Sometime I shall succeed in this

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 28-30 December 1882

In the New Year shall I succeed better in making saleable drawings? or in getting some work from an illustrated paper? Of one thing I am sure, wrestling with nature is no idle work, and though I do not know what the result will be, there must be some result.

I wish you could come to the studio again - not because I can't go on or don't know what to do, but mainly because I am so afraid you will think I am not making progress. And though I cannot show you any definite result, you would see that it is slowly developing, and you would see that I am aiming high. . . .

Thanks for all your faithful friendship, boy, which has again upheld me for a whole year. I wish that for my part I could give you some pleasure, too. Sometime I shall succeed in this.

Letter 255
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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One must work till one is master

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 28-30 December 1882

I believe that one must, and can, work till one is master of composition and the effects of light and shadow, so that in the sphere one has chosen, one can conquer the most diverse subjects: for instance, draw a first-class waiting room today, a rainy day in a poor quarter tomorrow, another time a workhouse, then again a saloon or a soup kitchen. I am not yet that far - but perhaps it takes a long time just because I look for the common root or origin of so many things.

Letter 255
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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All your help and friendship

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 28-30 December 1882

Before the year is up, I feel I have to thank you again for all your help and friendship. . . .

I am sorry that I haven't succeeded in making a saleable drawing this year. I really do not know where the fault lies.

I wish you could come to the studio sometime. I think I wrote you in my last letter that I am at present drawing large heads because I felt the need of a more intimate study of the structure of the skull and the interpretation of the physiognomy. The work absorbs me greatly, and I found a few things lately for which I had been seeking for a long time. Well, whenever you come, you will see everything.

Letter 255
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Conscience is a man's compass

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 12-18 December 1882

How can I know whether I shall reach some goal - how can I know beforehand whether the difficulties will or will not be overcome?

One must go on working silently, leaving the result to the future. If one prospect is closed, perhaps another will open itself - there must be some prospect, and a future too, even if we do not know its geography. Conscience is a man's compass, and though the needle sometimes deviates, though one often perceives irregularities.

Letter 253
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Clinging to the right

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 12-18 December 1882

The one thing which is increasingly difficult to decide on is the best working method. There is so much beauty on one side as well as on the other - and at the same time so many things wrong - that sometimes one doesn't know which path to choose. But at all events, one must work on. But I myself do not think I cannot make mistakes - I am too conscious of my many errors to be able to say this or that is the right manner and this or that, the wrong one. That goes without saying. But I am not indifferent, I think it wrong to be so. I think it one's duty to try to do the right thing, even knowing that one cannot go through life without making mistakes, without regret or sorrow. Somewhere I read, Some good must come by clinging to the right.

Letter 253
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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"Something up there"

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 12-18 December 1882

I have two new drawings now . . . . My intention in these two, and in the first little old man, is one and the same, namely to express the peculiar sentiment of Christmas and New Year's Eve. Both in Holland and England this is always more or less religious, in fact, it is that way everywhere, at least in Brittany, and in the Alsace, too. Now one need not agree exactly with the form of that religious sentiment, but if it is sincere, it is a feeling one must respect. And personally, I can fully share it and even need it, at least to a certain extent, just the way I have a feeling for such a little old man and a belief in "something up there," even though I am not exactly sure how or what it may be. I think it a splendid saying of Victor Hugo's, "religions pass away, but God remains"; and another beautiful saying of Gavarni's is "what matters is to grasp what does not pass away in what passes away."

One of the things "that won’t pass away" is the "something up there" and the belief in God, too, though the forms may change - a change which is just as necessary as the renewal of the leaves in spring.

Letter 253
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Things worth doing one's utmost for

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 12-18 December 1882

In contrast to what I wrote you - that I often feel heavy-hearted about many things, that I cannot consider everything progress, etc. - what I said on another occasion is still true, too - that there are things which are worth doing one's utmost for, because whether people like them or not, they have in themselves a raison d'etre. Blessed is he who has found his work, says Carlyle, and that is decidedly true. . . .

When I told you in my last letter that I sometimes feel as if I were in some kind of prison, I meant only that I cannot do many things which I should like to do - which would only be possible if I had the money - but I certainly did not mean to say that I do not appreciate the present or that I am discontented, far from it. It is just by doing what is within our reach that we have a chance of making progress, so be assured that whenever you find work for me on the magazines yonder, I shall gladly try my best.

