The Spire of the Church of Our Lady 1885

Vincent van Gogh made this drawing of The Spire of the Church of Our Lady with a reed pen and ink. The church was in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. Van Gogh made this drawing in 1885 when he returned to the Netherlands after a stay in Antwerp. The spire of the church dominates the city, physically embodying the established social order. The church was not just a religious building but also a social institution that exercised enormous cultural power. Van Gogh emphasizes the dominating qualities of the architecture with bold strokes and hatching, creating the impression of an unassailable structure. In its own way, this drawing may gently critique the institution, as the architecture of the church is given greater consideration than the social functions it embodies. This tension between the objective structure and its function is a matter that social historians continue to debate and research today.