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| Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(30 April 1883)
... and may you have success
in your work, and I do hope, especially, that you may have in
this year some satisfaction for what you did for your patient;
may she recover and start a new life. Do you know it is almost
a year since you were here? Yes - I long very much for your
coming. It is the work of that whole year that I have to show
you, about which we must speak in regard to the future.
Do you think it will be about the same time as last year
that you will come? Well, as soon as anything is decided about
your coming, let me know.
Some time ago you told me many things about these Swedish
painters, Heyerdahl, Edelfelt.
This week I found a reproduction of a picture by Edelfelt:
“A Prayer-Meeting on the Beach.” There is something
in it of Longfellow's poems; it is very beautiful. It shows a
sentiment of which I am very fond, and which I think does more
good in the world than the Italians and Spaniards with their
“Arms Merchants of Cairo,” of which... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(c. 2 May 1883)
... how many cares you
have yourself.
In some ways what you write about your patient isn't news,
but in other ways it is. That you have written our parents
about it, or rather, that you are going to, is something which
will set your own mind at rest, and it is the right thing to
do. Of course I never breathed a word of the affair, and you
may rest assured that neither at home nor anywhere else shall I
hint that I knew something about it in the past, nor that I am
acquainted with intimate details. I think I shall act as though
I heard about it only the other day, and then only
superficially. But it is unlikely that anybody will discuss it
with me.
So you may be easy in your mind about this.
Well, from the bottom of my heart I hope that things will
turn out the way you planned them, toward October, and I am
glad things have been carried so far, heartily glad for
your sake as well as for hers. I think it
is well as it is - especially because I know all... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(9 or 10 May 1883)
... it may be extraordinarily profitable.
Has your patient left the hospital for good? But perhaps
some days of anxiety will follow, no less serious than when she
was still there.
Michelet rightly says: “Une femme est une
malade.” They vary, Theo, they vary like the weather. Now
he who has eyes to see it finds something beautiful and good in
every kind of weather, he finds the snow and the burning
sun beautiful, the storm and the calm, the cold and the heat;
he loves every season and cannot spare one day of the year, and
in his heart he is contented and resigned to things being as
they are. But even if one feels this way about the weather and
the changing seasons, and the same way about the changing
feminine nature - believing at heart that there is a reason in
its enigma too, submitting to what one cannot understand - I
repeat, even if one could feel this way about it, still our own
character and opinion are not always, and at every moment, in
harmony and... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(3 June 1883)
... that, seeing it is only the beginning for you, I wanted to
tell you once and for all that in my opinion it is right
to try to save the life of such an unknown woman, even if
one does not know beforehand how this woman will turn out
later, nor what she will prove to be. And in no event shall I
be among those who say, ”You never should have let
yourself in for it,” for it stands to reason that
this will be the general opinion if it should
happen that things do not turn out well.
Further, this letter is meant to tell you that I think it
desirable that there be a child, for you will see that
most people consider this a difficulty, which I do not
see, just the reverse. And I assure you, I expect everything
can be arranged so that you will not be compromised in the eyes
of the world; but suppose things came to such a pass that you
had to choose between compromising yourself and deserting her -
in that case I should approve of you if... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(5 or 6 June 1883)
... to be
cheered up if possible.
That it is my opinion that you ought to be faithful to the
woman, you know well enough; there is no question of saying
anything less about it than I did; you must act as you think
right, but don't be angry with Father if he is mistaken.
That is what I wanted to say. Don't even mention that he is
mistaken unless he continues to press the point; perhaps he
will change his mind of his own accord.
Now again about the work: today I asked permission to make
sketches in the old people's asylum, that is, of the men's
ward, of the women's ward and of the garden.
I was there today. From the window I sketched an old
gardener near a twisted apple tree, and the carpenter's shop of
the asylum, where I had tea with two old almshouse men. In the
men's ward I can come as a visitor: it was very striking,
indescribably striking.
One little fellow, for instance, with a long thin neck, in a
wheel chair, was splendid. That carpenter's shop with those... |
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