van Gogh's letters - unabridged and annotated
 
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18721891

 27 letters relate to business - sales...Excerpt length: shorter longer  
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...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
(2 July 1882)
... a large scale and once on a smaller one . C. M. has those two and they were the ones Rappard was pleased with, especially the large one. I should like you to have a look at them if you happen to be at C. M.'s, for I should like to know what you think, especially of the larger one. When are you coming? I look forward to seeing you very much. Well, brother, you are to blame for my being so happy today that it made me cry. Thanks for everything, my dear fellow, and believe me, with a handshake in my thoughts, Ever yours, Vincent ...

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