Painting makes me so happy

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 19 August 1882

It is the painting that makes me so happy these days. I restrained myself up to now, and stuck to drawing just because I know so many sad stories of people who threw themselves headlong into painting - who sought the solution of their problems in technique and awoke disillusioned, without having made any progress, but having become up to their ears in debt because of the expensive things they had spoiled.

I had feared and dreaded this from the start: I have considered drawing, and still do, the only way to avoid such a fate, and I have grown to love drawing instead of considering it a nuisance. Now, however, painting has unexpectedly given me much scope: it enables me to see effects that were unattainable before - just the ones which, after all, appeal to me most - and it enlightens me so much more on many questions and gives me new means by which to express effects. All together, these things make me very happy.

Letter 226
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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