S1 E4: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother by Vincent Van Gogh

There are portraits that capture likeness, and there are portraits that reach across distance. In 1888, when Vincent van Gogh sat before a small photograph of his mother, Anna Cornelia, he was living in Arles, far from the familiar light of home. The world around him blazed with the colours of the South: sunflowers, orchards, blue skies that vibrated with heat. And yet, his heart turned toward the quiet face that had watched him first open his eyes.

He worked not from memory but from a faded photograph. Yet what emerged on canvas was not a mere copy. The photograph gave him lines and shadows; love gave him life. He replaced greys with greens and rose tones, softening her gaze, surrounding her in an aura of calm that his own life rarely knew. In that act of painting, he re-imagined his mother not as she was, but as he needed her to be—steady, kind, enduring.

To paint one’s mother is to enter the earliest language of belonging. For Vincent, that bond was complex: she loved him, yet never fully understood the depth or restlessness that drove him. In this portrait, one senses both longing and reconciliation, a son’s silent conversation with the woman who first taught him to see the world.

When we stand before Vincent’s Mother, we are not looking at a famous artist or a famous subject. We are witnessing a private act of tenderness, colour used not for brilliance but for remembrance. It is a moment when art stops asking to be admired and simply asks to be understood.

In the end, perhaps that is all Vincent ever wanted: to paint what could not be said aloud, to make love visible through light. And for a fleeting moment, through this portrait, he found a way to come home.

Until the next letter,

Rebecca

Music by Epidemic Sound:

The Sound of You by Gavin Luke https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/tracks/f8f9e05a-0dee-404e-8775-3d9a86fa8d94/

Sources:

Painting: Portrait of the Artist's Mother by Vincent van Gogh (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_the_Artist%27s_Mother_by_Vincent_van_Gogh.jpg

Vincent van Gogh's Letter #700 Van Gogh Museum

https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let700/letter.html

S1 E3: Winter Awakening Landscape with Snow by Vincent van Gogh

Welcome to Letters to Vincent, a contemplative journey into the life and art of Vincent van Gogh. I’m Rebecca, and I’m grateful you are here.

This project first took root in the spring, when the world was waking and everything felt possible. I was reading about the quiet practices of meditation and began returning often to Vincent’s paintings. They invited a gentler way of looking, a slow deepening of breath, a sense of being fully present. The idea for this series arrived with that spring light, filled with promise.

Now we meet again in winter, the season when the world rests and gathers strength for what is to come. Winter feels like the right moment for this project to become real. Beneath the snow, new life is forming. Beneath the quiet, the future is preparing its return. There is a contemplative calm here that fits Letters to Vincent perfectly.

In each episode, I share a reflective letter inspired by one of Vincent’s paintings. These are letters of gratitude and companionship across time. Letters shaped by the wish to tell Vincent how deeply his colours and courage continue to touch us.

Today, we begin with Landscape with Snow, one of the early works Vincent painted shortly after arriving in Arles. It is a simple winter path stretching across the La Crau plains, with Montmajour rising softly in the distance. A solitary figure walks forward through the pale fields, steady and unhurried. The world seems hushed, yet it is full of quiet life and waiting light.

This painting reminds us that winter is not an ending. It is a beginning held gently in stillness. It is preparation for the return of colour.

So settle into this moment. Take a deep breath. And let us walk a little way with Vincent, trusting that every quiet step carries us toward a new spring.

This is Letters to Vincent.

Let us begin.

Rebecca

Landscape with Snow by Vincent Van Gogh (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Music by Epidemic Sound

Aurora Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen, Karoliina Gabel

https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/tracks/6f65e315-821d-4905-9248-d4020a1764b7/

S1 E2 The Book Dialogue Joins Letters to Vincent

In this special episode, Sarah and I open the first letter in a new series that invites quiet contemplation and creative connection: Letters to Vincent. Inspired by the life and art of Vincent van Gogh, this project uses his profound, deeply emotional paintings as a form of meditation—a visual gateway to introspection, beauty, and the enduring human spirit.

This journey begins not alone, but together. We have come together in the launch of “Letters to Vincent” to reflect on Vincent’s world and open the door to a new way of reading, seeing, and feeling. Through these letters, we step into the colours and textures of Vincent’s canvases and ask: What would we say to him now? And what might he be saying to us?

In this special episode, Sarah joins me as we bring Letters to Vincent into The Book Dialogue, marking the beginning of a conversation that reaches beyond me. As we go forward, our hope is that others will join—fellow seekers, artists, readers, and kindred spirits drawn to Vincent’s art and the deeper truths it evokes. This is more than a podcast—it’s a gathering place. And this is just the beginning.

Letters to Vincent is your invitation to join me in a quiet correspondence with Vincent van Gogh—through paintings, memory, and shared wonder. 

Rebecca

Music by Epidemic Sound

Friend of Mine By Johannes Bornlöf

https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/W63NlXY6F3/

S1 E1: Launching Letters to Vincent Podcast

Rebecca's Reading Room presents the podcast, "Letters to Vincent". I have embarked on a journey of writing letters to Vincent, each a meditation inspired by one of his paintings. It is a way for me to connect with his work on a deeper level and explore the emotions it evokes. Thank you for listening in! RebeccaMusic by Epidemic Sound"Shadow of a Magnitude" By Howard Harper-Barneshttps://www.epidemicsound.com/track/n8gjc0ywBV/