Vincent Van Gogh Zitate: 36 Zitate für Inspiration, Trost und Einblicke in den Geist eines brillianten Künstlers

Vincent Van Gogh: 274 Zitate 163 Gefällt mir

Vincent Van Gogh Berühmte Zitate

„Das Herz des Menschen ist sehr ähnlich wie das Meer, es hat seine Stürme, es hat seine Gezeiten und in seinen Tiefen hat es auch seine Perlen“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Wenn man die Natur wahrhaft liebt, wird man überall Schönheit finden.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Ich träume von meinem Bild und dann male ich meinen Traum.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Ich bin immer noch weit von dem entfernt, was ich sein möchte, aber mit Gottes Hilfe habe ich Erfolg.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Große Dinge entstehen durch eine Reihe kleiner Dinge die zusammen kommen.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Die Normalität ist eine gepflasterte Straße: man kann gut darauf gehen - doch es wachsen keine Blumen auf ihr.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Zitate über Leben von Vincent Van Gogh

„Was wäre das Leben, hätten wir nicht den Mut, etwas zu riskieren?“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Sei dir der Sterne und der Unendlichkeit in der Höhe klar bewusst. Dann scheint das Leben doch fast verzaubert zu sein.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Kunst soll diejenigen trösten, die vom Leben zerbrochen sind.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Es ist gut, so ein Buch wieder zu lesen, um gewisse Gefühle lebendig zu halten.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Briefe

„Und meine eigene Arbeit, nun, ich setze mein Leben dabei aufs Spiel, und mein Verstand ist zur Hälfte dabei draufgegangen […].“

Vincent Van Gogh

letzter Brief an seinen Bruder Theo van Gogh, 23. Juli 1890, Brief 652

„Nur vor der Staffelei beim Malen fühle ich ein wenig Leben.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Brief an seine Schwester Wilhelmina Jacoba van Gogh, September 1889, zitiert nach Matthias Arnold: Vincent van Gogh: Biographie, München (Kindler-Verlag) 1993, ISBN 3-463-40205-X
Original franz.: "Ce n’est que devant le chevalet en peignant que je sens un peu de vie." - an Willemien van Gogh. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 19. September 1889, vangoghletters.org http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let804/letter.html

Zitate über Herz von Vincent Van Gogh

„Ich habe mein Herz und meine Seele in meine Arbeit gesteckt und dabei meinen Verstand verloren.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Ich suche, ich strebe, ich bin mit meinem ganzen Herzen dabei.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Ich möchte Bündigeres, Einfacheres, Ernsteres, ich möchte mehr Seele und mehr Liebe und mehr Herz.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Briefe

„Mein Herz ist wie das Meer // Hat Sturm und Ebb und Fluth // Auch Perlen findest du tief // Nur tief in mein Gemuth.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Antwerpener Skizzenbuch, zitiert nach Mark Edo Tralbaut: Vincent van Gogh in zijn Antwerpsche periode, Amsterdam 1948, p. 44 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=MbNBAQAAIAAJ&q=afb.%20iv, books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=MbNBAQAAIAAJ&q=gemuth. Der im Original deutschsprachige Text ist offensichtlich die Paraphrasierung einer Strophe aus Heinrich Heines "Buch der Lieder" (1827) S. 186 de.wikisource https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Du_sch%C3%B6nes_Fischerm%C3%A4dchen,

Vincent Van Gogh Zitate und Sprüche

„Ich wünschte, sie würden mich so annehmen, wie ich bin.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Je mehr man liebt, um so tätiger wird man sein.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Brief an Anthon G.A. Ritter van Rappard, Mai 1883
Original niederl.: "Hoe meer men lief heeft hoe meer men handelen zal [geloof ik, want liefde die enkel een gevoel zou wezen die zou ’k niet eens onder de liefde willen rekenen]." - an Anthon van Rappard. Den Haag, etwa 21. Mai 1883, vangoghletters.org http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let345/letter.html

„Es ist gut, viele Dinge zu lieben, denn darin liegt die wahre Stärke, und wer viel liebt, leistet viel und kann viel bewirken, und was in Liebe getan wird, ist gut getan.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Über Liebe , Stark

„Ich in meiner Geisteskrankheit, ich denke an so viele andere Künstler, die auch geistig erkrankt waren, und ich sage mir, dass dies kein Hindernis ist, den Beruf des Malers auszuüben.“

Vincent Van Gogh

6. September 1889 in Saint-Rémy, zitiert nach Matthias Arnold: Vincent van Gogh: Biographie, München (Kindler-Verlag) 1993, ISBN 3-463-40205-X

Denken

„… und dann habe ich Natur und Kunst und Dichtung, und wenn das nicht genug ist, was ist genug?“

