Nuenen: Vincent painted the Reformed Church in Nuenen as a gift for his mother. The painting remained in her possession until her death; his mother was confined to her bed by a fall and had broken her leg and was unable to visit the church herself. His father was pastor here from August 1882 until his death on March 26, 1885.
Since his resignation as an evangelist in the Belgian mining region of the Borinage, Vincent no longer felt connected to his father's church. This often led to arguments that sometimes ran high. After Dad's sudden death, the painter was able to capture the essence of their disagreement in a simple still life with his father's Bible and Émile Zola's La Joie de vivre (Joy of Life), which he himself had broken down.
