Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (2 May 1882) ... the drawings being mounted on cardboard.
With regard to this one I hammered it off in a single day,
having studied the same spot and trees for “The
Roots.” So it has been done “tout d'un trait”
out of doors, and has not even been in my studio.
But the paper has been slightly damaged in 2 or 3 places, as
I worked through it; please have this seen to at once, else it
might get worse. I think it wants a grey mount. Good bye, I
hope to hear from you at your earliest convenience.
Vincent
Tuesday evening.
...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 10-12 August 1882) ... sentiment for it, or was unable to do it?
But I have attached great value to drawing and will continue
to do so, because it is the backbone of painting, the skeleton
that supports all the rest. I like it so much, Theo, that it is
only because of the expenses that I shall have to restrain
myself rather than urge myself on. These studies are of medium
size, a little larger than the cover of an ordinary paintbox,
because I do not work inside the cover, but thumbtack the paper
for the study onto a frame which has canvas stretched on it,
and which I can carry easily in my hand. I will draw
larger things before I paint them, or I will make grisailles of
them if I can discover the technique - I will try to find
it.
It becomes too expensive if one is not economical with the
paint; but, boy, it is so delightful to have so many new and
good materials; once more, many, many thanks. I will certainly
try and take care that you never regret it, but have the
satisfaction of seeing...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (3 September 1882) ... no matter
what may be said about it.
I said to myself while I was doing it: don't let me leave
before there is something of the autumnal evening in it,
something mysterious, something important. However - because
this effect doesn't last - I had to paint quickly, putting the
figures in all at once, with a few forceful strokes of a firm
brush. It had struck me how firmly the saplings were rooted in
the ground - I started on them with the brush, but because the
ground was already impasted, brush-strokes simply vanished into
it. Then I squeezed the roots and trunks in from the tube and
modelled them a little with the brush.
Well, they are in there now, springing out of it, standing
strongly rooted in it.
In a way I am glad that I never learned painting. In
all probability I would then have learned to ignore such
effects as this. Now I can say to myself, this is just what I
want. If it is impossible, it is impossible, but I'm going to
try it even though I don't...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (17 September 1882) ... garden, and part of the Geest.
You can see from the enclosed sketch what I want to make -
groups of people who are in action some way or another. But how
difficult it is to bring life and movement into it and to put
the figures in their places, yet separate from each other. It
is that great problem, moutonner: groups of
figures form one whole, but in it the head or shoulders of one
rise above those of another; in the foreground the legs of the
first figures standout strongly, and somewhat higher the skirts
and trousers form a kind of confusion in which the lines are
still quite visible. Then to the right or the left, according
to the point of view, the greater or lesser extension or
shortening of the sides. As to composition, all possible scenes
with figures - either a market or the arrival of a boat, a
group of people in line at the soup kitchen, in the waiting
room of the station, the hospital, the pawnshop... groups
talking in the street or walking around - are based...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 2 or 3 November 1882) ... than, for instance, about the last Salon.
Now what you write about the Vie Moderne, or rather
about the kind of paper that Buhot promised you, - this is
something which interests me very much. Do I understand rightly
that this paper is such that when one makes a drawing on it (I
suppose with autographic ink) this drawing just as it
is, without the intermediary of a second draughtsman or
engraver or lithographer, can be transferred on to a stone, or
a cliché can be made of it, so that an indefinite number
of copies can be pulled? - the latter then being facsimiles of
the original drawing. If this is so, be so kind then as to give
me all information you can pick up about the way in which one
has to work on this paper, and try to get me some of it, so
that I can give it a trial.
If I could have a trial before you come, we might on that
occasion consult about what we can do with it.
