A thing apart
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 23 July 1882
I'm sure that it depends more on my work than on anything else whether or not I succeed one day. Provided I can just keep going, well then, I shall fight my fight quietly in this way and no other - by calmly looking through my little window at natural things and drawing them faithfully and with love. For the rest, I shall just adopt a defensive attitude against possible molestation, and beyond that I love drawing too much to want to be distracted by anything else. The peculiar effects of perspective intrigue me more than human intrigues.
If Tersteeg only understood that my painting is a thing apart, quite different from the rest, he would not make a fuss.
Letter 219
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
I'm sure that it depends more on my work than on anything else whether or not I succeed one day. Provided I can just keep going, well then, I shall fight my fight quietly in this way and no other - by calmly looking through my little window at natural things and drawing them faithfully and with love. For the rest, I shall just adopt a defensive attitude against possible molestation, and beyond that I love drawing too much to want to be distracted by anything else. The peculiar effects of perspective intrigue me more than human intrigues.
If Tersteeg only understood that my painting is a thing apart, quite different from the rest, he would not make a fuss.
Letter 219
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
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