Relevant paintings: "White horse," Vincent van Gogh [Enlarge]
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Dear Theo,
I must tell you that this evening Van der Weele came to see
my drawings. His opinion was favourable, and I am very glad of
it.
Do you know what I have done - in regard to the necessity of
earning some money if possible? I have sent small sketches of
both compositions to C. M. I wish this may perhaps result in
his helping to carry out my plan of making a series of drawings
of the work in the dunes.
Then I thought that perhaps these drawings would be
something for Cottier. I imagine they would look well, placed
in the panels of a large cabinet over a mantelpiece, in a
wainscot - in short, framed in woodwork as they do in England,
and elsewhere too. But you know how it is with Cottier, when
there is a certain degree of style in a drawing he likes it
well enough, but alas, he generally pays little. Still, I
believe he is one of those who would care for them; and
besides, he could display the drawings favourably.
Then, couldn't you show the sketches to our friend
Wisselingh, and tell him I think they would look well framed in
woodwork? At all events, urge him to visit my studio, if
perchance he might come to The Hague. For if he might find them
suitable for such a purpose, I could perhaps make an
arrangement with him for more of them; and if I knew he cared
for them, I could perhaps make them even more suitable for that
purpose by trying to give them a decidedly decorative
character.
This morning I was already out-of-doors at four o'clock. I
intend to attack the dustmen, or rather the attack has already
begun. This drawing requires studies of horses, and I made two
of them today, in the stables of the Rhine railway station: and
probably I shall get an old horse at the refuse dump. That
refuse dump is a splendid thing, but very complicated and
difficult, and it will cost me a lot of hard work. I made a few
sketches very early in the morning: the one that gives a vista
of a brilliant little spot of fresh green will ultimately be
the one, I think.
It is somewhat like the scratch I made here; everything,
even the women in the foreground and the white horses in the
background, must stand out in chiaroscuro against the little
bit of green, with a streak of sky above it. So that all those
gloomy sheds, gliding away, one after the other, and all that
dirt and those grey figures are in contrast to something pure
and fresh.
A group of women and a horse form the lighter part in the
tone of the chiaroscuro, and the dustmen and the dung heaps,
the darker.
In the foreground, all kinds of broken and discarded
objects, bits of old baskets, a rusty street lamp, broken pots,
etc.
So many ideas and such an desire to make new ones arose in
me while making these first two drawings, that I do not know
where to start, but I am definitely going to stick to the ash
dump now.
Well, Theo, we must keep good courage and try to work on
energetically. We may be hard up sometimes and not know how to
make both ends meet, but that does not matter and cannot be
avoided; he who perseveres often conquers.
And just now when it is doubly difficult for you to send the
money, there is perhaps a real chance to sell something: if
only you were here! I also thought, if he did not stick to his
idea of not having anything to do with me, Tersteeg might
perhaps have some use for these compositions on a smaller
scale, for instance, in sepia. If only you were here, you might
perhaps make some arrangement with him. I certainly do not
refuse to take the trouble to make things, but as long as
things are not right with Tersteeg and C. M. and I have no
source of income whatever except the money from you, do your
utmost, for I think everything depends on my working
energetically just now.
Though I have hardly any money left, I have already made
arrangements with the models for this new drawing, and with
what is left for the moment I will perhaps get a Scheveningen
bonnet and cape today. If I can get hold of that patched cape,
boy, I have my woman's figure for the first plane of the
drawing of the dustmen - I am sure of it; and it is a start to
making other figures of women for Scheveningen drawings.
[Unfinished.]
At this time, Vincent was 30 year oldSource: Vincent van Gogh. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Written 4 or 5 June 1883 in The Hague. Translated by Mrs. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, edited by Robert Harrison, number 289. URL: https://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/12/289.htm.
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