You can if you want to, boy

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

Oh, Theo, why don't you give up the whole thing and become a painter? You can if you want to, boy; I sometimes suspect you of concealing a famous landscape painter within yourself. Entre nous soit dit, I think you would draw birch trees wonderfully, and the furrows in the field or a field of stubble, and paint snow and the sky . . . .

Won't you think about the idea that there is a famous landscape painter hidden inside you? We both must become painters, court et bon, we will earn our crust anyhow. For drawing the figure one must be more or less of a drudge or a beast of burden, more homme de peine. There's a long, long thought for you - old boy.

Letter 181
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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