Van Gogh, self portrait with his bandaged ear. 
Anthony Redmond
Vincent van Gogh and the Good Samaritan: The Wounded Painter’s Journey by Henry Martin (Darton, Longman & Todd, £12.99/€15.50)
One of the greatest of the post-impressionists painters Vincent van Gogh led a troubled, somewhat unhappy life searching for love and recognition as an artist. He wrote countless letters to his devoted brother, Theo, in which he poured out his heart and soul and cried out in anguish and torment. His brother helped him not just financially but listened with sympathy and respect.
When he was young, Van Gogh was deeply religious and considered becoming a pastor like his father. As time went on Vincent became disillusioned and turned away from formal religion believing it to be rule-bound and lacking in compassion and understanding of human frailty. He replaced his interest in religion with a passion for art and painting.
This passion took over his whole life. He suffered with mental problems and was in different mental hospitals from time to time. Shortly before he died in 1890, Vincent became very interested in the famous painting by Eugene Delacroix, The Good Samaritan, and decided to paint a copy of it in his own individual style.
Better painting
Many claim that Van Gogh’s is the better painting. Vincent was a sensitive man who had compassion for others. He also knew what suffering and pain were about. In many ways, his brother Theo was his ‘Good Samaritan’. Shortly after painting The Good Samaritan Van Gogh died at the age of 37 by suicide. His suicide has been questioned by certain writers who claim he may have been killed by young bullies who made fun of Vincent. We simply don’t know. He and his brother, Theo, are buried side by side in the municipal cemetery in Auvers-sur-Oise. Theo died just six months after his beloved brother, Vincent.
Henry Martin is an artist, writer and ordained Anglican minister. He is deeply interested and passionate about Van Gogh and his knowledge and love for him are transparently clear. I feel that he could talk all day about the painting, The Good Samaritan.
He talks about the financial struggles Van Gogh experienced in his troubled life and how he was desperate to be recognised and to sell his paintings. Everything changed after his death when his true artistic genius was recognised and his paintings became so valuable and sought-after.
“In 1990,” Henry Martin writes, “exactly one hundred years after his death, his portrait of Dr Gachet was bought at auction for an incredible US$82.5 million. His works rarely go on sale. Instead they fill the star places in museums around the world. In Amsterdam there is an entire museum dedicated to his work.”
In the amazing parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus tells us that the Levite and the priest passed by and ignored the man who had been attacked and left lying injured by the roadside.
Samaritan
The Samaritan could not pass by. He did all he could to help the injured man and bring him comfort. Henry Martin writes: “Real love can never exist in words divorced from action. Real love is seeing, feeling and doing. Love goes on.
“The story cannot end here. The Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. takes this train of thought further than most: he acknowledges our duty to the bruised and battered on life’s roadside, but argues that a single act, such as giving a coin to a beggar, can never be enough. True compassion requires us to transform the whole Jerusalem to Jericho road for all travellers, along with every structure that leaves people in the gutter. The work of the Good Samaritan does not end at the inn. Neither does ours.”
Let us reflect on these important words: “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (I Corinthians 13:1).
In love
Vincent fell in love a few times, but he also experienced many incidents of rejection and disillusionment. He wrote to his brother, Theo, about his sadness and disappointment. The author says: “Vincent was certainly a wounded soul. If he was reflecting on his love life as he painted, he surely would have recognised himself in the battered figure being gently shoved upwards onto the mule. His adventures in love contained a great deal of heartache and very few moments of happiness.”
I found this book educational, moving and thought-provoking and it makes me want to read Van Gogh’s letters. Henry Martin brings out so much of Van Gogh’s personality and character and he helps us to really reflect on the wonderful parable of the Good Samaritan. His is an excellent book, well worth reading. I certainly enjoyed reading it.
