For the authors of ‘Reading Van Gogh,’ ‘Black in Blues,’ art opened a door to meaning

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s episode, the authors of two recently released nonfiction books search for meaning in art. First, Elizabeth Barks Cox’s Reading Van Gogh: An Amateur’s Search for God chronicles her infatuation with the painter’s writings, especially those on spirituality. In today’s episode, Cox joins Here & Now’s Lisa Mullins for a conversation that touches on the artist’s eye for beauty and despair – and why the author says she fell “a little bit in love with him.” Then, Harvard professor Imani Perry’s book Black in Blues tells the story of Black history through the color blue. In today’s episode, Perry speaks with Here & Now’s Scott Tong about the many ways blue appears in African American culture, art and literature.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. If you're listening to this podcast,
0:06.8	I assume you have an appreciation for art. I'm going to guess that you've had profound,
0:12.2	life-changing experiences with art, that you've encountered a painting or a song, or, sure, a book
0:17.5	that moved something deep inside you. Today, we've got two books featuring authors
0:22.3	really digging into art and its histories and finding something revelatory. In a bit,
0:28.2	National Book Award winner Imani Perry talks about the color blue and its influence on black
0:32.6	history. But first, Elizabeth Barks Cox has a book out titled Reading Van Gogh and Amateur Search for God.
0:39.4	It's a book about looking for something, be it God or meaning, and using the writings of Van Gogh as a guide.
0:47.0	And in this interview with Here Nas Lisa Mullins, Cox talks about using Van Gogh's writing to train her own eyes into not just seeing, but experiencing colors the way Van Gogh did.
0:58.3	That's up ahead.
1:00.0	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:04.7	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sourcesources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground
1:12.6	bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:18.9	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:24.1	We often think of Vincent Van Gogh is a mad genius and his masterpieces such as the starry night
1:30.7	as the brilliant expressions of a troubled mind. Author Elizabeth Barks Cox looks well beyond
1:36.5	Van Gogh's artwork. She's become consumed by the three volumes of letters he wrote to his brothers,
1:41.6	his friends, and other painters, especially about his spirituality.
1:46.1	She's so drawn to them, they've inspired her own spiritual journey. Cox has written about that
1:51.1	in her latest book, Reading Van Gogh, an amateur search for God. She told us she didn't expect a lot of
1:57.0	what she read. What struck me was the depth of his compassion for others within his own life of rejection.
2:08.0	And that depth of compassion made him to me a kind of hero, his unlikely role model maybe,
	...

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