. . . I am only afraid that they wouldn't like my work: if this were because of real faults, I should try to correct them; but if it were because of the conception or sentiment in general, I could do very little to change that.

Letter 253
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Instead of a job, a kind of jail

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882,

What sometimes makes me sad is this: formerly, when I started, I used to think, If only I make so or so much progress, I shall get a job somewhere, and I shall be on a straight road and find my way through life.

But now something else occurs, and I fear, or rather expect, instead of a job, a kind of jail - I expect such things as, Yes, some things in your work are rather good (I doubt if they really mean it), but, you see, we have no use for work like yours, we need current events (for example, the Graphic - we print on Saturday what happened on Thursday).

. . . In short, instead of meeting with an opinion, a sentiment, an aim like Dickens's (for such the Graphic originally stood for), one is confronted with a philosophy like Obach's. It makes me sad, and then I feel helpless. One can only undertake a thing if one has sympathy and co-operation.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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More soul, more love, more heart

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

Do you know what I think of the copy I'm sending you? It is just like Obach's kind of talk, for instance, the manager of Goupil and Co. in London. And it has success, yes, that has success, yes, that is listened to and that is admired. . . . I respect all kinds of work, I don’t despise Obach, but there are things which I rank infinitely higher than that kind of energy.

I want something more concise, more simple, more serious; I want more soul and more love and more heart.

But you may be sure that I will not and cannot cry out against it, that I will not rebel against it. But it makes me sad, it takes away my pleasure, it upsets me, and personally I am absolutely at a loss about what to do.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Things are going wrong

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

The public, yes, one part of it is dissatisfied, but material grandeur also finds applause; however, do not forget that this is merely a straw-fire, and that those who applaud generally do so only because it has become the fashion. But on the day after the banquet, there will be a void - a silence and indifference after all that noise. . . .

Look here, Theo boy, it cuts me to the heart, things are going wrong. You know I would have counted it the highest honor - an ideal, in fact - to contribute to what the Graphic started. The sublime beginning of the Graphic was something like what Dickens was as an author, what the Household Edition of his work was as a publication.

And now everything is gone - once again materialism instead of moral principle.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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The difficult but noble days

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

They do not think of renewing themselves. Suppose the Graphic, Illustration, or Vie Moderne published an issue full of dull, insignificant things - they'd still sell it by the carload, and by the boatload; the managers would rub their hands and say, "It sells just as well this way; who's the wiser - they swallow it anyhow."

Yes, but if their lordships the managers could follow their publications and see how thousands take the paper up greedily, and then, when they put it down, involuntarily have a feeling of dissatisfaction and disappointment, perhaps their frenzy for current events would abate somewhat. . . .

In the meantime, people intrude themselves, as employees, who would never have been accepted in the difficult but noble days. It is what Zola calls "the triumph of mediocrity." Snobs, nobodies, take the place of workers, thinkers, artists; and it isn't even noticed.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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I wish I had a job

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

I wish I had a job which would help me make progress. Many jobs which might possibly be within my reach would lead me to things quite different from those I aim at. These jobs are out of my reach, for though I might be accepted at first, they would not be satisfied with me in the long run; they would fire me or I would leave of my own accord.

I mean, they would demand current events, topics of the day . . . . I begin to see more and more clearly that the magazines drift with the superficial tide, and I think they do not try to be as good as they ought to be. No, to fill the magazines with things which cost neither time nor trouble, . . . to make as much money as possible - this is what they do.

I do not think this method wise.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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A kind of internal struggle

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

You ask about my health - last summer's trouble is really quite gone, but I feel rather depressed at present, whereas at other moments, when my work progresses well, I am quite cheerful, and feel kind of like a soldier who isn't at home in the guardhouse, and argues thus to himself, "Why must I be in prison here, when I should be much better off among the rank and file where I belong?"

I mean, I feel depressed because I have a strength in me which circumstances prevent from developing as well as it could; the result is that I often feel miserable. A kind of internal struggle about what I must do - which is not as easy to solve as might seem at first.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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I hate the thought of it!

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

Here in The Hague there are clever, great men, I readily admit it; but in many respects what a miserable state of affairs - what intrigues, what quarrels, what jealousy. And in the personality of the successful artists who . . . set the tone, material grandeur is unmistakably substituted for moral grandeur.

