I shall keep my pledge
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 14 May 1882
But if you should now say, 'Vincent, you're going to have a dreadful time and terrible worries,' then what I shall reply is, yes. Brother, I'm well aware of that, you are right, but, my dear fellow, what I would find even worse would be the feeling deep down inside of: 'You have treacherously abandoned that woman whom you met in the winter, pregnant and sick, and have thrown her back on to the cruel cobblestones once more.' That is not going to be said about me, and you will realize by now that it isn't 'obstinacy' on my part or 'wantonly having it my own way,' but that I must stand by Christien, that I have pledged her my troth and that I shall keep my pledge.
Letter 198
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
But if you should now say, 'Vincent, you're going to have a dreadful time and terrible worries,' then what I shall reply is, yes. Brother, I'm well aware of that, you are right, but, my dear fellow, what I would find even worse would be the feeling deep down inside of: 'You have treacherously abandoned that woman whom you met in the winter, pregnant and sick, and have thrown her back on to the cruel cobblestones once more.' That is not going to be said about me, and you will realize by now that it isn't 'obstinacy' on my part or 'wantonly having it my own way,' but that I must stand by Christien, that I have pledged her my troth and that I shall keep my pledge.
Letter 198
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home