 |
"When I was standing in the pulpit, I felt like somebody who, emerging from a dark cave underground, comes back to the friendly daylight."
Vincent van Gogh |
 |
Letter |
Keywords |
Excerpt / Full Text |
Link to Painting(s) Mentioned in Letter |
| 1
The Hague | Oisterwijk, Haanebeek, Roos | We have had some enjoyable days together . . . . | --- |
| 2
The Hague | Brussels, Oisterwijk, Roos | I am so glad that both of us are now to be in the same profession and in the same firm. We must be sure to write to each other regularly. | --- |
| 3
The Hague | Mr. Schmidt, Album Corot, lithographs by Emile Vernier , Eduard | What happy days we spent together at Christmas! I think of them so often. | --- |
| 4
The Hague | Uncle Hein, Uncle Cor, Trippenhuis, Cluysenaer, Rotta, Corot | Don't lose heart if it is very difficult at times, everything will come out all right and nobody can in the beginning do as he wishes. | --- |
| 5
The Hague | Uncle Hein, Helvoirt, Anna, Goupil, Haanebeek, Aunt Fie, Willem, Mr. Schmidt, Eduard | Be sure to tell me more about the pictures you see. | --- |
| 6
The Hague | Schotel | Full Text | --- |
| 7
The Hague | --- | Full Text | --- |
| 8
The Hague | Mrs. Tersteeg | Theo, you have no idea how kind everybody here is to me, and you can imagine how sorry I am to have to leave so many friends. | --- |
| 9
London | Tilburg, Mr. Obach, Boxhill, Louvre, Luxembourg, Place de l'Opera, Uncle Hein, Mr. Schmidt, Eduard | The country is beautiful here, quite different from Holland or Belgium. | --- |
| 10
London | Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Obach, Linder, Millais, Boughton, Constable, Diaz, Daubigny, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Turner, Tissot, Otto Weber, Heilbuth, Wauters, Lagye, De Braekeleer, Scheveningen, Maris, George Saal, Jundt, Zeim, Mauve, Weissenbruch | At first English art did not appeal to me; one must get used to it. | --- |
| 11
London | Weissenbruch, Alb. and Julien de Vriendt, Cluysenaer, Wauters, Coosemans, Gabriel, De Schampheleer, Terlinden, "Satan Possessing the Herd of Swine at the Lake of Gadarena", Prinsep, Millet | One Saturday some time ago, I went boating on the Thames, in the company of two Englishmen. It was glorious. | --- |
| 12
London | Goupil, Brochart, Ingres, Iterson, Somerhill, Roos, Tersteeg | Go to the museum as often as you can; it is a good thing to know the old painters also. If you have the chance, read about art . . . . | --- |
| 13
London | Tersteeg, Millet, Jules Breton, Émile Breton | The following are some of the painters whom I like especially: Scheffer, Delaroche, Hébert, Hamon, Leys, Tissot . . . . . . . | --- |
| 14
London | Van Vloten, Burger, Uncle Cor, Roos, Anna Carbentus, Bertha Haanebeek, Mr. Jacobson, Willem, Iterson | Full Text | --- |
| 15
London | Mauve, Jet Carbentus, Burger, Apol, The Gazette de Beaux-Arts, Iterson, Uncle Cor | . . . you should devour books on art as much as possible . . . . | --- |
| 16
London | Jacquet, Van Gorkom, Mauve, Jet, Tersteeg, Haanebeek, Vink, Carbentus, Uncle Pompe, Kampen, Mr. Bakhuyzen | He that sincerely loves nature, finds pleasure everywhere. | --- |
| 17
London | Jacquet, Boldini, Royal Academy, Tissot, Haanebeek, César de Cock | Lately I took up drawing again, but it did not amount to much. | --- |
| 18
Helvoirt | Forbes, Scheldt, Cap | Full Text | --- |
| 19
London | J. Maris, "Der Wirthin Töchterlein", Thijs Maris, Tersteeg, Schüller, Anna, Michelet | I am learning to swim. | --- |
| 20
London | Michelet, Thijs Maris, Tersteeg, Obach, Boughton, Maris, Jacquet | Since my return to England my love for drawing has stopped, but perhaps I will take it up again some day or other. | --- |
| 21
London | Michelet, "Margaret at the Fountain", Ary Scheffer, Tissot, Alphonse Karr's Voyage autour de mon jardin, Anna | "Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man." | --- |
| 22
London | Jules Breton, Jules Dupré, Michel, Daubigny, Maris, Israëls, Mauve, Bisschop, Rembrandt, Ruysdael, Frans Hals, Van Dijck, Rubens, Titian, Tintoretto, Reynolds, Romney, Crome | There is a beautiful exhibition of old art here . . . . | --- |
| 23
London | "Adam Bede", Michel, Michelet, Corot | Don't regret that your life is too easy, mine is rather easy too . . . . | --- |
| 24
London | Heine, Thijs Maris, J. Maris, "La Falaise", Victor Hugo | Full Text | --- |
| 25
London | Streatham Common, Edmond Roche, Corot | Full Text | --- |
| 26
London | Tersteeg, Crystal Palace | I hope and trust that I am not what many people think I am just now. | --- |
| 27
