Replying to LO25619 --
Dear Sajeela,
And another thing........;-)
Last year I painted almost nothing but flowers so as to get used to
colours other than grey, viz. pink, soft or bright green, light blue,
violet, yellow, orange, glorious red. And when i was painting landscapes
at Asnieres this summer, I saw more colour in them than I did before. Now
I am going to try it with a portrait. And I must say I am not painting any
the worse for it, perhaps because I could tell you a very great deal
that's wrong with both painters and paintings if I wanted to, quite as
easily as I could tell you something that's good about them... I don't
want to be included among the melancholy or those who turn sour and bitter
and bilious. "Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner." [To understand
everything is to forgive everything.] and I believe that if we knew
everything we should attain serenity. Now, having as much of that serenity
as possible, even when one knows little or nothing for certain, is perhaps
a better remedy for all ills and pains than what is sold in the pharmacy.
Much of it comes by itself, one grows and develops of one's own accord. So
don't swot and study too much, for that makes one sterile. Enjoy yourself
too much rather than too little, and don't take art or love too seriously
- there is very little one can do about it, it is chiefly a question of
temperament. If I were living near you, I should try to drive home to you
that it might be more practical for you to paint with me than to write,
and that you might be able to express your feelings more easily that way.
In any case, I could do something personally about your painting, but I am
not in the writing profession. Anyway, it's not a bad idea for you to
become an artist, for then one has fire within and a soul, one cannot keep
bottling it up - better to burn than to burst, what is in will out. For
me, for instance, it's a relief to do painting, and without that I should
be unhappier than I am. " Le vice et la vertu sont de produis chiminiques,
comme le sucre at le vitriol." [ Vice and virtue are chemical products,
like sugar and vitriol]
Much love from me,
Vincent ;-)
[Letter from Vincent to his young sister Wil in the autumn of 1887]
Earlier in the same long letter he wrote this to his sister...And above
all I find it alarming that you believe you must study in order to write.
No, my dear little sister, learn how to dance, or fall in love with anyone
(or thing) within your reach...
Comme ca!
Love and 'a firm handshake'
Andrew
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