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/