Paris | Corot, L'Illustration or Le Monde Illustre, Louvre, Luxembourg, Ruysdael, Rembrandt, J. Maris, Jules Breton | Of course I have also been to the Louvre and the Luxembourg. | --- |
| 28
Paris | De Champagne, Michelet, Daubigny, Ruysdael, Jacque | It is one of those things that, as time goes by, we "are sorrowful but always rejoicing "; that is what we have to learn. | --- |
| 29
Paris | Van der Maaten, Anker, Uncle Vincent, Jacque, Millet, Hôtel Drouot, Gréville, Luxembourg | Full Text | --- |
| 30
Paris | Ruysdael. Rembrandt, Ph. De Champagne, Corot, Bodmer, Bonington , Troyon , Jules Dupré, Maris, Millet , V. D. Maaten, Daubigny, Charlet, Ed. Frère | I'll tell you what prints I have on the wall . . . . | --- |
| 31
Paris | Uncle Vincent, Gleyre, Sainte-Beuve, Musset, Rückert, Ph. de Champaigne, Louvre, Meissonier | Father wrote to me once: "You know that the same mouth which said: "Be as harmless as the doves," and straight away added: "and wise as a serpent." [Matt. 10:16] Keep that in mind . . . . | --- |
| 32
Paris | De Nittis, Rückert, De Musset | I used to pass Westminster Bridge every morning and every evening, and I know how it looks when the sun sets behind Westminster Abbey and the House of Parliament, and how it looks early in the morning, and in winter in snow and fog. | --- |
| 33
Paris | Corot, Soek, Dr. Bercier, Reverend Mr. Zubli, N. Maes, Hamon, Fronçois , Ruyperez, Bosboom, Rembrandt, Troyon, Mr. and Mrs. Tersteeg, Mauve, Van Stockum, Haanebeek, Aunt Fie, Roos | You should go to church every Sunday if you have the time; even if the preaching is not good, it is better to go; you will not regret it.
And now, be as happy as you can; do well and don't look back if you can help it. | --- |
| 34
Paris | Rückert, M. Bercier, Tersteeg, Hamman | Fear God and keep his commandments, for this will give pleasure for all men, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. | --- |
| 35
Paris | Uncle Jan, Rembrandt, Bonington, Jules Breton, Corot, Pynas, Diaz, Van Ostade, Van Stockum, Haanebeek, Carbentus, Borchers, Kraft, Marda, Roos, Weeshuizen | This morning I received from Father and from you the news of the death of Uncle Jan . . . . | --- |
| 36
Paris | Michel, Adam Bede, Bonington, Uncle Cor, Tersteeg | Full Text | --- |
| 37
Paris | Rembrandt, Uncle Vincent, Uncle Cor, Six | By prayer and the fruit of prayer - patience and faith - and from the Bible that was a light on his path and a lamp ahead of his feet. | --- |
| 38
Paris | Uncle Vincent, Roos | A feeling, even a keen one for the beauties of Nature is not the same as a religious feeling, though I think these two stand in close relation to one another. | --- |
| 39
Paris | Michelet, 2 Cor. v.17, Tersteeg | I am going to destroy all my books by Michelet, etc. I wish you would do the same. | --- |
| 39a
Paris | --- | Don't take things that don't really concern you very closely too much to heart, and don't let them hit you too hard. | --- |
| 39b
Paris | --- | My brother, let us be prudent; let us ask of Him Who is on high, Who also prayeth for us, that He take us not away from the world, but that he preserve us from evil. My brother, let us be prudent; let us ask of Him Who is on high, Who also prayeth for us, that He take us not away from the world, but that he preserve us from evil. | --- |
| 40
Paris | Michel, Scheffer, Corot, Rembrandt, Jules Breton | I know quite well that your life is not easy just now, boy, but stay firm and keep up your courage: it is sometimes necessary "not to dream, not to sigh". | --- |
| 41
Paris | Jules Dupré, Carolien Van Stockum | I already have the Psalms. There are some very beautiful English hymns, for instance . . . . | --- |
| 42
Paris | Breton, Brion, Bernier, Cabat, Émile Breton, Bodmer, Millet, Daubigny, François, Gleyre, Hébert, Rosa Bonheur, Michelet, Renan, by Ph. De Champaigne, Erckmann-Chatrian, Tersteeg | Learn to distinguish for yourself between what is relatively good and evil, and let that feeling show you the way under God's guidance, for boy, we need God's guidance so much. | --- |
| 43
Paris | Luxembourg, Louvre, Icarus | Look for light and freedom and do not ponder too deeply over the evil in life. | --- |
| 44
Paris | Uncle Vincent | Full Text | --- |
| 45
Paris | Uncle Haanebeek, Annette | Has Father written you what he confided in me: "Keep your heart against all attention, because the heart is an open door to life"? | --- |
| 46
Paris | Anna, Gladwell | I have taken to smoking a pipe again and I enjoy it as of old. | --- |
| 47
Paris | Gladwell, Jules Breton, Uncle Jan | Full Text | --- |
| 48
Paris | Jules Breton, Roos, Émile Breton, Uncle Vincent | Everything is covered with snow, and little black figures are going to church. | --- |
