I work hard on things which would be easy to sell

I can assure you once more that I work hard to make progress on things which would be easy to sell, that is, watercolors, but I cannot succeed immediately. If I succeed in making them by and by, it would still be rapid progress, considering the short time I have been working. But I cannot succeed right away. As soon as Mauve is better and comes to see me again or I go to see him, he will give me some useful hints on the studies I am making meanwhile. Lately Mauve has done very little for me, and once he himself said, I am not always in a mood to show you things; sometimes I am too tired, and then you will damn well have to wait for the right moment.

To Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 13 February 1882, Letter 175
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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