The Color of Light: Poems on vanGogh's Late Paintings

The great Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh comes to life in a new light on the pages of this splendid volume. Through eloquent poetic meditations on Van Gogh's late paintings, Marilyn Chandler McEntyre shows how these artworks testify to divine presence, and she invites readers to find their way through form, color, and light into a new awareness of the Spirit. Some of McEntyre's poems remind us of the sorrows in the life of this solitary artist and of his infinite longing. Some convey Van Gogh's epiphanies of joy and energy, expressing themselves in color. McEntyre sees the paintings as inviting us to see things in a different light, and her poetry is an act of consent to that invitation, providing an intimate encounter with these great works. Evocatively pairing art and poetry on two-page spreads, The Color of Light is McEntyre's third in a trilogy of poetry books on Dutch master painters, each of which invites us to reflect not only on the artist's life and faith but also on our own.

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre is professor of English at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California.