| 49
Paris | Jules Breton, Heine, d'Uhland, Erckmann-Chatrian, L'Ami Fritz, Brion's Les Adieux, Willem Valkis, Van Iterson, Schreyer, Jacque | Old son, you know although I fear not in the least to preach or to lecture you, because I know only you are, in your soul, like me, this is why I talk seriously with you from time to time. | --- |
| 50
Paris | Boussod, Tersteeg | . . . I strive not to lose either my hope or my courage. | --- |
| 51
Paris | Felix Holt, Tersteeg, Mauve, Jules Dupré, Bodmer, Jacque, Cabat, Ruysdael, Longfellow, Andersen's Fairy Tales, Longfellow's Evangeline, Miles Standish, King Robert of Sicily, Roos, Borchers | Full Text | --- |
| 52
Paris | Gladwell, Roos, Tersteeg | We feel lonely now and then and long for friends . . . . | --- |
| 53
Paris | Andersen's Stories of the Moon, Uncle Vincent, Obach | Full Text | --- |
| 54
Paris | Andersen, Roos, Tersteeg | Yesterday, I went to an Anglican church; I was very happy to assist again in an Anglican service . . . . | --- |
| 55
Paris | Andersen, Longfellow, Gladwell, "Hyperion", Eliot | Full Text | --- |
| 56
Paris | Mauve, Gladwell, Longfellow, Kenelm Chillingly, Bulwer-Lytton | And now à Dieu, a pleasant journey (enjoy yourself and see many beautiful things) . . . . | --- |
| 57
Paris | Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn, Gladwell, Gabriel, Xavier de Cocks | Though love of nature is not everything, it is still a precious possession; may we keep it always. | --- |
| 58
Paris | Michel, Jules Dupré, Durand Ruel, Millet, Corot, "The Angelus", Roos, Tersteeg | Just one word more, probably the last I shall write from Paris. | --- |
| 59
Paris | Ramsgate, Uncle Hein, Rembrandt, Michel, Liesbeth, Gladwell, Chauvel | Full Text | --- |
| 61
Ramsgate | Stokes | By and by I shall go and unpack my trunks, which have just been delivered, and I am going to hang some prints in my room. | --- |
| 62
Ramsgate | Anna, Stokes, Roos | We often go to the beach; this morning I helped the boys make a sandcastle, like we used to make in the garden at Zundert. | --- |
| 63
Ramsgate | Stokes, Willem Valkis | Many happy returns, my best wishes for this day, may our mutual love increase with the years. | --- |
| 64
Ramsgate | Stokes, Willems, Mauve | One of these days you will receive some English hymnbooks; I shall mark a few poems in them. There are so many beautiful ones, and especially when heard often, one grows so fond of them. | --- |
| 65
Ramsgate | Uncle Cor, Tersteeg | Honestly, I have had some happy hours here, yet I don't have plain and complete confidence in this happiness, in this peace. | --- |
| 66
Ramsgate | Moody, Sankey, Eliot, Sadée, Willemien, Reid, Lies, Cor | It is touching to see the thousands of people listening to the evangelists. | --- |
| 67
Ramsgate | Albrecht Dürer, Stokes, Uncle Jan, Borchers, Willem Valkis, Roos | Full Text | --- |
| 68
Ramsgate | Van Iterson, Goupil, Carolien, Gladwell | Full Text | --- |
| 69
Welwyn | Canterbury, Chatham, Roads, Stokes, Reid, Gladwell | I earn all in all eight pounds per year. | --- |
| 70
Isleworth | Stokes, Goupil, Hampton Court, Rembrandt, Bellini, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Mantegna, S. Ruysdael, Cuyp, Charles I, Bossuet, Lord and Lady Russell, Guizot | . . . I see a light in the distance so clearly; if that light disappears now and then, it is generally my own fault. | --- |
| 71
Isleworth | "Christus Consolator", "Remunerator", Hille, Mauve, Tersteeg, Roos | You are more simple-hearted than I am, and probably you will reach your goal quicker and to a greater extent. | --- |
| 72
Isleworth | Anna, Elizabeth, Jones, Elijah, Elisha, Stokes, Bercier, Ruysdael, Constable, Roos | I had decorated the boys' dining room with a "Welcome Home" on the wall of holly and ivy, and large bouquets on the table. | --- |
| 73
Isleworth | Gladwell, A Life for a Life, John Halifax, Mauve, Soek, Eliot, Scenes from Clerical Life, Felix Holt | [Gladwell's] young sister, so full of life, with dark eyes and hair, had fallen from a horse at Blackheath; they found her unconscious and she died five hours later, without regaining consciousness. She was seventeen years old. | --- |
| 74
Isleworth | Tersteeg, Theogenes, Erckmann-Chartrian, Jean Paul, Andersen's Fairy Tales, Longfellow, Boughton, "The Pilgrim's Progress" | I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.
I think the Lord has taken me as I am, with all my faults, though I am still hoping for more profound acceptance. | --- |
| 75
Isleworth | Van Iterson, Artz, The Wide, Wide World, Uncle Jan, Gladwell | You also have a beautiful life before you, Theo, keep courage.
