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"In fact, in my opinion the drawings that I see there are all hopelessly bad and absolutely wrong, and I know for sure that mine are totally different. Time must show who is right."
Vincent van Gogh |
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Letter |
Keywords |
Excerpt / Full Text |
Link to Painting(s) Mentioned in Letter |
| 436
24-27 November 1885 | Leys, Frans Hals, De Vos, Rembrandt, Maes, Jordaens, Van Goyen, S. Ruysdael, Quinten Matsys, "St. Barbara" by Van Eyck, Mols, Mesdag, Vollon, Braekleer, C. de Cock, Lamorinière, Coosemans, Asselbergs, Rosseels, Baron, Munthe, Achenbach, Clays, Ingres, David, Verboeckhoven, Raffaelli | . . . I am afraid that metaphorically business is at death's door. But – there is a good old Dutch proverb, "Never despair." | --- |
| 437
28 November 1885 | De Goncourt, Mols, Lhermitte, Raffaelli | Well, one thing is certain, Antwerp is a splendid and very remarkable place for a painter. | --- |
| 438
6-7 December 1885 | Van Goyen, Troyon, Mols, Raffaelli, Moormans, Nicolié, Linnig, Vertin, Jan van Beers, Manet, Jordaens, Velásquez, Goya, Frans Hals, Verhaert | I feel a power within me to do something, I see that my work holds its own against other work . . . . | Backyards of Old Houses in Antwerp in the Snow: F 260, JH 970; Two Women in a Theatre Box: F 1350v, JH 967 |
| 439
8-15 December 1885 | Hugo, Rubens, Jordaens, Hals, Tyck, De Braekeleer, De Groux, Goya, "Fisherboy" by Frans Hals, "Saskia" by Rembrandt, Scheffer, Gigoux, Delacroix, Wauters, Phryne, Eugène Battaille, Hondekoeter | I am glad I came here, for I am already full of ideas, also for the time when I shall be in the country again. | Portrait of an Old Man with Beard: F 205, JH 971; Head of a Woman with her Hair Loose: F 206, JH 972; Head of a Man with Pipe: F 1359, JH 984 |
| 440
c. 15 December 1885 | Portier, Serret, portrait of Delroche painted by Portaels, Manet, Courbet | Do you know, for instance, that in the whole time I've been here, I've only had three warm meals, and for the rest nothing but bread? | --- |
| 441
c. 19 December 1885 | --- | But I prefer painting people's eyes to cathedrals, for there is something in the eyes that is not in the cathedral, however solemn and imposing the latter may be – a human soul, be it that of a poor beggar or of a streetwalker, is more interesting to me. | Portrait of a Woman with Red Ribbon: F 207, JH 979; De Grote Markt, Antwerp: F 1342, JH 975 |
| 442
28 December 1885 | Millet, Portier, Durand-Ruel, Rembrandt, Saskia, De Goncourt, Zola, Daudet, Balzac, Manet, Courbet, Stevens | As far as my present work is concerned, I feel I can do better – however, I do need more air and space, in other words I must be able to spread my wings a little. | Portrait of a Woman with Red Ribbon: F 207, JH 979 |
| 443
Early January 1886 | Franck, Jordaens, Rubens, Murillo, Van Dyck, James Tissot, Thijs Maris, Verhas, Farasyn, Emile Wauters, Rembrandt's "Saskia", Ingres, De Goncourt, Tassaert, Greuze, Prudhon, Chaplin, Scheffer, Delaroche, Dubuffe, Gérôme, Isabey, Ziem, Lambeau, Paul Dubois | My situation is threatened from every side, and it can only be saved by working on vigorously. The colour bill is like a millstone round my neck, and yet I must go on!!!
