Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (1 December 1883) ... this, or it is a misunderstanding.
But know this, brother,
that I am absolutely cut off from the outer world - except from you - so that it made me
crazy when your letter did not come at the moment when, far
from “being well off,” I was very hard pressed,
though I did not mention it, because I feel I am rather
above the cares that gnaw at my heart, which torture I can
perhaps explain, but do not consider merited.
Regarding “I should not want to thrive if another were
the loser by it,” I hope this, the real
meaning of what you took for an ultimatum, will always remain
my conviction, either in prosperity or in “agony.”
Your conclusion of my “being well off” was rather
fatuous, or rash I think, though the fault must have lain in my
way of expressing it, but certainly not in my mood.
I will tell you once more that, since I have been here, I
have had to put my material in...
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
...