O Zundert! Memories of you are sometimes almost overpowering. | --- |
| 76
Isleworth | Jones, Wallis, Père Lachaise, Wisselingh, Gladwell, Roos, Tersteeg | The suburbs of London have a peculiar charm, between the little houses and gardens are open spots covered with grass and generally with a church or school or workhouse in the middle between the trees and shrubs, and it can be so beautiful there, when the sun is setting red in the thin evening mist. | --- |
| 77
Isleworth | Jones, Andersen's "The Snow Queen", Stokes, De Genestet | And I shall have to buy a pair of new boots to get myself ready for new wanderings. | --- |
| 78
Isleworth | Jones, Holbein | I am so glad Christmas comes in winter – that's why I like winter best of all the seasons. | --- |
| 79
Isleworth | --- | When I was standing in the pulpit, I felt like somebody who, emerging from a dark cave underground, comes back to the friendly daylight. | --- |
| 80
Isleworth | Imitation of Christ, Andersen | Theo, I shall be unlucky if I cannot preach the Gospel, if my lot is not to preach, if I have not given all my hopes and all my trust to Christ. Well, misery is truly my lot, while what I need now is a little courage in spite of everything. | --- |
| 82
Isleworth | Heike, Sprundel, Hoeve, Uncle Jan, Mrs. Loyer, Mr. Obach, Boughton, Gladwell, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress | Shall we also go together like that to some church someday, being sorrowful yet always rejoicing, with an eternal joy in our hearts because we are the poor in the Kingdom of God? God grant it. | --- |
| 82a
Isleworth | Mr. Provily, Michelet, Roos, Haanebeek, Tersteeg, Borchers, Carolien, Marie | For myself, I will strive after the Love of Christ and after working for Him all my life . . . . | --- |
| 83
Etten | Mr. Braat, Uncle Vincent, Prinsenhage, Willem Carbentus | I just entered for a minute the Catholic church where evening service was being held. It was a beautiful sight, all those peasants and peasant women in their black dresses and white caps, and the church looked so cheerful in the evening light. | --- |
| 84
Dordrecht | Eliot, Scenes from a Clerical Life, Jones, Christus Consolator , Achenbach, Schelfhout, Koekkoek, Allebé, Reverend Mr. Beversen, Dickens, Görlitz, Cuyp | This view from my window can be solemn and gloomy, but you should see it in the light of the morning sun. | --- |
| 85
Dordrecht | Adam Bede, Mr. Braat, Tersteeg, Michelet | Father wrote that he had already seen starlings. Do you still remember how they used to perch on the church at Zundert? | --- |
| 86
Dordrecht | Longfellow, Scheffer, Menton | Full Text | --- |
| 87
Dordrecht | Grote Kerk, Nieuwe Kirk, De Genester | Full Text | --- |
| 88
Dordrecht | The Wide, Wide World, Christmas at the Pole, Bungener, Aerssen, Light of the World | Let's not give in, but try to be patient and gentle. And do not mind being eccentric; keep yourself to yourself, and distinguish between good and evil for your own sake even if you do not show it outwardly. | --- |
| 89
Dordrecht | Uncle Cor, Uncle Stricker | What a pleasant day we spent in Amsterdam; I stood watching your train until it was out of sight. We are such old friends already—how many walks have we taken together since the time in Zundert . . . .
If I were only through with this long and difficult study to become a preacher of the Gospel. | --- |
| 90
Dordrecht | Van der Hoop Museum, Doré, Uncle Vincent, Gladwell, Görlitz, Uhland | Full Text | --- |
| 91
Etten | Aerssen, Anna, Béranger, Jan Doome, Mientje, Woutje Prins | Full Text | --- |
| 92
Dordrecht | Uncle Cor | Full Text | --- |
| 93
Dordrecht | Aunt Koos, Braat, Rosenthal, Ruyperez, Reverend Mr. Keller van Hoorn, Görlitz, Mager, ten Broek, Scheffer, De Leur, Gladwell, Taine, Burger, Musées | I will hang the prints you gave me in that little room, and so they will remind me of you daily. | --- |
| 94
Dordrecht | Mr. Keller van Hoorn, Reverend Mr. Greeff, De Plancy, Légendes des Artistes, Rochussen, Rembrandt, Apol, Uncle Jan, Jules Breton, Millet, Jacque, Rembrandt, Bosboom | Much good may be in store for us in the future; let us learn to repeat with Father: "I never despair," and, with Uncle Jan "If black is the devil, it is always better to look him in the eyes." | --- |
| 95
Amsterdam | J. Maris, Mollinger, Jamin, M. Maris, Bosboom, Van der Maaten, Israëls, Allebé, Uncle Cor, Streckfuss's Algemene Geschiedenis, Rembrandt, Miller, Bosboom, Mrs. Tersteeg, Ruysdael, Van Goyen, Mauve, Michelet, Uncle Stricker | Pining for God works like leaven on dough. May it also prove to be true in the story of both our lives. | --- |
| 96
Amsterdam | J. Maris, Zuider Zee, Rembrandt, Ch. Blanc, Michelet, Genestet, Uncle Stricker, Trippenhuis | Do you think we too shall be at the evening of our life before we know it, so to speak? | --- |
| 97
Amsterdam | Zuider Zee, Uncle Jan, Uncle Stricker, Ary Scheffer, Rembrandt, Mrs. Tersteeg, Mauve, Aunt Mina, Uncle Vincent, W. v. Eeklen | Just now the men from the wharf are going home – such an intriguing sight. I hear them already early in the morning; I think there are about 3,000 of them, and the sound of their footsteps is like the roaring of the sea. | --- |
