Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 20 January 1885) ... will go down as fast as it has
risen.
I've hardly ever begun a year with a gloomier aspect, in a
gloomier mood, and I do not expect any future of success, but a
future of strife.
It is dreary outside, the fields a mass of lumps of black
earth and some snow, with mostly days of mist and mire in
between, the red sun in the evening and in the morning, crows,
withered grass, and faded, rotting green, black shrubs, and the
branches of the poplars and willows rigid, like wire, against
the dismal sky. This is what I see in passing, and it is quite
in harmony with the interiors, very gloomy, these dark winter
days.
It is also in harmony with the physiognomy of the peasants
and weavers. I don't hear the latter complain, but they have a
hard time of it. A weaver who works steadily, weaves, say, a
piece of sixty yards a week. While he weaves, a woman must
spool for him, that is, supply the shuttles with yarn, so there
are two who work and have to live on it.
On...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (1 September 1888) ... have a very long lease on our
hands.
My heart often despairs when I think of what Gauguin will
say about the country in the end. The isolation of this place
is pretty serious, and all the time you have to hack each step
in the ice as you go from one day's work to the next. Then
there is the difficulty with the models, but patience and above
all a few pennies ready in your pocket will naturally get you
somewhere. But it is a real difficulty.
I feel that even so late in the day I could be a very
different painter if I were capable of getting my own way with
the models, but I also feel the possibility of going to seed
and of seeing the day of one's capacity for artistic creation
pass, just as a man loses his virility in the course of his
life.
That is inevitable, and naturally in this as in the other,
the one thing to do is to be of good heart and strike while the
iron is hot.
And I often get downhearted. But Gauguin and so many others
are in exactly the...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (7 or 8 September 1889) ... used to
when I was with G. & Cie.
Life passes in this way, time does not return, but I am
working furiously for the very reason that I know that
opportunities for work do not recur.
Especially in my case, where a more violent attack could
destroy my ability to paint for good.
Lettre de Vincent van Gogh à Theo van Gogh (c. 10 July 1890) ... moi réellement comme un évangile,
une délivrance d'angoisse,
que m'avaient causée les heures un peu difficiles et laborieuses
pour nous tous, que j'ai partagées avec vous. C’est pas peu de chose
lorsque tous ensemble nous sentons le pain
quotidien en danger, pas peu de chose lorsque pour d'autres causes
que celle-là aussi nous sentons notre existence
fragile.
Revenu ici, je me suis senti moi aussi encore bien attristé
et avais continué à sentir peser sur moi aussi l'orage, qui vous menace.
Qu'y faire - voyez-vous, je cherche d'habitude à être
de bonne humeur assez, mais ma vie à moi aussi est attaquée à
la racine même, mon pas aussi est chancelant.
J'ai craint - pas tout à fait, mais un peu pourtant -
que je vous étais redoutable étant à votre charge -
mais la lettre de Jo me prouve clairement que vous sentez bien,
que pour ma part je suis en travail et peine comme
...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 10 July 1890) ... from Jo has really been like a gospel for me, a
deliverance from the distress caused by the hours I shared with
you, which were a bit difficult and trying for us all. [Earlier
in the month Vincent had gone on his last visit to Paris.] It
is no slight matter when we are all made aware that our daily
bread is at risk, no slight matter when for different reasons
we are also made aware of the precariousness of our
existence.
Back here, I, too, still felt very sad, and the storm which
threatens you continued to weigh heavily on me as well. What is
to be done? Look here, I try to be fairly good-humoured in
general, but my life too is threatened at its very root, and my
step is unsteady too.
I was afraid - not entirely - but nevertheless a little -
that my being a burden on you was something you found
intolerable - but Jo's letter proves to me clearly that you do
realize that I am working and making an effort just as much as
you are.
So - having arrived back here,...
