Theo, of late I have been unable to refrain from turning my
thoughts to a few things. “Coming events cast their
shadows before,” and “We know not what a day may
bring forth,” as the English say. Enough, I myself have a
presentiment that it will come to pass that you will leave
Goupil & Co. because G. & Co. is unsupportably
arrogant, and will do mean things, and in a word, they will do
their utmost to make staying on impossible for you.
At least this is the story of the honest fellow's leaving -
those who could not stay with Goupil & co., however much
they were attached to the firm. Just wait and see how things
turn out, but do not flatter yourself with the belief in
reconciliation. Theo, as for me it is true that I have never
been able to abandon the belief in reconciliation in the
thousand occurrences of life, but my experience tells me - even
if there is every reason to make it up, and if there is much
harm in failing to make it up - yet my experience tells me that
in most cases it does not occur.
So, my dear fellow, it may well happen that one bright
morning in the near future you will find yourself uprooted
after a gale which suddenly assumes a huge violence, and that
you will feel deeply shaken; my dear fellow, a thing like this
is horrible, and may lead to your doubting whether your heart
is in your commercial job.
Then be wise, you, then be sensible, and listen to what I
tell you about the thorny little path of painting, which at
first leads to all sorts of humiliation, etc., but which for
all that will eventually lead to a more lasting victory and a
more definite peace than commerce can ever give.
You and I are brothers, and what is more, friends, and if
misfortune should happen to tighten these ties and knit us
closer together, I should see so many favourable sides to this
that the whole thing would appear to me anything but a
misfortune.
Theo, at times I think that for an artist the utmost poverty
would be bearable (and productive too) if only he were not
alone. I assure you that this presentiment that you will not
stay on at Goupil's has remained with me all the time, since I
wrote you for the first time: “Coming events cast their
shadows before,” notwithstanding the fact that I forced
myself to think, It will not happen; he will stay on. And at
the same time it has become an idée fixe of mine that
you will feel so uprooted, so disoriented, so
defeated that as for standing behind another counter you
will simply say, “I can't do it,” “It would
certainly be a failure,” “I am no longer fit to be
a dealer,” “It was possible at Goupil's, as I had
been there from my youth onward, but now I'll have done with
it.” There, my presentiment tells me that this is
approximately how you feel at heart.
In this case I see nothing reckless, nothing unpractical,
nothing foolish in our wanting to feel our energy, to feel
ourselves. Let our love of art inspire us with a foi de
charbonnier, inspire us to say what others have said before us,
and will say after us, namely, Though circumstances may be
ominous, and though we may be very poor, and so on, yet we
have one thing to cling to tenaciously - painting, of
course.
Certainly I feel a great deal of what you say. Namely that
in the interest of so many things you feel in your heart the
inclination to throw yourself into business again, not
primarily for your own pleasure but for the welfare of
others.
Dear brother, it is not at all necessary to give up your
endeavours to keep all who belong to our home on their feet. On
the contrary - although until now I did not think I had the
right to put in a word - the present state of affairs induces
me to make the proposal to divide things we are engaged in
among all the people at home, among Father, Mother, Wil and
Marie. And we ourselves should understand one thing thoroughly:
that it is our duty to co-operate, and that because of the
calamity at Goupil & Co. we are faced with a number of
years in which we must “stoop to conquer.”
During these years we must aim at you and me in the end
earning as much money together as you now do all alone. And
although the interval may be something of a “bad
passage” for all of us, we must try to make up for it by
a little cordiality and love between us.
I do not see any good coming of your forcing yourself to
undertake new work against your inclination; on the contrary, I
foresee it would end in all-round failure.
But you must have Foi de charbonnier - and start out
boldly with the idea: Painter.
Well, dear fellow, what I advise you is something quite new.
Foi de charbonnier in art, instead of saying (and to me it is
twaddle), I can't do anything, I am not an artist, do not
attribute qualities to me that I do not possess, and all that
rubbish. I tell you this is a delusion, and now, my dear
fellow, things are so serious, and your future and mine are so
terribly dependent on them that you must not take it amiss if I
tell you a little baldly that the right thing to do under the
circumstances is to undertake painting with the foi de
charbonnier.
And at home they must understand one thing - namely that
whatever we do, you and I will always bear today's purpose in
mind, which is to see things through not only for ourselves but
for all of us. But that the old way is barred to us, and that
we shall have to create a new one, and that what we need is
their silence about it and their not disturbing us - on the
contrary, their coming to our aid if there should be need for
it. Our project ought to be respected at home, and not
frustrated. Look here, old fellow, I cannot speak otherwise. I
have not a moment's rest, because I must not inspire false hope
by saying that the other things will come right.
Perhaps, or rather, assuredly, we were mistaken in not
starting on it sooner, but this mistake is understandable on
account of our education and the influences we were submitted
to; but this is all the more reason to get to work now with a
steadiness and a resolution which I doubt we should have had at
our disposal in our younger days. So it appears to me that we
must concentrate our whole energy on painting with the utmost
singleness of purpose - it being the raft that will take us
safely to shore after the shipwreck - undertaking it in all
cheerfulness.
Adieu, old fellow, with a cordial handshake,
Yours sincerely, Vincent
At this time, Vincent was 30 year oldSource: Vincent van Gogh. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Written c. 3 November 1883 in Drenthe. Translated by Mrs. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, edited by Robert Harrison, number . URL: https://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/13/339b.htm.
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