"You take drawing seriously"

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, from Antwerp, early February 1886

I am also drawing in the daytime now, and the teacher there, who makes portraits at present and gets well paid for them, has asked me repeatedly if I had never drawn from plaster casts before and if I had taught myself to draw, and he concluded: "I see that you have worked a lot, and, it will not take you long to make progress, you will gain much by it - it will take a year, but what does that matter?"

Now there is one fellow of my age sitting next to me to whom he does not say that.

Now Sibert, that is the name of the teacher who also directs the class for drawing from the nude, said, "As for you, you will draw as you please, for I see that you take drawing seriously."

Then he also said that Verlat had told him there was some good in my work which Verlat did not say to me.

Letter 448
Translation courtesy of Robert Harrison.
Back to The Way of Vincent: Making art no matter what