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Mystery of the Night Cafe: Hidden Key to the Spirituality of Vincent Van Gogh (Excelsior Editions)

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In Mystery of the Night Café, Cliff Edwards takes the reader on an intimate journey into the creative genius of Vincent Van Gogh by focusing on one painting that reveals "the inner life and intent of the artist himself." Rather than portraying Van Gogh as a gifted person tormented by fits of mental illness, Edwards shows us though primary sources (the artist's total work, his correspondences, and books and paintings that influenced him) the sheer force of Van Gogh's aesthetic vision that informs all of his work. It is a vision of compassion and service to others, emerging in part from a thoughtful life exposed to repeated loss and failure, which grew into a search for the true meaning of the self. It is a way of seeing the mystery, the reality behind the form or label, which Van Gogh urges us toward in his painting, and in this sense the artist's quest is essentially a spiritual one. Edward's takes the reader along as he discovers the "mystery within a mystery" found in this intriguing yet often overlooked painting.

I highly recommend this thoughtful and beautifully illustrated work by Cliff Edwards (author of two previous books on the painter, _The Shoes of Van Gogh_ and _Van Gogh and God_). It is much more than simply a meditation on a single painting by one of the great masters, for through the life of Van Gogh we glimpse the archetypal journey toward the true self.

Mark Ferrara
SUNY Oneonta

Having meditated, as it were, at the shrine of Vincent van Gogh's Night Café while reading Cliff Edwards' book, I must say that the book, in keeping with the painting, is absolutely superb. The author captures in his interpretation not only the holy essence of this work of art but also of the artist. I believe Professor Edwards has got Vincent's spirituality exactly right, including the selfless, sacrificial nature of his death.

Truth is, we all live in some manner of speaking, or some manner of silence, within the Night Café. Cliff Edwards has not only unraveled its mystery, but has led us further into the mysterium tremendum where we come to know the inscrutable nature of our own poverty and desire in the face of the Infinite, which without doubt was Vincent's purpose.

I shall never gaze again upon Vincent's depiction of the Night Café without seeing the figure of Christ draped open in the doorway to the café's inner sanctum. I had sought him elsewhere in the scene. I had even thought the white-clothed figure without legs might symbolize an effigy of the risen Christ (the "innkeeper" as Edwards notes), but until reading this book I had not seen the "Empty Tomb" within the canvas as the thinly veiled visage of the Invisible One, Christus Consolator, just as Vincent envisioned God to be manifest in the life and suffering of the marginal poor of his day, which included himself.

It is Vincent's distinct and indomitable spirit that is captured in the Night Café. By leading us through the work of art back to the artist, thus also to the Ultimate Reality to which the artist symbolically points us, Cliff Edwards deserves a literary award for bringing the mystery of this painting, in concert with Vincent himself, to light.

As you come yourself in sacred pilgrimage before Vincent's alluring "sanctuary" of the Night Café, and as you read Cliff Edwards in order to gain his deep in-sight, be prepared to ponder the profound Mystery that Vincent conveys, which is to say, to understand it by standing under it long enough to see what otherwise remains invisible to the observing eye.

This is a truly interesting and insightful read about Van Gogh's painting "The Night Cafe" in which author Edwards discusses the spiritual components of the work, and how this spirituality may have evolved in Van Gogh as a result of the artis's life, reading, and inner beliefs and torments. It's fascinating to read how Van Gogh, who was denied a career as a preacher, turned his spiritualty into artistic creativity.

This book is very readable (you don't have to be an intellectual or an art expert to enjoy it) and I am certainly going to check out Edwards' other books on Van Gogh. Highly recommended!

Dr. Edwards is a leading scholar on Van Gogh and spirituality. This is his third book on Van Gogh and his best book yet. It is a must read! The book takes the reader on a spiritual quest of the life of the artist and Dr. Edwards' own personal journey in following in the artist's footsteps. Through reading the artist's personal letters to family members, other artists; literally following in the footsteps of places where the Van Gogh lived and worked; and by reading the books that Van Gogh read, Dr. Edwards has convinciningly helped the reader get into the mind of the artist by reconstructing a world in which the artist lived. Dr. Edwards amazingly takes us into this world through the window of this one painting. Fascinating book! A must read!

This is a gem of a book. I think it represents the distillation of a lifetime of scholarship on Van Gogh's paintings and letters. This book is clearly presented, short and easy to read.
Edwards argues that after Van Gogh's failed attempt to be an ordained minister in service to a struggling mining community, he never let go of many of his key theological beliefs. Particularly the painter's reading of the prophet Isaiah and the Jesus of the humble birth and parables, as described by Luke, were transformed into a role of the artist as a ministry to the poor and outcast - to open our eyes to what might be easily overlooked from a bourgeois lifestyle. Edwards points to Van Gogh's attraction to Zola as an example of how religious ideas, equivalent in Van Gogh's mind to the Gospel, can be expressed in contemporary culture. In this perspective, Van Gogh's art was an effort to communicate the infinite through the common, the experience of depth through nature, and the struggle and hopes of the humble as worthy of respect.
There is no question I will look at the Night Café in a new way - I had missed the relevance of the well-lit room behind the doorway in the rear of the café in my previous looks at the painting. Just as I cannot view the world the same after seeing Van Gogh's paintings, I will not see Van Gogh's paintings in the same way after reading this book.

I like this book. Author Cliff Edwards examines Vincent Van Gogh's work, "The Night Cafe," unraveling a series of clues while bringing new depth and fresh meaning to one of the artist's "strangest, most mysterious paintings." Much like Van Gogh himself, intimate with a wide variety of literature (Bible, Shakespeare, Dickens, Zola) that helped to shape his artistic expression, Edwards' work is couched in and emerges from an immersion in all of Van Gogh's letters as well as all of the books Van Gogh read and loved.

Why write a whole book on one painting--"The Night Cafe"--puzzling over clues in a strange and mysterious painting? Edwards tells us that Van Gogh wanted to "say something comforting" in pictures. As Edwards nudges us step by step towards new ways of seeing, the unimaginable happens--comfort flows like saving grace from Van Gogh's "garish" canvas.

We live in a broken world. As Edwards unravels the clues in "The Night Cafe," Van Gogh reaches out to comfort us.

"Mystery of the Night Cafe" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Edwards's book interview ran here as cover feature on August 26, 2009.

Warm and generous is Dr. Cliff Edwards' 4th book about Vincent van Gogh. THE MYSTERY OF THE NIGHT CAFE reveals as much about Dr. Edwards as about Vincent.
Edwards' mature and complete scholarship provides the reader with a proper model for viewing any picture, pursuing any life. In the best Buddhist tradition, Edwards shows us how to pay attention.

Sam Forrest

Cliff Edwards deconstructs Van Gogh's Night Cafe using his letters and history. He makes connections between Van Gogh's personal demons and his struggle for salvation.