You can also emerge reborn
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from Cuesmes, July 1880
To the family, I have, willy-nilly, become a more or less objectionable and shady sort of character, at any rate a bad lot. How then could I then be of any use to anyone? And so I am inclined to think the best and most sensible solution all round would be for me to go away and to keep my distance, to cease to be, as it were. What the moulting season is for birds - the time when they lose their feathers - setbacks, misfortune and hard times are for us human beings. You can cling on to the moulting season, you can also emerge from it reborn, but it must not be done in public.
The thing is far from amusing, not very exhilarating, and so one should take care to keep out of the way. Well, so be it.
Letter 133
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
To the family, I have, willy-nilly, become a more or less objectionable and shady sort of character, at any rate a bad lot. How then could I then be of any use to anyone? And so I am inclined to think the best and most sensible solution all round would be for me to go away and to keep my distance, to cease to be, as it were. What the moulting season is for birds - the time when they lose their feathers - setbacks, misfortune and hard times are for us human beings. You can cling on to the moulting season, you can also emerge from it reborn, but it must not be done in public.
The thing is far from amusing, not very exhilarating, and so one should take care to keep out of the way. Well, so be it.
Letter 133
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
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