| 98
Amsterdam | Uncle Jan | My head is sometimes heavy and often it burns and my thoughts are confused. | --- |
| 99
Amsterdam | --- | Believe in God; through faith we may become "sorrowful yet always rejoicing" and ever green, and we need not complain when our youth flies with the maturing of our strength. | --- |
| 100
Amsterdam | Theophile Gautier, Lamartine's Cromwell, Lamartine, St. James Park, Uncle Stricker | Full Text | --- |
| 101
Amsterdam | Rembrandt, Thijs Maris, Allebé, Rethel, Buitenkant, Ruysdael, Lamennais, Van Der Maaten, Thorwaldsen, Mager, Mrs. Tersteeg, Mauve, Haanebeek, Roos, Mendes | The days fly by. I am four years older than you are, and probably they seem to go more swiftly to me than to you, but I fight against it by stretching them a little in the morning and evening. | --- |
| 101a
Amsterdam | Uncle Stricker, Laurillard, Andersen | The moon is still shining, and the sun and the evening star, which is a good thing – and they also often speak of the Love of God, and make one think of the words: Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. | --- |
| 102
Amsterdam | Mauve, Reverend Mr. Meyes, Mendes, John Halifax, Millais, Trippenhuis, Rembrandt | Once I met the painter Millais on the street in London, just after I had been lucky enough to see several of his paintings. | --- |
| 103
Amsterdam | Mauve, Bosboom, J. Weissenbruch, Kattenburg Bridge, Makassar, Bida, Rembrandt | . . . you are right in associating with good artists – I, too, cling fast to the memory of many of them. | --- |
| 104
Amsterdam | Mauve, Weissenbruch, Meyes, Wassenaar, Uncle Pompe, Uncle Jan, Reverend Mr. Hasebroek, Odysseus, Uncle Stricker, Fénelon, Roos | I was once at Weissenbruch's studio, a few days before I first left for London, and the memory of what I saw there, the studies and pictures, is still as vivid as that f the man himself. | --- |
| 105
Amsterdam | Carolien van Stockum, Der Wirthin Töchterlein, Longfellow, Daubigny, Vos, Kee, Raumer, Télémaque, Jacque | Full Text | --- |
| 106
Amsterdam | Dickens, Rembrandt, Mendes, M. Maris, Ruyperez, Carolien, Hendrik | Then I breakfasted on a piece of dry bread and a glass of beer – that is what Dickens advises for those who are on the point of committing suicide . . . . | --- |
| 107
Amsterdam | Jalabert, Rembrandt, Daudet, Roos, Mauve | Thanks for your letter, which made me happy, as did a cheerful letter from home I received yesterday. | --- |
| 108
Amsterdam | Bossuet's Oraisons Funèbres, Thomas à Kempis, Rembrandt, Doré, De Groux, Gladwell, Trippenhuis, Van der Hoop | . . . one must arm oneself and try to be filled with as much goodness as possible in order to be prepared and be able to resist. As you know, it is no small undertaking, and we do not know the result; but at all events I will try to fight the good fight. | --- |
| 109
Amsterdam | Mendes, Frans Hals, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Bossuet's Oraisons Funebres, Imitation by Thomas a Kempis, Bungener, Esquiros, Lamennais, Souvestre, Lamartine, Bosboom, Gladwell | Would it not be very desirable to know the Bible well and thoroughly and lovingly? | --- |
| 110
Amsterdam | Mendes, Rembrandt, Trippenhuis, Fodor Museum, Dickens, John Halifax, Ruyperez | The time approaches when you will go on your business trip for Messrs. Goupil and Co. . . . . | --- |
| 111
Amsterdam | Esquiros, Life in England, Jules Breton, Mauve, Ary Scheffer, Taalman Kip, Goupil, Guizot, Delaroche, Michelet, Carlyle, and also Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Gladwell, Tersteeg | I should like to read more widely, but I must not; in fact, I need not wish it so much, for all things are in the word of Christ – more perfect and more beautiful than in any other book. | --- |
| 112
Amsterdam | Jules Goupil, Carlyle's French Revolution, Taine, Motley, Mendes, Menzel, L. Steffens, Jacquand, G. Doré, Rembrandt, Frère, Uncle Stricker, Dickens, L'Oeuvre Gravé de Ch. Aubigny, Schalekamp, Brinkman, Israëls, Mauve, Gladwell, Michelet, Gabriel von Max, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Landseer | . . . if I can overcome the difficulties, it will be in all simplicity of heart but also in prayer to God, for I often pray fervently to Him for the wisdom I need. | --- |
| 113
Amsterdam | Mendes, Teixeira de Mattos, Atlas Antiquus, Sprüner Menke, Dickens, DeLemud, Uncle Cor, Aug. Gruson, Histoire des Croisades, Thijs Maris, Michelet, Carlyle, Uncle Hein | May God keep us in health and give us the lucidity, strength and cheerfulness which we need every day. | --- |
| 114
Amsterdam | Michelet, Stieler, Sprüner Menke, Mendes, Landseer, Reverend Mr. Jeremie Meyes, Gruson, Brion, Erckmann-Chatrian, Meyer van Bremen, De Ruyter, Cromwell, Erskine Nicol, A Child's History of England, Dickens, Motley, Wierda, Mr. Braat, Schröder, Tersteeg | Full Text | --- |
| 115
