| | 27 letters relate to business - sales... | Excerpt length: shorter longer | |
| Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(24 March 1882)
... lately, and am busy from
morning till night. First, the little drawings for C.M. They
are finished, and I have sent them to him 1 . I had
hoped he would pay me at once, and since he has not, I am
afraid he will forget it, and when will he send it now??? I
continue to make such little views of the city almost every
day, and have the knack now.
I wish Tersteeg or others who pretend to be friendly or to
want to help me would ask for things that I can make,
instead of asking for impossible things which discourage
instead of encourage me. Enfin, que soit. But I had expected
C.M. to pay me at once. The drawings were certainly no worse
than the specimen which he saw, and I had trouble enough making
them, perhaps more than 30 guilders' worth. If people
understood that nothing is nothing, and that days
without a penny in my pocket are very hard and difficult, I
think they would not begrudge me the little money I get from
you which keeps me afloat in these hard times,... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(14 May 1882)
... said something about conventions, I
believe. I have done twelve drawings for C. M. for 30 guilders,
that is 2.50 guilders apiece; it was a difficult job, there was
more than 30 guilders' worth of work in it, and I don't deserve
having to consider it charity, or something like it.
I had already put a lot of effort into the six others. I had
made the studies for them - and there it stopped. The effort
over the new ones has already been made, so it is not
laziness; but I am paralyzed.
I reason with myself, I won't pay any attention to it. But
I'm nervous and such a thing does not go away, but comes back
when I try my hand at them again; so then I must steer another
course and begin another work.
I don't understand Mauve - it would have been kinder of him
never to have meddled with me. What do you advise me to do -
make the drawings for C. M. or not? I really don't know
what to do.
There used to be better feeling among painters; now they try
to devour... | Letters from Reverend Van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(1882)
... pulse is calm, and he is quite normal. He
nurses grievances against Uncle Cor because he has not been
very enthusiastic about his drawings. Van Rappard, who had seen
them, had called them good. This Van Rappard remains faithful
to him; he has written Vincent again to encourage him.
[…] I hope that there could not be any danger in that
so-called model, could there?
[…] He always remains strange, and my expectations
are not great; if only he does not go down more and more, and
if only he does not throw himself away on an unworthy
creature…Don't say I am too suspicious; I say these
things to no one but you, and you will understand only too well
what I fear. He has always had a pechant for people of lower
classes, and out of sheer cussedness and a feeling of
loneliness a man might get entangled in the wrong sort of
ties.
Reverend Van Gogh to Theo.
28 November 1882
Cor is enjoying much friendship from the Carp family in
Helmond, one... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(3 June 1882)
... but it will come by and by.
I have had news from C. M. in the form of a postal order for
20 guilders but without one written word. So I do not know as
yet whether he will give me a new order, or whether the
drawings are to his liking. But in comparison with the price
paid for the first one, 30 guilders, and taking into
consideration that this last parcel (the first contained 12
little ones, this one contained one small one; 4 like those I
am now sending you; 2 large ones; so 7 pieces in all) was more
important than the first, it seems to me that C. M. was not in
a good mood when he received them, or that for some reason or
other they did not please him. I will readily admit that to an
eye that is accustomed to watercolours exclusively, there might
be something crude in drawings in which one has scratched with
a pen and lights have been rubbed out or put in again with
body-colour. But there are people who are not afraid of that
crudeness, just as there are people who think it sometimes
... | Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Anthon van Rappard
(4 or 5 June 1882)
... guilders you were so kind
as to lend me. I got a letter about my drawings, but received
even less than I expected, although I did not expect more than
30 guilders for the seven sheets. I received 20 guilders with a
scolding in the bargain: did I happen to think that such
drawings had the slightest commercial value?
I think you will admit that times are not easy, and such
experiences (and there are so many worse things - compared with
other kinds of treatment, this may be called generous) - and
such experiences, I say, are not exactly very encouraging.
Art is jealous, and demands our whole strength; and then,
when one devotes all one's powers to it, to be looked upon as a
kind of unpractical fellow and all kinds of other things - yes,
that leaves a bitter taste in one's mouth.
Oh well, we must try to carry on.
I answered him that I did not pretend to be acquainted with
the commercial value of things - that since he as a merchant
told me there was no commercial value... |
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