Van Gogh Letters To Theo Quotes

There was a sentence in your letter that struck me, “I wish I were far away from everything, I am the cause of all, and bring only sorrow to everybody, I alone have brought all this misery on myself and others.” These words struck me because that same feeling, just the same, not more nor less, is also on my conscience.

Quick work doesn't mean less serious work, it depends on one's self-confidence and experience. In the same way Jules Guérard, the lion hunter, says in his book that in the beginning young lions have a lot of trouble killing a horse or an ox, but that the old lions kill with a single blow of the paw or a well-placed bite, and that they are amazingly sure at the job... I must warn you that everyone will think that I work too fast. Don't you believe a word of it. Is it not emotion, the sincerity of one's feeling for nature, that draws us, and if the emotions are sometimes so strong that one works without knowing one works, when sometimes the strokes come with a continuity and coherence like words in a speech or a letter, then one must remember that it has not always been so, and that in time to come there will again be hard days, empty of inspiration. So one must strike while the iron is hot, and put the forged bars on one side.

Aspiro alle stelle che non posso raggiungere.

Spero di avere un po’ di fortuna con quel quadro dei mangiatori di patate.

Avevo incominciato a firmare i quadri, ma ho smesso subito, mi sembrava troppo cretino.

Mi occorre anche una notte stellata con dei cipressi,

della strana circostanza che Gauguin abbia preferito non parlarne più, mentre si eclissava,

and to think that such in human life: to be born, to work, tolove, to grow and to disappear.

Ben bunların hiçbirini bilmem ama ruhunda kendini yenileyebilecek kadar enerjisi olan insana saygı göstermesini bilirim. Tanrım yaşadığımız çağ bir tembeller, ayaklar çağıdır diye yakınamayız, madem cennete pek inanamadıkları halde bu çeşit bir hayat süren bu tip inanlar yaşıyor dünyamızda.1

I’d wish that everyone had what I’m gradually beginning to acquire, the ability to read a book easily and quickly and to retain a strong impression of it. Reading books is like looking at paintings: without doubting, without hesitating, with self-assurance, one must find beautiful that which is beautiful.

I am on the point of going to Brussels. Mr. Plugge wrote me about Vincent. He is weak and thin - it seems he was not given any prospects, and I am worried. According to Mr. Plugge’s letter, he cannot sleep and seems to be in a nervous condition. Therefore I want to go and see for myself what we should do.

And do come as soon as you possibly can! P.S. to Gauguin. If you are not ill, do please come at once. If you are too ill, a wire and a letter, please. P.S. to Theo. Perhaps you will think the P.S. to Gauguin too curt, but let him say whether or not he is ill, and anyhow he will recover better here. Have you received my canvases???

The concern about Vincent oppresses us heavily. I foresee that again a bomb is going to burst. It is apparent that the beginning of his studies are disappointing to him, and his heart seems to be torn by conflicting forces. He has now tied up connections with English and French clergymen of ultra-orthodox views - and as a result the number of faults in his work has increased again. I am afraid he has no idea what studying means, and now I fear the remedy he will choose will be again a proposal for a change, for instance to become a catechist! But that doesn’t bring in any bread! We sit and wait, and it is like the calm before the storm

Van Gogh completed two series of still life paintings of sunflowers. The earlier series was executed in Paris in 1887, depicting the flowers lying on the ground, while the second series was undertaken a year later in Arles, portraying bouquets of sunflowers in a vase. Van Gogh had hoped to welcome and impress his artist friend Gauguin with a Sunflowers work, which he hung in the guestroom of his Yellow House where Gauguin stayed. In a letter to his brother Theo, van Gogh wrote, “It is a kind of painting that rather changes in character, and takes on a richness the longer you look at it. Besides, you know, Gauguin likes them extraordinarily. He said to me among other things, ‘That...it’s...the flower.’ You know that the peony is Jeannin’s, the hollyhock belongs to Quost, but the sunflower is somewhat my own.