Amsterdam | Reverend Mr. Jeremie Meyes, Uncle Hein, Cours de Dessin Bargue, De Lemud, Braat, Gladwell, Stieler, Mendes, Atlas Antiquus, Sprüner Menke, Bernier, Miss van Bosse, Gruson's Histoire des Croisades, Thijs Maris, J. Maris, Roos, Haanebeek, Stockum | Twilight is falling, and the view of the yard from my window is simply wonderful, with that little avenue of poplars – their slender forms and thin branches stand out so delicately against the grey evening sky . . . . | --- |
| 116
Amsterdam | Galerie Contemporaine, Edouard Frère, Stieler, Seyffardt, Mauve, Gladwell, Bossuet's Oraisons Funèbres, Thomae Kempensis, De Imitatione Christi, Millet, Jules Dupré, Carp, Cours de Dessin Bargue | Yes, a man is evil-minded by nature, but in the battle for life he may rise above it . . . . | --- |
| 116a
Etten | Gladwell, Meissonier, Jules Breton, Ribot's "La Prière", Goupil | Last week it snowed, and Cor had great fun with the sled – and I, too – for I went sledding on the road with him . . . . | --- |
| 117
Amsterdam | Mauve, Rochussen, Valkenburg, Rousseau, Weissenbruch, Jules Breton, Gérôme, Israëls, Millet, Édouard Frère, Parker, Thomas a Kempis, Meissonier, Maris | Uncle Cor then asked me if I should feel no attraction for a beautiful woman or girl. I answered that I would feel more attraction for, and would rather come into contact with, one who was ugly or old or poor or in some way unhappy, but who, through experience and sorrow, had gained a mind and a soul. | --- |
| 118
Amsterdam | Mendes, Uncle Cor, Uncle Stricker, Wierda, Maris, Van Goyen, Ruysdael, Kunstkronyk | After I had seen Father off at the station and watched the train go out of sight, even the smoke of it, I came home to my room and saw Father's chair standing near the little table on which the books and copybooks of the day before were still lying; and though I know that we shall see each other again pretty soon, I cried like a child. | --- |
| 119
Amsterdam | Van Goyen, Rousseau, Corot, Millet, Breton, Chauvel | Even if I fail, I want to leave my mark here and there behind me. | --- |
| 120
Amsterdam | Vos, Kee, Gazette des Beaux Arts, Daubigny, Brion, Ruysdael, George Eliot, Gladwell, Millet, Adam Bede, Silas Marner, Felix Holt, Romola, Scenes from Clerical Life, Adler, Cousin Vrijdag | Uncle told me that Daubigny had died. I freely confess that I was downcast when I heard the news . . . . | --- |
| 121
Amsterdam | Dickens, Michelet, Rembrandt, Breton, Millet, de Groux, Brion, Conscience, Michel, Robinson Crusoe | It is good to love as many things as one can, for therein lies true strength, and those who love much, do much and accomplish much, and whatever is done with love is done well. | --- |
| 122
Amsterdam | Bonington, Édouard Frère, Michelet, Thoré, Gautier, Rembrandt, Soek, Corot, Braat, Mutters | Oh! boy, how I should like to wander with you through the city [Paris]. | --- |
| 123
Etten | Reverend Mr. Jones, Rembrandt, Jules Goupil, Fabritus, Soek, Braat, Ernst | Full Text | --- |
| 124
Etten | Émile Breton | The fields here are so beautiful now; they are reaping the wheat, and the potatoes are getting ripe and their leaves beginning to wither, and the buckwheat is full of beautiful white blossoms. | --- |
| 125
Etten | --- | Full Text | --- |
| 126
Laeken | de Groux, Cooseman, Breughel, St. Paul, Bosboom, Thijs Mans, Albert Dürer, Carlo Dolci, Rembrandt, Corot | How rich art is; if one can only remember what one has seen, one is never without food for thought or truly lonely, never alone. | --- |
| 127
Petit-Wasmes | Brueghel, Thijs Mans, Albrecht Dürer, Bosboom | Here and there one can still see moss-covered roofs, and in the evening a friendly light shines through the small-paned windows. | --- |
| 128
Petit-Wasmes | Mauve, Maris, Bosboom | Write again soon, and when you tell me something about painters, remember that I am still capable of understanding it, though I have not seen any pictures in a long time. | --- |
| 129
Petit-Wasmes | Marcasse, Maris, Israëls, Roos family | Most of the miners are thin and pale from fever; they look tired and emaciated, weather-beaten and aged before their time. | --- |
| 130
Petit-Wasmes | Frans Soek, Rembrandt, Michel, Ruysdael, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Mauve, Mans, Israëls, Meissonier, Legouvé | Full Text | --- |
| 131
Cuesmes | Dickens, Hard Times, Reverend Pietersen, Schelfhout, Hoppenbrouwers, Tersteeg | Often I draw far into the night, to keep some souvenir and to strengthen the thoughts raised involuntarily by the aspect of things here. | --- |
| 132
Cuesmes | Memling | I find it hard to bear this thought and even harder to bear the thought that so much dissention, misery and sorrow between us, and in our home, may have been caused by me. Should that indeed be the case, then I might wish it were granted me not to have much longer to live. | --- |
| 133
Cuesmes | Rembrandt, Millet, Jules Dupré, Delacroix, Millais, Matthijs Maris, Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Dickens, Beecher Stowe, Michelet, Correggio, Bunyan, Ary Scheffer, Sarto, Fabritius, Bida, Souvestre | I am a man of passions., capable of and given to doing more or less outrageous things for which I sometimes feel a little sorry.
