Willem Dafoe on Vincent Van Gogh’s Relationship with God

Whether you know anything about art or not, chances are you know the name of a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh. He is considered one of the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art.

What you might not haven known about him, is that his father was a minister and Van Gogh himself turned to religion and spent time as a Protestant missionary in southern Belgium. A new film by Oscar-nominated director Julian Schnabel, titled At Eternity’s Gate, which also is the name of one of Van Gogh’s paintings, pursues what the act of creation feels like from the inside.

Three-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe plays the famous painter who was not commercially successful during his short 37 years — many of which included mental illness and poverty. While the film is not a forensic biography, it does take a look at letters written between Van Gogh and his brother. It also explores his relationship with nature and God.

Check out our interview with Dafoe and CBS Films’ At Eternity’s Gate opens in NY/LA on Friday, November 16 and in San Diego on November 21.

Willem Dafoe as Vincent Van Gogh in Julian Schnabel’s AT ETERNITY’S GATE.
Photo credit: Lily Gavin