1. Van Gogh on Painting
Van Gogh was obsessed by colours, motifs and his paintings.
He also had, at least on occasions, a real conviction that he was a good artist - even if the world in which he lived did not agree. Here are some of his quotes about painting.
"The uglier, older, meaner, iller, poorer I get, the more I wish to take my revenge by doing brilliant colour, well arranged, resplendent."
"Painting peasant life is a serious thing."
"I am working at it every morning from sunrise on, for the flowers fade so quickly."
"The cypresses are always occupying my thoughts ... it astonishes me that they have not yet been done as I see them."
"I can do nothing about it if my paintings don't sell. The day will come, though, when people will see that they're worth more than the cost of the paint."
“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.”
“I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.”
“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.”
2. Van Gogh on Life
Van Gogh is a great source of inspiration for anyone who is struggling. His essential message is: doing something new is hard; but keep going - you will get there!
"Normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it."
“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"
"If you wake up in the morning and you're not alone, it makes the world so much more agreeable."
"I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate ... and feeling nowhere so much myself a stranger as in my family and country."
“I try more and more to be myself, caring relatively little whether people approve or disapprove.”
“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”
“There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.”
“Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.”
“Don't lose heart if it's very difficult at times, everything will come out all right and nobody can in the beginning do as he wishes.”
“Those who love much, do much and accomplish much, and whatever is done with love is done well.... Love is the best and noblest thing in the human heart, especially when it is tested by life as gold is tested by fire. Happy is he who has loved much, and although he may have wavered and doubted, he has kept that divine spark alive and returned to what was in the beginning and ever shall be.
3. Van Gogh on the Starry Night
Van Gogh's most famous work is his Starry Night. And his Starry Night over the Rhone isn't bad either. Here's what he said about painting these scenes:
"At present I absolutely want to paint a starry sky. It often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens. If only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. And without my expatiating on this theme it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky.”
“When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion, then I go out and paint the stars.”
“I confess I do not know why, but looking at the stars always makes me dream.”
4. What others said of van Gogh
"He is the only one who perceives the colours of things with such intensity, with such a metallic, gem-like quality."
- Albert Aurier, in an 1890 review
"Vincent van Gogh is too simlpe and at the same time too subtle for the bourgeois. He is only truly understood by his brothers, his fellow artists who are themselves genuine artists."
- Albert Aurier, writing in Mergure de France in 1890
“Unfortunately this friend went raving mad and for a whole month I lived under the constant fear of a mortal or tragic accident."
- Paul Gauguin, writing about living with van Gogh in December 1888
"There was a time I loved Vincent and that he was my best friend, but that is now in the past. It appears to be even worse on his part, for he loses no opportunity to show that he detests me and that I repel him."
- Theo van Gogh, writing after he spent six months living with Vincent in 1887
"Amongst this confusion, I was dismayed by a meal poor people had in a weid hut under a dim lamp. He called it 'The Potato Eaters'. It was ugly in a splendid way and loaded with an alarming activity."
- Emile Bernard, commenting on van Gogh's The Potato Eaters
