Standing behind another counter

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from Drenthe, 3 November 1883

Then be wise, you, then be sensible, and listen to what I tell you about the thorny little path of painting, which at first leads to all sorts of humiliation, etc., but which for all that will eventually lead to a more lasting victory and a more definite peace than commerce can ever give. . . .

Theo, at times I think that for an artist the utmost poverty would be bearable (and productive too) if only he were not alone. . . . It has become an idee fixe of mine that you will feel so uprooted, so disoriented, so defeated that as for standing behind another counter you will simply say, "I can't do it," "It would certainly be a failure." . . . There, my presentiment tells me that this is approximately how you feel at heart.

In this case I see nothing reckless, nothing unpractical, nothing foolish in our wanting to feel our energy, to feel ourselves. Let our love of art inspire us with a "faith of the coal miner," inspire us to say what others have said before us, and will say after us, namely, Though circumstances may be ominous, and though we may be very poor, and so on, yet we have one thing to cling to tenaciously - painting, of course.

Letter 339b
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
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