Vincent Van Gogh

Über natur , Über Kunst

„Recht und Falsch existieren nicht getrennt, sondern wie Schwarz und Weiß in der Natur.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Briefe

Über natur

„Ich fühle mich lebendig nur, wenn ich male.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Gefühl

„Eines Tages bringt uns der Tod zu einem anderen Stern.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Über Tod

„Es ist ebenso interessant und schwer, etwas gut zu sagen, wie es gut zu malen ist.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Briefe

Schwester

„Es sind Harmonien und Kontraste in den Farben verborgen, die ganz von selbst zusammenwirken.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Briefe

Farbe

„Ich wollte, man würde einsehen, dass die Grenzen des Mitleids nicht dort liegen, wo die Welt sie zieht.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Briefe

Über Ehe

„Wandlung ist notwendig wie die Erneuerung der Blätter im Frühling.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Briefe

Frühling

„Ich versuche immer mehr, ich selbst zu sein, und kümmere mich relativ wenig darum, ob die Leute zustimmen oder ablehnen.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Mit einem Bild möchte ich etwas Tröstliches sagen, so wie Musik tröstlich ist.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Brief an Theo van Gogh. Arles, 3. September 1888
Original franz.: "Et dans un tableau je voudrais dire quelque chose de consolant comme une musique." - vangoghletters.org http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let673/letter.html

Über Musik

„Ich wäre sehr froh, wenn Du in mir doch etwas anderes sehen könntest als eine Art Nichtstuer.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Gib ihnen vielleicht die 'Sternennacht'. […] Denn das sind zwei Bilder mit entgegengesetzten Farben.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Brief vom 21. Mai 1889 aus Saint-Rémy an seinen Bruder Theo van Gogh, zitiert nach Matthias Arnold: Vincent van Gogh: Biographie, München (Kindler-Verlag) 1993, ISBN 3-463-40205-X

Farbe

„Die Traurigkeit wird für immer andauern.“

Vincent Van Gogh

„Ich komme immer mehr zu der Überzeugung, dass man den lieben Gott nicht nach unserer Welt beurteilen darf, denn das ist eine Studie, die ihm misslungen ist. […] unsere Welt ist offenbar in Eile hingesudelt in einer jener schlechten Stunden, wo der Schaffende nicht mehr wusste, was er machte, oder den Kopf verloren hatte. […] Nur Meister können sich derart täuschen, das ist vielleicht der beste Trost, denn man darf ja hoffen zu sehen, wie er mit derselben schöpferischen Hand die Scharte auswetzt.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Brief an Theo van Gogh. Arles 26. Mai 1888. Sämtliche Briefe. Henschel-Verlag Berlin 1965. Deutsch von Eva Schumann. Band 4 (von 6) S. 44 f. Hier nach: Renate Siefert, 2012,
(Original franz.: "Je crois de plus en plus qu’il ne faut pas juger le bon Dieu sur ce monde ci car c’est une étude de lui qui est mal venue. [...] Ce monde ci est évidemment baclé à la hâte dans un de ces mauvais moments où l’auteur ne savait plus ce qu’il faisait, où il n’avait plus la tête à lui. [...] Il n’y a que les maîtres pour se tromper ainsi, voila peutêtre la meilleure consolation vu que dès lors on est en droit d’espérer voir prendre sa revanche par la même main creatrice." - vangoghletters.org http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let613/letter.html
Seit etwa 2001 von Harald Lesch in folgender Verkürzung popularisiert: „Man sollte Gott nicht nach dieser Welt beurteilen, die ist nur eine Studie, die nicht gelungen ist. Aber es muss ein Meister sein, der solche Schnitzer macht!“ - www.astronomie.de http://www.astronomie.de/bibliothek/interviews/professor-harald-lesch-2001/ und )

Über Liebe , Über Gott , Studie , Über die Welt

„Die Fischer wissen, dass das Meer gefährlich und der Sturm schrecklich ist, aber sie haben diese Gefahren nie als ausreichenden Grund gefunden, an Land zu bleiben.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Wissen , Meer , Land , Fisch

„Wenn ich mir jetzt meinen Zustand überlege und dabei hoffen darf, zwischen den Krisen - denn unglücklicherweise ist zu befürchten, dass sie von Zeit zu Zeit wiederkehren -, […] Perioden der Klarheit und der Arbeit zu haben.“

Vincent Van Gogh

Anfang September 1889 in Saint-Rémy, zitiert nach Matthias Arnold: Vincent van Gogh: Biographie, München (Kindler-Verlag) 1993, ISBN 3-463-40205-X

Über Glück , Zeit

Vincent Van Gogh: Zitate auf Englisch

“It is hard, terribly hard, to keep on working when one does not sell, and one literally has to pay for one's colors from what would not be too much for eating, drinking and lodgings, calculated ever so strictly. And then, besides, the models... All the same they are building State museums, and the like, for hundreds of thousands, but meanwhile, the artists can go to the dogs.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter, from Antwerp, Belgium, Dec. 1885; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 438) p. 35
1880s, 1885

