Right now I'm beat

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 14 August 1882

Now, since I have bought my paint and brushes, I have drudged and worked so hard on seven painted studies that right now I'm beat. . . .

I do not believe that it will hinder me if my health should give way a little from time to time. As far as I can see, the painters who occasionally cannot work for a week or two are not the worst ones. It may be because they are the ones “who put their hide into it,” as father Millet says. That doesn't matter, and in my opinion one must not spare oneself when there is something important to do. If a short period of exhaustion follows, it will soon pass, and so much is gained that one harvests one's studies just the way a farmer harvests his crops. Now for myself, I have not yet thought of taking a rest.

Letter 225
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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