This book analyzes the deeper meaning of recurring themes in van Gogh's oeuvre, such as the sower, the sun and the sunflower, against the religious background of his time. It traces the conflict between Christianity and nature that underlies the process of substitution of natural for Christian symbols which we find in van Gogh's oeuvre. The author has made a careful inventory of the principal motifs in van Gogh's oeuvre and studied the ways in which...