A tendency to analyze things
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 22 October 1882
We share a liking for peering behind the scenes, or, in other words, we have a tendency to analyze things. Now I believe that this is precisely the quality one has to have in order to paint - the strength one must exert in painting or drawing. It may be that nature has favored us to some extent (in any case you and I certainly have it - perhaps we owe it to our boyhood in Brabant and to surroundings that taught us to think more than is usual), but it is really and truly not until later that the artistic sensibility develops and ripens through work. I cannot tell you how you might become a very good painter, but that you have it in you and can bring it out is something I really do believe.
Letter 237
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
We share a liking for peering behind the scenes, or, in other words, we have a tendency to analyze things. Now I believe that this is precisely the quality one has to have in order to paint - the strength one must exert in painting or drawing. It may be that nature has favored us to some extent (in any case you and I certainly have it - perhaps we owe it to our boyhood in Brabant and to surroundings that taught us to think more than is usual), but it is really and truly not until later that the artistic sensibility develops and ripens through work. I cannot tell you how you might become a very good painter, but that you have it in you and can bring it out is something I really do believe.
Letter 237
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
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