Nature in Van Gogh's Art

In a letter sent from London in 1874 Vincent van Gogh wrote: “Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that’s the real way to learn to understand art better and better. Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see.” With this lecture Caroline explores the central role given to the natural world in van Gogh’s paintings. Depicted with the brightest colours, flowers, setting suns, fields and cypresses are recurrent motifs in his works. While van Gogh closely observed and represented the natural scenery that stood in front of him, he also imbued it with a greater meaning. Dr Caroline Levisse is an art historian based in London. She was born in France where she studied art history before moving to Copenhagen. In Copenhagen she focused on research work and completed a PhD on the relations between art and religion in contemporary Scandinavian art. After graduating in 2013, she moved to London and taught art history with adult education providers. Caroline has published articles in French and English in academic journals as well as magazines and newspapers such as Church Times and Arts Sacrés.