I am beginning to feel that if I went, for instance, to England, if I made every effort, I should certainly have a chance of finding a job.

My ideal was to achieve this, and, after all, it still is; this was what enabled me to surmount the enormous difficulties in the beginning. But my heart gets heavy at times when I think of the way things are going, it's not so much fun any more. Of course, I love to do my best on the drawings, but to present myself at all those publishers' offices - oh, I hate the thought of it!

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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A painter paints to do some good

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

But as to me - que faire?

A few years ago Rappard and I walked outside Brussels on a spot which they call la Valle Josaphat . . . . At that time there was a sand quarry where diggers were at work, there were women looking for dandelion leaves, a farmer was sowing; we looked at all that, and I was almost in despair then: "Shall I ever succeed in painting what I admire so much?" Now I no longer despair, now I can capture those farmers and women better; and working on with patience, I can now succeed to a certain extent. But I am sorely oppressed by the way things are going and can no longer think of those magazines with pleasure and enthusiasm. The Graphic neglects to say that many in the group of artists refuse to give their work, and withdraw more and more. Why? because a painter paints to do some good and has some sincerity in his heart which despises all that grandeur. What more shall I say?… I can only repeat, "Que faire!"

Of course, I continue to work, but conscious of a dark future.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Moral grandeur dwindles

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

But how hard-hearted they are, how mistaken they are, if they think they can make everybody believe that material grandeur outweighs moral grandeur, and that any good can be accomplished without the latter.

It is the same with the Graphic as it is with many other things in the realm of art. Moral grandeur dwindles, material grandeur supersedes. But will the much-desired change come? I think that everybody must find that out for himself, but the old parable mentions a broad way which leads to destruction, and a narrow path which leads to another result.

The Graphic started on the narrow path, has now passed to the broad one. This morning I saw the last number, there wasn't a single good thing in it.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Here I feel something holy

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 11 December 1882

When strong enough to stand on its own feet, the Graphic rented a house and began to print with six machines.

I have full respect for this; here I feel something holy, something noble, something sublime. Then look at that group of great artists, and think of foggy London and the bustle in that small workshop. Moreover, I see in my imagination the draftsmen in their several studios, starting their work with the best enthusiasm.

Letter 252
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Is smartness what must save art?

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3-5 December 1882

Edwin Edwards, the etcher, for instance, why is his work so splendid, why is he justly ranked among England's best? Because what he aims at is faithfulness and truth. . . .

To a great extent the cause of the evil lies in the fact that the intentions of the great landscape painters have been misconstrued. Hardly anyone knows that the secret of beautiful work lies mainly in truth and sincere sentiment.

Many people cannot help their lack of depth, and they act in good faith as far as they have good faith. . . .

Smartness, as they call it here, the word is used so much - I myself do not know its real meaning, and have heard it applied to very insignificant things - is smartness what must save art? . . . What you say is quite true, "Earnestness is better than irony, no matter how sharp and witty it is." In other words, I should say, "Goodness is worth more than malice," that is self-evident; but many people say, "No, malice, that is it." Well, they will have to reap what they sow.

Letter 251
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Many painters are inveterate liars

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3-5 December 1882

You will say that everybody has seen landscapes and figures from childhood on. The question is, Has everybody also been thoughtful as a child, has everybody who has seen them really loved the heath, fields, meadows, woods, and the snow and the rain and the storm? Not everybody has done this the way you and I have: a peculiar kind of surroundings and circumstances must contribute to it, and a peculiar kind of temperament and character must help it take root.

I remember letters from you, when you were still in Brussels, with descriptions of landscapes like the one in your last one. Do you know that it is so very, very necessary for honest people to remain in art? I do not mean to say that there are none, but you feel what I mean, and know as well as I how many painters are inveterate liars.

Letter 251
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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The dignity of their calling

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3-5 December 1882

Indeed, in the field of landscape painting enormous gaps are beginning to show themselves, and I should like to apply Herkomer's words to it: the interpreters allow their cleverness to mar the dignity of their calling. And I believe the public will begin to say: deliver us from artistic compositions, give us back the simple field.

How much good it does one to see a beautiful Rousseau on which he has drudged to keep it true and honest. . . .

