I will try to keep a straight course
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from Nuenen, 15-17 December 1884
Do you remember how in the very beginning I always spoke to you about my great respect and sympathy for the work of Father de Groux? Of late I think of him more than ever. De Groux is appreciated as little as, for instance, Thijs Mans. He is different though, but this they have in common, that they met with violent opposition.
In these days - whether the public is wiser now I can't tell, but this much I know, that it is not at all superfluous to weigh seriously one's thoughts and one's actions.
If it had pleased de Groux at that time to dress his Brabant characters in medieval costumes, he would have run parallel with Leys in genius, and also in fortune. However, he did not do so, and now, years afterwards, there is a considerable reaction against that medievalism. But the realism not wanted then is in demand now, and there is more need of it than ever. The realism that has character and a serious sentiment.
I can tell you that for my part I will try to keep a straight course, and will paint the most simple, the most common things.
Letter 390
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
Do you remember how in the very beginning I always spoke to you about my great respect and sympathy for the work of Father de Groux? Of late I think of him more than ever. De Groux is appreciated as little as, for instance, Thijs Mans. He is different though, but this they have in common, that they met with violent opposition.
In these days - whether the public is wiser now I can't tell, but this much I know, that it is not at all superfluous to weigh seriously one's thoughts and one's actions.
If it had pleased de Groux at that time to dress his Brabant characters in medieval costumes, he would have run parallel with Leys in genius, and also in fortune. However, he did not do so, and now, years afterwards, there is a considerable reaction against that medievalism. But the realism not wanted then is in demand now, and there is more need of it than ever. The realism that has character and a serious sentiment.
I can tell you that for my part I will try to keep a straight course, and will paint the most simple, the most common things.
Letter 390
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what
Labels: calling, humanity, negative reaction, other
1 Comments:
Charles de Groux, (1826-1870). "De Groux dedicated himself to producing pictorial representations of the economically and socially downtrodden. His works, painted in subdued colors, capture the poignant sadness of the lower classes in 19th-century Belgium." Paul F. State, Historical Dictionary of Brussels (Scarecrow Press, 2004), p. 132.
"[Baron Henri] Leys's archaic realism was transformed at Brussels into a realism of observation and modern thought, in the paintings of Charles de Groux. The influence of Leys on this artist was merely superficial; for though he, too, affected painful subjects, it was because they appealed to his compassion." Encyclopedia Britannica (Cambridge: University Press, 1911), p. 506.
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