My “soup ticket”

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, c. 11 March 1882

C. M.'s order is like a ray of hope to me.

I will do my best on these little drawings and try to put some character into them. At all events you will see them, and I think, boy, that there is more of that kind of business to be done. One can find buyers for small drawings at 5 fr. With some practice I can make one every day. And look here, if they turn out well, they will provide me with a crust of bread and a guilder for the model every day. Summertime with the long days is approaching; I make my “soup ticket” - meaning the bread and model drawing - either in the morning or in the evening, and in the daytime I study seriously from the model. C. M. is one buyer whom I found myself; perhaps you will succeed in finding a second, and perhaps Tersteeg, when he has got over his fit of reproaches, may find a third, and then we'll be in business.

Letter 181
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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