Do I want them back or do I want people to imitate them? No, but I want the honesty, the naivete, the truth, to remain. . . .

The real thing is not an absolute copy of nature, but to know nature so well that what one makes is fresh and true - that is what so many lack.

Letter 251
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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He can stick to an idea

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3-5 December 1882

But something which I already wrote you about has proved true, namely Rappard is seriously ill. . . . I want to have as many drawings ready as possible against the time of his recovery, for I should like Rappard to do the same as soon as he takes up his work again. Rappard has something which not everybody possesses, he reflects and he cultivates his sentiment. He can make a plan, he can grasp a scheme in its entirety, he can stick to an idea.

Many others call reflection and concentration inartistic because they at least are not fit for sustained labor. It is a question of both dexterity and quickness, and of perseverance and calm patience besides.

Letter 251
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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It seems something unattainable

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3-5 December 1882

Do you know why I have no doubt that I should be able to do it? You know the physical law that tells us that an object immersed in a liquid loses as much in weight as the specific weight of the volume of liquid displaced by the object. That is the reason why some objects float and why those which sink are lighter under water than in the air. Something like this - a kind of fixed law of nature - seems to exist in regard to the work, by which I mean that, once well into it, one feels more energy and power than one was aware of, or rather, than one in fact possesses.

You would also experience this if you took up painting. At first it seems something unattainable, hopeless, but later things clear up, and I think you would see this in my work too.

Letter 251
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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I try to work for the truth

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3-5 December 1882

I have said to myself that my first duty is to try my very best on the drawings. So that I have now made a few new ones since my last letter on the subject. . . .

Now in these drawings I have tried to show my meaning even more clearly than in the old man with his head in his hands. These fellows are all in action, and this fact especially must be kept in mind in the choice of subjects, I think. You know yourself how beautiful the numerous figures in repose, which are done so very, very often, are. They are done more often than figures in action.

It is always very tempting to draw a figure at rest; it is very difficult to express action, and in many people's eyes the former effect is more "pleasant" than anything else. But this "pleasant" aspect must not detract from the truth, and the truth is that there is more drudgery than rest in life. So you see my main idea about all this is - that for my part I try to work for the truth.

It seems to me that the drawings themselves are even more urgent than their reproduction.

Letter 251
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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One can begin and continue with serenity

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3-5 December 1882

You have received my letter in which I wrote you how the idea of making figures from the people for the people developed of its own accord while I was working. . . .

Since I wrote you this I have been thinking - not, of course, Who will do this or that? - but, What am I doing toward it? . . .

What I wanted to say is this. The idea of drawing types of workmen from the people for the people, distributing them in a popular edition and taking the whole as a matter of duty and public service - that and nothing but that - look here, that idea is enough to convince me that even if it didn't succeed at once, one might suppose, "The thing is as true today as it was yesterday, and it will be as true tomorrow."

And so it is a thing which one can begin and continue with serenity, a thing the good success of which one need not doubt or despair of - if only one doesn't relax or lose courage.

Letter 251
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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"This misfortune alters nothing"

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3-5 December 1882

I do not know if you have read Dickens's Little Dorrit and if you remember in it the figure of Doyce, the man one could take as a type of those whose principle is How to do it. Even if you do not know that splendid workman's figure from the book, you will understand the fellow's character from this one phrase. When the thing he wanted to bring about was blocked by indifference and worse things, and he couldn't go on, he simply said, "This misfortune alters nothing; the thing is just as true now (after the failure) as it was then (before the failure)." And what had failed in England he started again on the Continent, and succeeded there.

Letter 251
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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A thing I may not let go of

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 2-3 December 1882

I have listened to what Bargue says in his examples; though my work is far from being as beautiful as his, I believe the examples indicate a straight road in keeping with what other artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, have taught before. At all events, it gave a certain method to my ideas about drawing, which makes the work more systematic than it would be if one put no method into one's work. You see, this is a thing which I may not let go of.

Letter 250
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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A little wisp of smoke

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 2-3 December 1882

With me, at least, it is such that whenever I learn more about the life and works of people like Schuler, Lançon, Renouard and so many others, I perceive that what is seen of them is only a little wisp of smoke coming out of their chimneys, and that within their hearts and studios there is a big blaze. It is the same with an artist's illustration work as it is with a little church spire in the distance, it looks small and insignificant, but when one gets nearer, it proves to be quite an imposing edifice - I mean, only a small part of their work comes before the public.

