My temperament and personal feeling
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, c. 2 July 1883
I think of Tersteeg's opinion that I must make watercolors; supposing I myself were wrong, and tried with all good will to change my mind, yet I cannot understand how these figures of the man with the sack, of the sower, of the old potato digger, of the wheelbarrow, of the man burning weeds, would retain their individuality if I made them in watercolor. The result would be very mediocre, the kind of mediocrity which I don't want to surrender myself to. Now there is at all events some character in them, something which - be it from afar - is in harmony with what Lhermitte, for instance, seeks.
Watercolor is not the most sympathetic means for him who particularly wants to express the boldness, the vigor, and the robustness of the figures. It is different when one seeks tone or color exclusively, then watercolor is excellent. Now I must admit that one could make different studies of those same figures done from another point of view (namely tone and color) and with another intention - but the question is, if my temperament and personal feeling primarily draw me toward the character, the structure, the action of the figures, can one blame me if, following this emotion, I don't express myself in watercolor, but in a drawing with only black or brown?
Letter 297
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
I think of Tersteeg's opinion that I must make watercolors; supposing I myself were wrong, and tried with all good will to change my mind, yet I cannot understand how these figures of the man with the sack, of the sower, of the old potato digger, of the wheelbarrow, of the man burning weeds, would retain their individuality if I made them in watercolor. The result would be very mediocre, the kind of mediocrity which I don't want to surrender myself to. Now there is at all events some character in them, something which - be it from afar - is in harmony with what Lhermitte, for instance, seeks.
Watercolor is not the most sympathetic means for him who particularly wants to express the boldness, the vigor, and the robustness of the figures. It is different when one seeks tone or color exclusively, then watercolor is excellent. Now I must admit that one could make different studies of those same figures done from another point of view (namely tone and color) and with another intention - but the question is, if my temperament and personal feeling primarily draw me toward the character, the structure, the action of the figures, can one blame me if, following this emotion, I don't express myself in watercolor, but in a drawing with only black or brown?
Letter 297
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
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