The highest, noblest calling

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 1 November 1882

I say that it is a great pity there is little or no enthusiasm here for the art which is most suitable for the general public.

If the painters combined to see that their work (which in my opinion is, after all, made for the people - at least I think this is the highest, noblest calling for any artist to pursue) could indeed come into the public's hands and was brought within everybody’s reach, it could produce the same results as those achieved during the Graphic’ first years.

This year Neuhuys, Van der Velden and a few others made drawings for The Swallow, a monthly magazine which costs 7 1/2 cents. . . . I hear that this magazine cannot keep going any more than its predecessors. Why not? The booksellers say there is no profit in it, and instead of trying to increase the circulation, they keep it down.

And I think that the painters, for their part, do not take the matter strongly enough to heart.

Letter 240
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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