“May God give me the wisdom which I need and grant me what I so fervently desire, that is, to finish my studies as quickly as possible and he ordained, so that I can perform the practical duties of a clergyman.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

In a letter to Theo, from Amsterdam, 19 Nov. 1877; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 113), p. 18
as student, in Amsterdam, staying in the house of his uncle
1870s

“I have [drawings of] about twelve figures of diggers and men who are working in a potato field, and I wonder if I could not make something of it, you have still a few, for instance, a man who fills a bag with potatoes. Well, I do not know for sure, but sooner or later I shall accomplish that, for I looked at it so attentively this summer, and here in the dunes I could make a good study of the earth and the sky, and then boldly put in the figures.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in letter 169, from The Hague, January, 1882; as cited in Vincent van Gogh, Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, catalog-page: Dutch Period: - 4. Potato Diggers
1880s, 1882

“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter tot Theo, from The Hague, Sunday, 18 March 1883; as cited in The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, Vol. 2 (1958) New York Graphic Society, p. 12
1880s, 1883

“If we study Japanese art, you see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent who spends his time how? In studying the distance between the earth and the moon? No. In studying the policy of Bismarck? No. He studies a single blade of grass..”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in Vincent's letter to brother Theo, from Arles, Sept. 1888; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 542), p. 39
1880s, 1888

“letter after his third attack”

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Vincent Van Gogh

1880s, 1889

“I was certainly going the right way for a stroke when I left Paris. I paid for it nicely afterwards! When I stopped drinking, when I stopped smoking so much, when I began again to think instead of trying not to think - good Lord, the depression and the prostration of it! Work in these magnificent natural surroundings [of Arles ] has helped my morale.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Arles, France, 4 May 1888; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 481), p 24
1880s, 1888

“If, therefore, you've already considered that Signac and the others who are doing pointillism often make very beautiful things with it - Instead of running those things down, one [Bernhard] should respect them and speak of them sympathetically, especially when there's a falling out. Otherwise one becomes a narrow sectarian oneself, and the equivalent of those who think nothing of others and believe themselves to be the only righteous ones. This extends even to the academic painters, because take, for example, a painting by Fantin-Latour — and above all his entire oeuvre. Well then — there's someone who hasn't rebelled, and does that prevent him, that indefinable calm and righteousness that he has, from being one of the most independent characters in existence?”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in Vincent's letter to Emile Bernard, from Paris, about December 1887; from letter 575 - vangoghletters http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let575/letter.html]
1880s, 1887

“And it's certain that unexpected new ideas are beginning to emerge. That paintings are once again beginning to be painted in very different tone from a few years ago.
The last thing I made is a rather large study of an avenue of poplars with the yellow autumn leaves, where the sun makes glittering patches here and there on the fallen leaves on the ground, which are interspersed with the long shadows cast by the trunks. At the end of the road a peasant cottage, and the blue sky above it between the autumn leaves.
I think that in a year's time — having spent that year once again painting a great deal and constantly — I'll change my manner of painting and my colour a great deal, and that I'm likely to become slightly more sombre rather than lighter.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote from Vincent's letter to Theo van Gogh, from Nuenen, The Netherlands, on or about Saturday, 25 October 1884; from original text of letter 467 - vangoghletters online http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let467/letter.html
1880s, 1884

“Here, under a stronger sun, I have found true what Pissarro said, and what Gauguin wrote to me as well, the simplicity, the lack of color, the gravity of great sunlight effects.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Arles, Oct. 1888; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 555) p. 28
1880s, 1888

“About staying in the south, even if it's more expensive — Look, we love Japanese painting, we've experienced its influence — all the Impressionists have that in common — and we wouldn't go to Japan, in other words, to what is the equivalent of Japan, the south? So I believe that the future of the new art still lies in the south after all. But it's bad policy to live there alone when two or three could help each other to live on little.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

In a letter to brother Theo, from Arles, c. 5 June 1888, in 'Van Gogh's Letters', letter 620 http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let620/letter.html, Van Goghmuseum
Vincent was busy, trying to convince a. o. Paul Gauguin to come to Arles, and to settle there
1880s, 1888

“As well as the greatest optimist I see the lark soaring in the spring air, but I also see a young girl of about twenty, who might have been in good health, a victim to consumption, and who will perhaps drown herself before she dies of an illness. If one is always in respectable company among rather well-to-do bourgeois one does not notice this so much perhaps, but if one has dined for years on 'la vache enragee', as I did, one cannot deny that great misery is a fact that weighs down the scale.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Antwerp Belgium, Winter 1886; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 453), p. 38
1880s, 1886

“Of course I should be very happy to sell a drawing but I am happier still when a real artist like Weissenbruch says about an unsalable??? study or drawing: "That is true to nature, I could work from that myself."”