Od trenutka kada pocnemo da se trudimo da zivimo iskreno, sve ce biti dobro, mada cemo neizbezno prolaziti kroz teske patnje i istinska razocaranja; verovatno cemo ciniti i krupne greske, pa i losa dela, ali cinjenica je da je bolje imati vatren duh, makar zbog njega vise gresili, nego biti uskogruf i previse oprezan. Treba voleti sto vise mozemo, jer u ljubvi pociva istinska snaga, a onaj koji mnogo voli sposoban je za velika dela i ono sto se cini iz ljubavi, dobro je; kada nam se mnogo svidi neka knjiga, to je zato sto su te knjige pisane od srca, u jednostavnosti duha. Bolje je izgovoriti svega nekoliko reci, ali koje imaju smisao, nego mnogo onih koje su samo suplji zvuci i cija je lakoca izgovaranja u srazmeri sa njihovom beskorisnoscu. Ako nastavimo iskreno da volimo ono sto je zaista dostojno ljubavi, postacemo prosvetljeni i jaci. Sto pre pokusavamo da se osposobimo u nekoj oblasti, nekom zanatu i usvojimo relativno nezavisan nacin misljenja i delanja, to ce jaci postati nas karakter, a necemo zbog toga postati ograniceni. Mudro je ciniti ove stvari, jer zivot je kratak i vreme brzo prodje; ako se usavrsimo u samo jednoj stvari i dobro je shvatimo, to nam onmogucava da shvatimo i mnoge druge stvari. (...) Nikada ne smemo dopustiti da zgasne plamen u nasoj dusi, moramo ga stalno odrzavati. A onaj kome je i dalje drago vlastito siromastvo poseduje veliko blago i uvek ce jasno cuti glas svoje savesti; onaj koji slusa i sledi taj unutrasnji glas, koji je najlepsi boziji dar, na kraju ce pronaci prijatelja i nikada nije sam... Neka to bude nasa sudbina, decace moj, neka te uspeh prati na tvom putu i neka Bog bude s tobom i omoguci ti da uspes, to je ono sto ti zelim, srdacno se rukujuci s tobom dok polazis. Voli te tvoj brat, Vinsent

What is drawing?" Vincent van Gogh asked in an 1882 letter to his brother Theo. "How does one learn it? It is working through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. How is one to get through that wall--since pounding at it is of no use? In my opinion one has to undermine that wall, filing through it steadily and patiently.

(p. 59) In a letter to Theo he wrote around 28 October 1885, Van Gogh explained at great length how he saw nature and how he tried to use color to express an enormous diversity of mood. Van Gogh studied nature (and the landscape), he wrote, "so as not to do anything silly" [537]. He did, though, reserve the freedom not to work exactly from nature, not to follow it "slavishly", when it came to color, and to use different colors, for "COLOUR EXPRESSES SOMETHING IN ITSELF. One can't do without it; one must make use of it. What looks beautiful, really beautiful — is also right.

Ben kitap okuduğumda bunu, o yazarlar dünyaya benden daha geniş açıdan, daha yumuşakça, daha sevecenlikle baktıkları için, yaşamı benden daha iyi tanıdıkları için, onlardan bir şeyler öğrenebileceğim için yapıyorum; yoksa iyilikmiş kötülükmüş ahlakmış ahlaksızlıkmış, bu gibi saçmalıklar hiç mi hiç ilgilendirmiyor beni.

Tek kaygım var artık: Nasıl yararlı olabilirim dünyaya? Bir amaca hizmet etmem, iyi bir şeyler yapmam olası mı? Daha çok öğrenmenin, kimi konuları daha derinden incelemenin yollarını nasıl bulabilirim? Görüyorsun, hiç durmadan kafamı meşgul eden bu.

One rainy summer's day in 2007, I had the opportunity to visit a village on the bank of a river where Van Gogh spent his final days. Walking through a field of wheat, I came to a quiet village cemetery. The artist shot himself in the chest at the age of 37. He had sold only one painting while he was alive. Next to him lies his brother Theo, who died just six months after him. After leaving Van Gogh's very tiny room on the second story of the Auberge Ravoux, I walked on and on, down the country road. The rain stopped and the sunflowers swayed in the breeze.

İnsanlar çoğu kez ellerinde olmayan nedenlerden dolayı hiçbir şey yapamama durumunda kalırlar. Kimbilir hangi korkunç, korkunç, çok korkunç kafesin içine hapsolmuşlardır. Kurtuluş da var bir yerlerde, biliyorum, geç kalmış bir kurtuluş, Haklı ya da haksız yere yok edilmiş bir iyi ad, yoksulluk, yazgının oyunları, felaketler.. İnsanları hapseden şeyler bunlar işte. Kişiyi bu esaretten çekip kurtaran nedir bilir misin? Çok derin ve ciddi sevgi.

Kitaba karşı hemen hemen karşı konulmaz bir tutkum var; hiç durmadan okumak, öğrenmek, kendi kendimi yetiştirmek peynir ekmek kadar kesin bir gereksinim benim için.

How does someone like Van Gogh who taught himself to paint conclude in his mind and write such words to his brother, Theo, in a letter? He said, Our work has come so far that it will even survive through catastrophe, how did he know? How did he understand that he was that good? That he would put himself among the greatest painters when he only sold one picture, The Red Vineyard. He was the least known of all the painters when he was alive, and yet in death, he is immortalized as one of the most beloved painters of history, Asked Stephanie?

Even though one seeks with the expectation of finding, finding is a complete surprise nonetheless.” —​letter from Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo, 7 November 1881

Fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm fearsome, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. They leave that wisdom to those to whom it appeals. When the storm comes - when night falls - what's worse: the danger or the fear of danger? Give me reality, the danger itself.