Well, some pictures make a big splash in their enormous frames, and later one is astonished because they leave such an empty, unsatisfied feeling; in contrast to this, some simple wood engraving or lithograph or etching is sometimes overlooked, but one comes back to it and becomes more and more attached to it, and feels something grand in it.

Letter 250
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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The drudgery those little things cost

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 2-3 December 1882

I think, however, that one would be very much mistaken in believing that such a thing as, for instance, the print "Le Benedicite" (a family of woodcutters and farmers at table) was made in one fell swoop. No, in most cases the solidity and pith of the small size is only acquired after much more serious study than those who think lightly of illustration work would suppose. Oh, boy, you are one of the best informed of the art dealers I know, and you speak about it with so much more truth and feeling than most of them; but if you knew the drudgery those little things have cost I think you would be awed by it.

Letter 250
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Contrary to my conviction

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 2-3 December 1882

You write about the question of making drawings in a smaller size. I appreciate your speaking of that matter more calmly than others, who have said the same thing to me in quite a different way, and told me, If you don't work in a smaller size, this and that will happen. I think it preposterous and superficial to talk that way, and I can't believe what they say is true.

Do you know what I think? All sizes have their advantages and disadvantages; in general, for my own study I decidedly need the figure with rather large proportions, so that the head, hands and feet will not be too small and one can draw them vigorously.

. . . . I have done it this way from the very beginning - sometimes a little smaller, sometimes a little larger; and as far as my own study is concerned, I should be acting contrary to my conviction if I changed. . . .

What I said just now is only to show you how I have tried to keep some system in my work from the very beginning; I have set a kind of rule for myself - not to become the slave of that rule, but because it helps one to think more clearly.

Letter 250
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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The dark, shadowy side of an artist's life

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 2-3 December 1882

Breitner really has got a job at the high school in Rotterdam - a lucky thing for him. But l think after all it is preferable if one can manage to do without such jobs and give all one's time to one's work. There seems to be something fatal in occupying such positions; perhaps it is the very cares, the very dark, shadowy side of an artist's life which is the best of it. It is risky to say so, and there are moments when one speaks differently; many are drowned by too heavy cares, but those who struggle through will profit by it later.

Letter 250
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Prints for the people

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

It has always been said that in Holland we cannot make prints for the people - I have never been able to believe it, I see now that it can be done

I see that with persistence and perseverance it might become something not at all unnecessary, but definitely good and useful.

The Society for General Welfare has bolstered up Elsevier in Rotterdam with thousands of guilders for the publication of The Swallow. Did The Swallow become a good thing? No, though it had a few beautiful sheets, it was too uninteresting, not serious, not powerful, not strong enough . . . .

So, instead of saying, . . . "It might be done, and if so, we should do it," Elsevier and thousands like him say it can't be done, or they do it sloppily and without enough energy. . . . I know their magazine well enough to take it upon myself to say, "You have not made it what it might have been, it should and might have been better."

So what is needed is courage and self-sacrifice and risking something, not for gain, but because it is useful and good; one must retain one's trust in one's fellow creatures and fellow countrymen in general.

Letter 249
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Is it a duty?

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

Now, an enterprise such as the drawing and printing of a series of, for instance, thirty sheets of workmen types - a sower, a digger, a woodcutter, a ploughman, a washerwoman, then also a child's cradle or a man from the almshouse - well, the whole immeasurable field lies open, there are plenty of beautiful subjects - can one undertake it or not? The question goes even deeper: is it a duty, and is it right or is it wrong? That's the question.

Letter 249
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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Such proofs of sympathy are rare

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

A few days ago I received a letter from Rappard . . . . I had incidentally written him, "I have had another obstacle, a letter with money which was especially intended for the experiments got lost."

In answer to this, he wrote: "Don't let this trouble you, and count on me if you cannot continue or if you need something." I had not written it to him because I expected him to say such a thing . . . . Still, it pleased me, because such proofs of sympathy are rare. I answered him, For the moment there is no need of it, but if it really became a question of my not being able to continue, I would accept your aid. And I told him how much I appreciated it. You see now that this is one of the cases which I wrote you about in my last letter.

Letter 249
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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