Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (22 June 1882) ... most kindly. I did not answer you before because I
did not know what turn my illness would take, as I did not
recover as quickly as the doctor had expected. I have already
been here more than two weeks, and I have had to pay for the
next two weeks in advance, though perhaps, if everything goes
well, I can leave in eight or ten days; but in that case I
shall get part of my money back. Now this morning I spoke to
the doctor and asked him if there has been some complication
that would make things worse. He said, No - but rest and a
prolonged stay in the hospital were necessary. But I can assure
you that I am longing dreadfully for the sight of something
green and for some fresh air; an experience like this makes one
feel very weak and faint. I have to lie still almost all the
time. I cannot draw, though I tried several times - it makes me
too feverish. I can read, but I haven't any more books. Well,
there will come an end to this sooner or later, so I must have
patience.
Sien...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (4 July 1882) ... are
sitting down for a bite of lunch.
I am feeling pretty good, at least much better than I have
for a long time. Yesterday I met the superintendent of the
hospital, Dr. van Tienhoven, on the street, and told him how I
was getting on, and he said it was all right.
So I hope to be quite well soon.
If I had planned this new house myself with fitting it up as
a studio in mind, I couldn't have done better than the way it
is now. And no other house on this street is like this inside,
though the exteriors all look alike. My being in it is really
the fault of the storm which broke the window of the other
studio; if it hadn't happened, I shouldn't have known anything
about this house.
It was the carpenter who told me about it at the time, and
said, Why don't you go and live next door?
Well, brother, in the midst of all the moving, I hammered
off another drawing, and this time it was a watercolour.[Painting lost] It was
a sketch which had remained unfinished because...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (7 July 1882) ... and that the baby was all
right.
I get tired and exhausted very easily because I had to keep
quiet in bed so long, and it is a queer feeling. But in many
respects I feel well and better than last winter, and I am so
cheerful and grateful for many things.
I hope you will soon find a half hour to write me whether
you approve of my telling Father and Mother in that way. First
Sien must get a little stronger, for she must not be upset or
anxious about anything at present, most decidedly not - but in
a month or six weeks, depending on how her recovery
progresses.
She saw Father when he visited me, for it was visiting hour
and she was siting in the hall downstairs waiting; but of
course Father did not know her.
It is already late, and I want to get up early tomorrow
morning and go out with my drawing materials as if nothing had
happened between now and the last time I sat in the dunes at
Scheveningen. I wish I could succeed in making something for
Rappard.
...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (14 August 1882) ... the future
will look more attractive.
Neither do I believe that it will hinder me if my health
should give way a little from time to time. As far as I can
see, the painters who occasionally cannot work for a week or
two are not the worst ones. It may be because they are the ones
“qui y mettent leur peau,” as father Millet says.
That doesn't matter, and in my opinion one must not spare
oneself when there is something important to do. If a short
period of exhaustion follows, it will soon pass, and so much is
gained that one harvests one's studies just the way a farmer
harvests his crops. Now for myself, I have not yet thought of
taking a rest. Only yesterday, Sunday, I did not do so much -
at least I did not go out to paint. I will see to it that even
if you come this winter, you will find the studio full of
painted studies.
I had a letter from Rappard yesterday; he has been to
Drenthe, and judging from the two little sketches he sent me,
he has not been idle....
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (19 August 1882) ... a few souvenirs home after
all.
But another souvenir is that I caught cold again, with all
the consequences you know of, which now forces me to stay home
for a few days.
In the meantime, I have painted a few studies of the figure
- I'm sending you two sketches.
Painting the figure appeals to me very much, but it must
ripen - I must get to know the technique better - what is
sometimes called “la cuisine de l'art.” In the
beginning I shall have to do much scraping, and shall often
have to begin anew, but I feel that I learn from it and that it
gives me a new, fresh view of things.
