“It is better this way”
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 12 or 13 May 1882
I have no great plans for the future; if momentarily I feel rising within me the desire for a life without care, for prosperity, each time I go fondly back to the trouble and the cares, to a life full of hardship, and think, It is better this way; I learn more from it, it does not degrade me, this is not the road on which one perishes. I am absorbed in my work and I have confidence enough so that with the help of such as you, Mauve, Tersteeg - though we disagreed last winter - I will succeed in earning enough to keep myself, not in luxury, but as one who eats his bread in the sweat of his brow.
Letter 197
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
I have no great plans for the future; if momentarily I feel rising within me the desire for a life without care, for prosperity, each time I go fondly back to the trouble and the cares, to a life full of hardship, and think, It is better this way; I learn more from it, it does not degrade me, this is not the road on which one perishes. I am absorbed in my work and I have confidence enough so that with the help of such as you, Mauve, Tersteeg - though we disagreed last winter - I will succeed in earning enough to keep myself, not in luxury, but as one who eats his bread in the sweat of his brow.
Letter 197
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