Well, that's how it is, can you tell what goes on within by looking at what happens without? There may be a great fire in our soul, but no one ever comes to warm himself by it, all that passers-by can see is a little smoke coming out of the chimney, and they walk on. But I cannot help thinking that the best way of knowing God is to love many things. Do you know what makes the prison disappear? Every deep, genuine affection. Being friends, being brothers, loving, that is what opens the prison, with supreme power, by some magic force. Without these one stays dead. | --- |
| 134
Cuesmes | "Les Travaux des Champs", Millet, Breton, Feyen-Perrin, Brion, Frère, Daubigny, Ruysdael, Boughton, Bargue | If I can only continue to work, somehow or other it will see me right again. | --- |
| 135
Cuesmes | Millet, Exercices au Fusain, Bargue, Tersteeg, Rousseau, Ruysdael, Bosboom, Hébert, Michel, A. Legros | . . . at present I think it is much better to copy some good things than to work without this foundation. | --- |
| 136
Cuesmes | Daubigny, Ruysdael, Rousseau, Bargue's Coeurs de Dessin, Lessore, Hugo, Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné, Rembrandt, Shakespeare, Dickens, Millet, Barbizon, Jules Breton, Titian, Don Quixote, Venice, Arabia, Brittany, Normandy, Picardy, Brie, Méryon, Viollet-le-Duc, Albrecht Dürer, James Tissot, M. Maris, Musee Universel | So you see that I am working away hard, though for the moment it is not yielding particularly gratifying results. But I have every hope that these thorns will bear white blossoms in due course and that these apparently fruitless struggles are nothing but labour pains. First the pain, then the joy.
I earned a few crusts here and there en route in exchange for a picture or a drawing or two I had in my bag. Well, even in these depths of misery I felt my energy revive and I said to myself, I shall get over it somehow, I shall set to work again with my pencil, which I had cast aside in my deep dejection, and I shall draw again, and ever since I have had the feeling that everything has changed for me, and now I am in my stride and my pencil has become slightly more willing and seems to be getting more so by the day. | --- |
| 137
Brussels | Bargue, Holbein, Millet, Ruysdael, Dante, Allongé | But for the moment my aim must be to learn to make some drawings that are presentable and saleable as soon as possible, so that I can begin to earn something directly through my work. | --- |
| 138
Brussels | Roelofs, Bargues, John, Van Rappard, Lavater, Gall, Physiognomy and Phrenology, Millet, Braun, Holbein | It is a hard and difficult struggle to learn to draw well. | --- |
| 139
Brussels | Goupil, Tersteeg, Van Rappard | I must avoid young artists, who do not always reflect on what they do or say. And yet I long very much to find one who, being more advanced than I, could help me progress. | --- |
| 140
Brussels | Balzac's L'histoire des treize, Gavarni, Henri Monnier, Daumier, De Lemud, Henri Pille, Th. Schuler, Ed. Morin, G. Doré, A. Lançon, De Groux, Félicien Rops, Exercices au Fusain, Bargue, Goupil, Horta | I shall make more progress – I feel it, and know it. And I shall also probably learn to make portraits. But the condition is to work hard, "Not a day without a line," as Gavarni said. | --- |
| 142
Brussels | Heyerdahl, Van Rappard, Feyen-Perrin, Ulysse Butin, Alphonse Legros, Breton, Millet, Israëls, Boughton, Millais, Pinwell, du Maurier, Herkomer, Walker, De Groux, Boughton, Bernard Palissy, Tersteeg, Bargue, Viollet-le-Duc, Mauve, Verschuur, Madiol, Roelofs | Many a good painter has not the slightest, or hardly any, idea of what proportions for drawing are, or beautiful lines, or characteristic composition, and thought and poetry. | --- |
| 143
Brussels | Rappard, Smeeton Tilly | You should take into account that it is only a short time since I started drawing, although I made little sketches when I was a boy. | --- |
| 144
Etten | Millet, Mauve, J. Maris, Ruysdael, Van de Velde, J. H. Weissenbruch, Roelofs, Gabriël, Van de Sande Bakhuyzen, Valkenburg, Van Trigt, P. Stortenbeker, Vogel, Mesdag, Ter Meulen, Meunier, Rochussen, Rappard | Full Text | Sower (after Millet): F 830, JH 1 |
| 145
Etten | Roozendaal | Full Text | Barn with Moss-Grown Roof: F 842, JH 5; Landscape with Windmill: F 843, JH 6; Hut: F 875, JH 4 |
| 146
Etten | Rappard, Roozendaal, Cassagne's Traité d'Aquarelle | Full Text | Marsh with Water Lillies: F 845, JH 7; Portrait possibly of Willemien van Gogh: No F. no., JH 11 |
| 147
Etten | Whatman, Harding, Holbein, Bargue | I have tried to draw a few portraits after photographs, and I think this is good practice. | Daughter of Jacob Meyer, The (after Holbein): F 833, JH 13; Portrait of a Man: F 876, JH 14; Edge of a Wood: F 903, JH 12; Portrait possibly of Willemien van Gogh: No F. no., JH 11 |
| 148
Etten | Dr. Van Gent, Exercices au Fusain, Bargue, Shirley, Currer Bell, Jane Eyre, Millet, Broughton, Herkomer, Illusions perdues, Balzac, Le Père Goriot, Rappard, Piet Kaufman | I wish all people had what I am gradually beginning to acquire: the power to read a book in a short time without difficulty, and to keep a strong impression of it. In reading books, as in looking at paintings, one must admire what is beautiful with assurance – without doubt, without hesitation. | --- |
