#van gogh letters

[fairydrowning]

Some Letters of Vincent Van Gogh.

[the--chaos]

Source: @veenpoems (Instagram)

[lettersfromvincent]

“This morning I still have a lot of work to do, I see that it isn’t easy and will no doubt become much more difficult, yet have unfaltering hope that I’ll succeed, and I’m also convinced that I’ll learn to work by working, and that my work will become better and more substantial.”

Letter #115. Vincent Van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Amsterdam, Monday, 21 and Tuesday, 22 May 1877.

[careful-disorder]

Vincent van Gogh, The Yellow House (a sketch)

“You know I’ve always thought it ridiculous for painters to live alone... You always lose when you’re isolated.” Vincent van Gogh, Letter to Theo (28-29 May 1888)

“How I think of you and of Gauguin and of Bernard, everywhere and at all times! It’s so beautiful, and I’d so much like to see everyone over here.” Letter to Theo (29 September 1888)

[foundatthemuseum]

The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals - 1624

(information, thoughts and sources below the break)

Found in The Wallace Collection, London, The Laughing Cavalier is probably a portrait you've seen as in a print or referenced in film. Despite it's name however, the sitter isn't depicted laughing and was almost certainly not a cavalier. The portrait gained it's name in the Victorian era and stuck to this day.

Frans Hals paintings were widely regarded in his lifetime and by those after, an 1885 letter from Vincent van Gogh to his younger brother Theo van Gogh enthuses about Hals' use of colour, particularly noting the depth of tone in his blacks, writing that  "Frans Hals has no less than twenty-seven blacks" which is especially apparent in this painting along with the remarkable embroidery.

The portrait can be seen at The Wallace Collection in London, as well as online as part of the Frans Hals: The Male Portrait exhibition.

(opinions) I loved being able to see this portrait in person, on a good screen you can see the difference in the blacks but as someone who had only ever seen it in low-quality prints it honestly stunned me when I saw it in person. Up-close you can really see every little detail and regardless who the sitter was (we have theories, but it's not certain who he was) he has a level of charisma in this portrait that's very charming.

Sources:

The Laughing Cavaler image - The Wallace Collection

Vincent Van Gough's letter - Van Gough's letters Webexhibits

[vernalagnia-blog]

i impulsively started reading van gogh's letters to his brother, with the goal of going through all 900 of them. the archive has been wonderful and easy to use. i've heard all great things about his letters to theo van gogh and so far, by letter #13, things are very sweet.

i guess my idea of van gogh stuck with the popular image of a sickly man striving for great arts. but if his early letters to theo were of any indication, he was physically active, taking great pleasure in rowing and walking, and he was so very curious about the arts and arts scene in anywhere he lived

he sent a copy of his favourite poem to his brother!

[thebiographicalreview]

Page 4 and page 509 of Penguin Classics edition of the Letters of Vincent van Gogh.

[flowerytale]

Vincent van Gogh, from a letter to his brother Theo

[metamorphesque]

— Van Gogh, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

[derangedrhythms]

[…] I’ve got nature & art & poetry, & if that isn’t enough, what is?

Vincent van Gogh, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh ⁠— Theo van Gogh - January 1874, tr. Arnold Pomerans

[fairydrowning]

"So often, a visit to a bookshop has cheered me, and reminded me that there are good things in the world."

– Vincent van Gogh, Letters to Theo

[lettersfromvincent]

“The days fly past, […] but I fight against it by stretching them out a bit in the mornings and evenings.”

Letter #120. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Amsterdam, Tuesday, 12 June 1877.

[careful-disorder]

Vincent van Gogh, Alychamps, Autumn

"How beautiful it is outside – I sometimes yearn for a country where it would always be autumn, but then we’d have no snow and no apple blossom and no corn and stubble fields." Van Gogh Letter to Anthon van Rappard

[dark-romantics]

when Van Gogh said “I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say 'he feels deeply, he feels tenderly'.”, I felt that.

[liriostigre]

Anton Mauve, Landscape with Cattle (1838–1888)

[sadsongbird]

“I feel such a creative force in me: I am convinced that there will be a time when, let us say, I will make something good every day, on a regular basis....I am doing my very best to make every effort because I am longing so much to make beautiful things. But beautiful things mean painstaking work, disappointment, and perseverance.”

― Vincent Van Gogh, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh