The Church Auvers

One of the more haunting images created by Vincent Van Gogh is The Church Auvers. Painted by Van Gogh during his time in Auvers Sur Oise, it was painted from memory and is part of his “Memories from the North” series.

In the painting, we see the sun shine generously on the area n the front of the painting. Here a road runs and lush green plant life surrounds it. However, as we move closer to the church, the sun disappears. The church and the area around it seem to be in a shade of its own making, as no light is reflected or is able to enter this area. Additionally, the church building itself seems warped, with roof and beams all seemingly non-strait. Behind the church, the sky looks menacing. This is re-enforced by the thick brush strokes of Van Gogh which helps create a sense of movement in the sky above. The road in front of the church also splits into two. This motive of diverging paths was also seen in Wheatfield with Crows, and can probably be said to reflect the choices Van Gogh himself saw himself as facing as his sanity battled for control of his soul.

The depiction of The Church in Auvers also bear vitness to the importance of Van Gogh to the coming expressionist and modern art movements. The church is painted from memory but it is clearly not warped like this on reality. However, Van Gogh chooses to give it a warped appearance with forbidding sky in the background in order to give the viewer a gloomy impression of the place. This direct influencing on of the view, at the cost of authenticity in the depiction, inspired the expressionist movement, just like the choice of color over line further led to modern art.

The Church in Auvers can today be found at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, France.