The Weeping Woman
Vincent Van Gogh, 1883
Art Institute Chicago
Scripture: Romans 12:9-18
Let love be genuine… Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Visio Divina
Ask for the grace to see and receive from the Holy. Sit silently and contemplate the image for a few minutes.
What word or phrase comes to mind? What emotion arises?
Note the shadows, lines, shapes, the artist’s strokes and shadings. Is your eye drawn to something in the image?
Continue to sit quietly with this painting.
Who is this woman? Do you know her? Could she be someone in your family, neighborhood, or community? Why is she weeping? Let your imagination carry you into the story behind the image.
How would Jesus see the weeping woman? What would he ask her?
Share with God your desire to be more aware of the suffering and grief of those around you. What grace do you need?
Carry this image in your mind through the day.
Ask and allow the Spirit to remind you of God’s compassion for those who ache with sorrow. His compassion is embodied through each of us.
- Art Institute of Chicago website, Weeping Woman entry and description.
- Article: Van Gogh and the Nature of Solitude, by Kevin Salatino (May 2023). In comparing two sketches of a “weeping tree” and the “weeping woman,” Salatino notes: “Van Gogh anthropomorphizes the tree but immobilizes the woman, reversing, or merging, their roles. She’s a knot of contained grief, as rooted to the ground as an oak. In contrast, the tall, central tree in Weeping Tree (in fact, a weeping ash), feels liberated from its rootedness, ready to skip away at any moment. Perhaps it weeps tears of joy, not sorrow.”