It is not a misfortune to struggle on alone

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 18 September 1882

If I had remained on good terms with Mauve, and had done a watercolor like the one of the little bench, or now the one of these orphans, I think that he would have pointed something out to me which would have made it saleable, and which would have given it quite a different aspect.

It is a fact that many a painter's watercolors or pictures are worked up by another painter - and sometimes even completely altered.

That is what I miss now - but though I don't exactly disapprove of more experienced painters either making suggestions or working it up themselves (especially because it is so necessary for the younger ones to earn money in order to be able to keep going), I think it is not exactly a misfortune to struggle on alone.

What one learns from personal experience is not learned so quickly, but it is imprinted more deeply on the mind.

Letter 232
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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