Painting cannot succeed at once
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 19 August 1882
In the future, whenever Father and Mother saw me toiling and pegging away at my work — scraping it out and changing it — now severely comparing it to nature then changing it a little so they can no longer exactly recognize the spot or the figure — it would always be a disappointment to them. They will not be able to understand that painting cannot succeed at once, and over and over again they will think, “He doesn't really know anything about it,” and that real painters would work in quite a different way.
Letter 226
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
In the future, whenever Father and Mother saw me toiling and pegging away at my work — scraping it out and changing it — now severely comparing it to nature then changing it a little so they can no longer exactly recognize the spot or the figure — it would always be a disappointment to them. They will not be able to understand that painting cannot succeed at once, and over and over again they will think, “He doesn't really know anything about it,” and that real painters would work in quite a different way.
Letter 226
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
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