Friday, July 21, 2006

Will it be for ever?

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from Cuesmes, July 1880

People are often unable to do anything, imprisoned as they are in I don't know what kind of terrible, terrible, oh such terrible cage.

I do know that there is a release, the belated release. A justly or unjustly ruined reputation, poverty, disastrous circumstances, misfortune, they all turn you into a prisoner. You cannot always tell what keeps you confined, what immures you, what seems to bury you, and yet you can feel those elusive bars, railings, walls. Is all this illusion, imagination? I don't think so. And then one asks: My God! will it be for long, will it be for ever, will it be for eternity?

Letter 133
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what

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