| 149
Etten | Tersteeg, Mauve, De Bock, Millet, Broughton, Corot, Mesdag's Panorama, Burger, Thoré, The Anatomy Lesson, Rembrandt, Weissenbruch, Du Chattel, Neuhuys, Valkenburg, Rochussen, J. Maris, Bosboom | [Mauve] thinks I should start painting now. | Windmills near Dordrecht: F 850, JH 15 |
| 150
Etten | Mauve, Bargue's Exercises au Futain, Rappard | I have learned to measure and to see and to look for the broad outlines, so that, thank God, what seemed utterly impossible to me before is gradually becoming possible now. | Digger: F 855, JH 43; Digger: F 859, JH 29; Digger: F 860, JH 38; Digger: F 860a, JH 42; Farmer Leaning on his Spade: F 861, JH 40; Sower with Hand in Sack: F 862, JH 31; Peasant Sitting by the Fireplace ("Worn Out"): F 863, JH 34; Sower with Basket: F 865, JH 25; Sower: F 866a, JH 27; Man with Winnow: F 891, JH 24; Pollard Willow: F 995, JH 56; Woman Peeling Potatoes near a Window: F 1213, JH 23; Sower with Basket: F 1675, JH 26; Sower: No F. no., JH 44 |
| 151
Etten | Paillard, Mauve | I am very happy to get models. I am also trying to get a horse and a donkey. | Digger: F 866, JH 54; Small House on a Road with Pollard Willows: F 900, JH 47; Donkey Cart: F 1677, JH 52 |
| 152
Etten | Tersteeg, Shakespeare, Mauve, Fabritius, Mesdag, De Bock, Millet, Corot, Destreé | I have come to feel more and more that figure drawing is an especially good thing to do, and that indirectly it also has a good effect on landscape drawing. | --- |
| 153
Etten | Mauve, Rappard | I wanted to let you know that I fell so much in love with Kee Vos this summer . . . . | --- |
| 154
Etten | --- | And then I began – at first crudely, awkwardly, but still firmly – and I ended with the words, Kee, I love you as myself… Then she said, "Never, no, never." | --- |
| 155
Etten | Michelet | Father and Mother are very good at heart, but have little understanding of our inner feelings, and as little comprehension of your real circumstances as of mine. | --- |
| 156
Etten | --- | If ever you fall in love, do so without reservation, or rather, if you should fall in love simply give no thought to any reservation. | --- |
| 157
Etten | Brochart, Jules Goupil, Boughton, Millais, Tissot | If she never returned my love, I should probably stay a bachelor always. | --- |
| 158
Etten | --- | If one hears people saying 'you are mad' or 'you are someone who severs family ties' or 'you are indelicate', then anyone with a heart in his body will protest with all his might. | Farmer Sitting at the Fireplace: F 868, JH 80 |
| 159
Etten | Michelet, Victor Hugo | You will understand what I tell you: In order to work and to become an artist, one needs love.
The lark cannot be silent as long as he has a voice. | --- |
| 160
Etten | Michelet, L'Amour et la Femme, My Wife and I, Our Neighbors, Beecher Stowe, Jane Eyre, Shirley, Currer Bell | Though I fall ninety-nine times, the hundredth time I shall stand. And what are they talking about means of subsistence for, as if I had none! What artist has not struggled and toiled, and what other way is there but struggling and toiling to gain a foothold. And since when has a draftsman no chance of earning his living? | --- |
| 161
Etten | Borinage, Michelet, Beecher Stowe, Mauve, Millet | . . . I hope neither you nor I are destined to become entirely the prey of that money devil; but won't he get some hold on us? | --- |
| 162
The Hague | Mauve, Tersteeg, Weissenbruch, Jules Bakhuizen, De Bock | But within a relatively short time, Mauve says, I shall learn to make little watercolours. | Still Life with Cabbage and Clogs: F 1, JH 81; Still Life with Beer Mug and Fruit: F 1a, JH 82 |
| 163
The Hague | Mauve | At all events, Theo, through Mauve I have got some insight into the mysteries of the palette and of watercolouring . . . . Mauve says that the sun is rising for me, but is still behind the clouds. | Still Life with Cabbage and Clogs: F 1, JH 81; Still Life with Beer Mug and Fruit: F 1a, JH 82; Scheveningen Woman Sewing: F 869, JH 83; Scheveningen Woman Knitting: F 870, JH 84; Scheveningen Woman Standing: F 871, JH 85 |
| 164
Etten | Mauve, Michelet, Balzac, Eliot, Goethe's Faust, Chardin, Multatuli, Feyen-Perrin | Theo, what a great thing tone and colour are.
I found a woman, by no means young, by no means beautiful, nothing special if you like . . . . She had had many cares, you could see, and life had been hard for her. | --- |
| 165
Etten | George Read, Richardson, Obach | You must know, Theo, that Mauve has sent me a paintbox with paint, brushes, palette, palette knife, oil, turpentine – in short, everything necessary. So it is now settled that I shall begin to paint, and I am glad things have gone so far.
For, Theo, with painting my real career begins. Don't you think I am right to consider it so? | Girl with Black Cap Sitting on the Ground: F 873, JH 79; Girl with Black Cap Sitting on the Ground: F 880, JH 76; Girl Kneeling: F 881, JH 77; Peasant Girl Raking: F 884, JH 57; Peasant Girl Standing: F 896, JH 78 |
| 166
The Hague | Mauve | But still it gives me a feeling of satisfaction to have gone so far that I cannot go back again; and though the path may be difficult, I now see it clearly before me. | --- |
Return to main Van Gogh letters page
Return to main Van Gogh Gallery page