On Heidegger's Explanation Of Van Gogh's "Agricultural Shoes"

The interpretation of Van Gogh’s A Pair of Shoes in The origin of a Work of Art are diverse.Although the voice of questioning whether Heidegger misread Van Gogh or not is rampant,the conclusion is inconsistent.The most representative critics are Meyer Schapiro and Jacque Derrida who have questioned Heidegger from the perspectives of the artist(the mistaken of the owner of the shoes by Heidegger)and the philosopher(two shoes instead of a pair of shoes).However,as a western metaphysical traditional critic,Martin Heidegger’s basic viewpoint is to reject the object-oriented way of thinking,namely not in the way of subject and object of "Erlebnis" of the works of art but to explain the Being by "Erfahren".In this regard,skeptics clearly miss the essence of the problem.What the thesis aims to indicate is that Heidegger’s interpretation of A Pair of Shoes can only be judged based on Heidegger’s thought and with the combination of Van Gogh’s creation to make the comments fair.There is no doubt that A Pair of Shoes in Heidegger’s thought has profound meaning.The origin of a Work of Art for the study of art is not from aesthetic sense of art,but by questioning the origin of art to explore the nature of truth.As the first place where truth happens,A Pair of Shoes has a unique pivotal position,which not only is to be questioned firstly,particular in achievinging the conversion of the shoes to A Pair of Shoes,but also the starting point and main part for requestioning from the object to the work;At the same time,the essential relationship between the shoes in Heidegger’s interpretation and the earth and the peasant woman’s existence world implies the germination of the conception of quadripartite structure of the world of heaven,earth,god,man.And the tribute to nature and farming undoubtedly indicates a critique of modernity and a reflection of how man present in this technology age.Heidegger’s interpretation of A Pair of Shoes is not only the key to understand the The Origin of a Work of Art,but also a channel to enter his later thoughts.In addition,the interpretation of the relationship between Van Gogh’s thought and temperament and experience and creation also shows that the basic point that A Pair of Shoes concerns is Being,and Van Gogh,whose concern for life is just to explore the Being,is the speaker of Being.Thus,for Heidegger,Van Gogh,together with Holderlin,shoulders the mission of "demigod",that is,to convey the message about to mankind in the technological time.From this point of view,this thesis proved that Heidegger not only presented his thoughts through Van Gogh’s A Pair of Shoes,but also deepened the implication of Van Gogh and A Pair of Shoes from the dimension of ontology.However,Heidegger’s artistic thinking is not without any problems.Its exclusion of contemporary art shows the shortcoming of Heidegger’s thoghts.