MASTER IMPRESSIONIST

Dafoe paints portrait of tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in ‘At Eternity’s Gate’

VENICE, Italy — Playing Vincent Van Gogh in “At Eternity’s Gate” has once again put Willem Dafoe in Oscar contention.

Dafoe has already been named the Venice Film Festival’s best actor for his intensely physical, emotionally naked performance.

It’s easy to understand why Van Gogh is irresistible to actors. He ranks high among the most famous of tortured artists: depressed, suicidal, notorious for slicing off his ear and being committed to an asylum.

But “Eternity’s Gate” disputes the notion that the Dutch painter killed himself. During his brief lifetime — he died at age 37 in 1890 — not one of Van Gogh’s highly individualistic, immediately distinctive paintings sold. Today, of course, their value is astronomical.

“Eternity’s Gate” views Van Gogh’s life and art in his final months from the perspective of the celebrated 20th century artist Julian Schnabel (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Before Night Falls”), who co-wrote, directed and even inserts his hands anonymously into some of the painting sequences.

“Eternity’s Gate” is, like Van Gogh paintings, an impressionistic account. Schnabel presents a troubled man desperate to connect, to have friends, who is sometimes manic and rejected by the French townspeople as an unwanted interloper.

His brother, Theo (Rupert Friend), supports him wholeheartedly. The painter Gauguin (Oscar Isaac), who roomed with Van Gogh for a while, inspires him. And then there is the priest at the asylum (Mads Mikkelsen), who is critical of troubled Vincent.

“The most important thing was, I knew I was going to be painting,” Dafoe, 63, said. “I’ve known Julian for over 30 years and worked with him in smaller ways — and I knew I was going to be painting.

“That was important, so I could do the actions and make it easier to shoot. I had to shift my way of seeing — that was a shift for a deeper feeling for some of the things I was doing in the film and to nature.”

Added Schnabel, “I never thought of anybody else playing Van Gogh. Willem has the inner life and the depth. He’s a physical actor. I’ve seen him be thoughtful, supportive to other actors in situations I’m not going to get into.

“To have him do this was the best ally I could have.”

(“At Eternity’s Gate” opens tomorrow.)

LIFE AND ART: Willem Dafoe plays Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh in the final months of his life in ‘At Eternity’s Gate.’ Below, Oscar Isaac plays artist Paul Gauguin and Emmanuelle Seigner is Madame Ginoux.