represented the railway by working for the railway post office. He points to the importance of the railway in Van Gogh’s world.

David Ebony: In the chapter on fire, you talk about Van Gogh’s relationship with lighting, which is also a serious source of pollution. He complained that there were not enough gas lamps in Arles.

Michael Lobel: I knew there was more to be said about Van Gogh’s interest in gaslight; and gaslight was again a revolutionary innovation for the 19th century. It was powered by coal gas, so we’re back to using fossil fuels. I just wanted people to understand that a painting like The Starry Night, which is obviously one of his most iconic works, is not just about natural light sources, but rather about the relationship between artificial and natural forms of lighting.

Reproduced with permission. Read the full interview.

For more information about the book, visit yalebooks.yale.edu.