Leo XIV a fan of van Gogh? The Pope spoke about "The Sower"

In the inaugural speech of Pope Leo XIV, there were no encyclicals or canonical quotations. Instead, Van Gogh's work, "The Sower at Sunset," became the starting point for the new Pope's spiritual reflection on the role of God in the modern world.

On May 21, 2025, during a ceremonial speech, Leo XIV recalled Vincent van Gogh's 1888 painting "The Sower at Sunset." The reference to the post-impressionist work was not just a cultural nod, but a key element of the new pope's spiritual reflection.

- Behind the sower, van Gogh painted already ripe grain - he said, emphasizing the symbolic meaning of both the work and its connection with the biblical parable of the sower.

Why did the new pope begin his pontificate with a pictorial metaphor?

The Sower at Sunset, Vincent van Gogh, 1888, / Wikimedia Commons, collection Kröller-Müller Museum

The painting "The Sower at Sunset " was created in 1888 in Arles , in one of the most artistically and emotionally intense periods of Vincent van Gogh's life.

The composition shows the silhouette of a sower walking through the field in the light of the setting sun .

The earth has a warm, golden hue, and the dominant element is a huge sun. The work was inspired by the painting "The Sower" by Jean-François Millet from 1850.

Van Gogh was raised in a Protestant family with a strong clerical tradition —his father was a pastor in the Reformed Church in Holland. In his youth, Vincent seriously considered a spiritual path. After becoming disillusioned with the institutional church, van Gogh did not abandon his faith—but he transformed it into a personal attitude. He often wrote in letters about God, the soul, suffering, and the meaning of life. He saw divinity in ordinary people— workers, peasants, sowers .

In his homily, Pope Leo XIV recalled the New Testament parable of the sower , in which Jesus tells the story of a man sowing seed in different types of soil— rocky, thorny, barren, and fertile. Usually, the sower himself or the quality of the soil is at the center of the story. But the pope shifted the emphasis to something entirely different: the sun .

- In van Gogh's painting, the sun not only illuminates the field, but dominates the entire world depicted - he noted.

In his interpretation, it is the divine light – although sometimes hidden or distant – that guides history and gives meaning to human effort. Art thus becomes for Leo XIV not only a space of contemplation, but also the language of faith.

For centuries, the Catholic Church has been not only the spiritual guardian, but also the patron of the greatest artists in Europe . It was the Vatican that laid the foundations for the Renaissance mastery of Michelangelo , Raphael and Caravaggio . Today, this legacy is continued by the Vatican Museums – one of the oldest and most impressive art collections in the world.

The pontificate of Pope Francis (who died on April 20 at the age of 88) was marked by an unprecedented sensitivity to culture. In 2024, he became the first pope in history to visit the Venice Biennale. He also opened a public discussion about the return of colonial-era artifacts – during his term , the Vatican returned to Greece fragments of sculptures from the Parthenon , kept in museums for two centuries.