If I had some friends, if I were a little known, yes, then it would be easier; but I have no friends, and my job is to try and make them. | Portrait of a Woman with Red Ribbon: F 207, JH 979 |
| 444
c. 12-16 January 1886 | Rubens, Rembrandt, Delacroix, Millet, Manet, Courbet, Jules Romain, Verlat, Zola, De Goncourt | Indeed, you said to me that you know perfectly well you will be rewarded with stinking ingratitude, but are you quite sure this isn't a misunderstanding of the type Father himself laboured under? | --- |
| 445
c. 17 and 20 January 1886 | Verlat, Vinck, Leys | In fact, in my opinion the drawings that I see there are all hopelessly bad and absolutely wrong, and I know for sure that mine are totally different. Time must show who is right. | --- |
| 446
c. 22 January 1886 | Neuhuys, Huibers, Fortuny, Regnault | But I haven't any money left, so it is really pressing, and I wish you would do what you can, for I am also doing what I can, and almost all the time it is such that hardly anything is left for food. | --- |
| 447
c. 28 January 1886 | Verlat, Vinck, Delacroix, Géricault, Millet, Bouguereau, Siberdt, Tassaert, Gavarni | I find here the friction of ideas I want. I get a fresh look at my own work, can judge better where the weak points are, which enables me to correct them. | --- |
| 448
Early February 1886 | Sibert, Verlat, Gérôme, Cabanel, Cormon, Louvre, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Delacroix, Corot, Millet, Toergenjev, Daudet, Ohnet, Israëls | You see I am not stronger than other people in that if I neglected myself too much, it would be the same with me as with so many painters (so very many if one thinks it over), I should drop dead, or worse still – become insane or an idiot. | --- |
| 449
c. 3 February 1886 | Verlat, Cormon, Rijke | Drawing in itself, the technique of it, comes easily enough to me. I am beginning to do it like writing, with the same ease. | --- |
| 450
First half February 1886 | Sibert, Cormon, Louvre, Chérie, Delacroix, Corot, Millet, Dupré, Troyon, Breton, Rousseau, Daubigny, Luxembourg, Meissonier | . . . I must say exactly the same about myself as you write about yourself: You will be disappointed in me. | --- |
| 451
First half February 1886 | Zola, De Goncourt, Toergenjev, Daudet, Delacroix, Silvestre, Carlyle, Michelet, Mantz, Paul Baudry | This one thing remains – faith; one feels instinctively that an enormous number of things are changing and that everything will change. We are living in the last quarter of a century that will end again in a tremendous revolution. | --- |
| 452
First half February 1886 | Cormon, the Louvre, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, David, Pieneman, Germanicus, Paul Mantz, Baudry, L'Oeuvre by Zola, Gil Blas, Manet | . . . the problem is to go on trying to find a better working method. So – patience and perseverance. | --- |
| 453
14 February 1886 | Chérie by de Goncourt, Corot, Millet, Delacroix | It is a pity that, as one gradually gains experience, one gradually loses one's youth. If that were not so, life would be too good. | --- |
| 454
15-17 February 1886 | Millet, Sensier, Balzac, Zola, De Goncourt, Delacroix, Cormon, Rijke | But if one analyzes from up close, one sees that the greatest and most energetic people of the century have always worked against the grain, and they have always worked out of personal initiative. | --- |
| 455
15-17 February 1886 | Louvre, École des Beaux-Arts, Cormon | I am longing very much to hear from you, for the time has come for me to make a decision. | --- |
| 456
c. 18 February 1886 | Cormon, Bracquemond | At the moment that all my money is gone, absolutely gone, I write you once again . . . . I have absolutely nothing left.
I have just read La Dame aux Camelias by Dumas. It is very good. Do you know it? | --- |
| 457
19 or 20 February 1886 | Cormon, Verlat, Toergenjev, Balzac, Daudet | Because I think that after all my stay in Antwerp has been useful to me I believe that we must go straight on. | Portrait of an Old Man with Beard: F 205, JH 971 |
| 458
20-28 February 1886 | Cormon | After all Antwerp has pleased me very much . . . . But I hope to come back to Antwerp some time, for life is rather free and artistic here, if only one looks for it, more than anywhere else perhaps. | Portrait of an Old Man with Beard: F 205, JH 971 |
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