Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Anthon van Rappard (2nd half June 1885) ... this as far as certain
others are concerned. I let people say of me and think of me
whatever they like and treat me just as they like -
that is their business; I am not obligated to listen to their
everlasting drivel. My parents, my teachers, Messrs. Goupil
& Co., and furthermore all kinds of friends and
acquaintances have said so many unpleasant things to me for my
own good and with the best intentions that in the end the
burden has become a little too heavy for me; and since I let
people talk without paying any attention to it, I have not
fallen off, my friend - this much I think I know for
sure.
In reply to your remarks, however, this. It is a fact that
your work is good; but this does not mean, amice, that you are
always right in thinking that there are no other ways and
methods of arriving at something good and sound than yours; I
should like very much to talk things over with you - but please
don't gather from this that it would mean consulting you...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Anthon van Rappard (2nd half June 1885) ... shaken” a second time.
I have had the very same kind of trouble for a great number
of years with a great number of people. When I protested
against it once in a while and said that I didn't deserve it,
things got worse and worse, and they wouldn't listen to another
word about it. My parents and my whole family. Tersteeg, and
along with him a lot of fellows who knew me when I was with
Goupil & Co., went so far in their disapproval of
all my doings that these last years, instead of wasting
any more time on attempts to convince them, I, who have no time
to waste, have simply given them the cold shoulder in my turn -
and let them say, think, do whatever they like without
minding it the least little bit.
This disagreement with you is not exceptional, though
you may think so. You have let yourself be overawed by public
opinion in this. And if you now feel this a little yourself,
and think it over, then I repeat, it is quite a good thing that
...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 11 April 1888) ... have some from here, and the
best at that. Oh! It seems to me more and more that
people are the root of everything, and though it will
always be a melancholy thought that you yourself are not in
real life, I mean, that it's more worth while to work in flesh
and blood itself than in paint or plaster, more worth while to
make children than pictures or carry on business, all the same
you feel that you're alive when you remember that you have
friends who are outside real life as much as you.
But just because it's what people have in their hearts that
matters, and it is at the heart of all business dealings too,
we must make friendships in Holland, or rather revive them.
More especially since, as far as the Impressionists cause is
concerned, there is little fear now that we shall not win.
And because of the victory already almost assured, we must
have good manners, and do everything quietly.
I would have greatly liked to see Marat's
“Incarnation” which...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (23 June 1888) ... be very grateful if
you could send it to me. The carelessness, the lazy
happy-go-lucky ways of the people here are beyond belief; you
have trouble getting the most trifling things. That is why I'll
have to go to Marseilles someday, to get what I want there. The
cost of carriage from Paris is no joke and runs up the price of
things, but to have to run one's errands in Marseilles makes
them even more expensive.
What often vexes me is that painting is like having a bad
mistress who spends and spends and it's never enough, and I
tell myself that even if a tolerable study comes out of it from
time to time, it would have been much cheaper to buy it from
somebody else.
The other thing, the hope of doing better, is rather a fata
morgana too. But there is no quick remedy for all this, unless
sometime or another you can join hands with a good worker, and
produce more together.
As for the publisher of Cassagne's book - surely you have
his treatise on perspective, and the address...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (3 February 1889) ... etc., that we are producing something.
As for the little yellow house, when I paid my rent the
landlord's agent was very kind and behaved like an
Arlésien, treating me as an equal.
So I told him that I had no need of a lease, nor of a
written assurance of preference, and that in the event of my
being ill payment would only be made by friendly
arrangement.
People here have their hearts in the right place and the
spoken word is more binding than the written word.