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Vincent Van Gogh

quote in his letter to brother Theo, from The Hague, The Netherlands in Febr. 1882; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, p. 20 (letter 177)
1880s, 1882

“As I feel a need to speak out frankly, I cannot hide from you that I am overcome by a feeling of great care, depression, a "je ne sais quoi" of discouragement and despair more than I can tell.
I take it so much to heart that I do not get on better with people in general; it quite worries me because on it depends so much my success in carrying out my work.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Drenthe, The Netherlands, Autumn 1883; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 328) p. 21
1880s, 1883

“I'd like you [Theo] to spend some time here, you'd feel it — after some time your vision changes, you see with a more Japanese eye, you feel colour differently. I'm also convinced that it's precisely through a long stay here that I'll bring out my personality. The Japanese [like a. o. Hokusai, admired by Vincent] draws quickly, very quickly, like a flash of lightning, because his nerves are finer, his feeling simpler. I've been here [Arles] only a few months but — tell me, in Paris would I have drawn in an hour the drawing of the boats?... Now this [sketch] was done without measuring, letting the pen go. So I tell myself that gradually the expenses will be balanced by work.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

In a letter to brother Theo, from Arles, c. 5 June 1888, in 'Van Gogh's Letters', letter 620 http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let620/letter.html, Van Goghmuseum
The Japanese artists with their colored woodblock-prints meant a great inspirations for several Paris' artists - they were extremely important for Vincent, these years
1880s, 1888

“This art that we are all working in, we feel it has a long future before it, and one must have some settled base, like steady people, and not like decadents. Here my life will become more and more like a Japanese painter's, living close to nature like a petty tradesman.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Arles, Autumn 1888; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 540), pp. 22-23
1880s, 1888

“To stroll on wharves, and in alleys and in streets and in the houses, waiting-rooms, even saloons, that is not a pleasant pastime unless for an artist. As such, one would rather be in the dirtiest place where there is something to draw, than at a tea party with charming ladies. Unless one wants to draw ladies, then a tea party is all right even for an artist.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

quote in his letter to brother Theo, from The Hague, The Netherlands in Spring 1882; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, p. 34 (letter 190)
1880s, 1882

“It is color, not locally true from the point of view of the stereoscopic realist, but color to suggest any emotion of an ardent temperament. When Paul Mantz saw at the exhibition the violent and inspired sketch of Delacroix…. the 'Barque of Christ' - he turned away from it exclaiming: 'I did not know that one could be so terrible with a little blue and green'. Hokusai wrings the same cry from you [Theo], but he does it by his line, his drawing, when you say in your letter - 'the waves are claws and the ship is caught in them'. Well, if you make the color exact or the drawing exact, it won't give you sensations like that.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Arles, 8 September 1888; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 533) pp. 32-33
1880s, 1888

“My dear Theo, Sincere wishes for your good health and serenity on your birthday. I would like to have sent you the painting of the potato eaters for this day, but although it's coming along well, it's not quite finished yet. Although I'll have painted the actual painting in a relatively short time, and largely from memory, it's taken a whole winter of painting studies of heads and hands. And as for the few days in which I've painted it now - it's consequently been a formidable fight, but one for which I have great enthusiasm. Although at times I feared that it wouldn't come off. But painting is also 'act and create.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to Theo, from Amsterdam, 30 April 1885, letter 497 - vangoghletters online http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let497/letter.html
Vincent refers to his famous painting 'Potato Eaters' https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Vincent_van_Gogh_-_The_potato_eaters_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
1880s, 1885

“I am sure you will like it, it is such a fine business [art-dealer].... I am so glad that we shall both be in the same profession [art dealing] and in the same firm”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Goupil and Co.
Quote in his letter to brother Theo from The Hague, The Netherlands (13 December 1872); as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, p. 17 (letter 2)
Vincent's profession then was picture dealer at Goupil and Co., with branches a. o. in The Hague, London and Paris
1870s

“When I call myself a peasant painter, that is a real fact, and it will become more and more clear to you in the future, I feel at home there. By witnessing peasant life continually at all hours of the day I have become so absorbed in it that I hardly ever think of anything else.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo from Nuenen, The Netherlands, Summer 1885; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 400) p. 21
1880s, 1885

“I hope.... to paint some in a lighter gamut, more flesh and blood, but, at the same time, I am trying to get a still stronger soft soap and copper-like effect. In reality I daily see, in the gloomy huts, effects against the light or in the evening twilight.... which I compare to soft soap and brass color of a worn-out 10 centime piece.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Nuenen, The Netherlands, June 1885; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 410) p. 31
1880s, 1885

“Do you know what I long for sometimes? To make a trip to Brabant. I should love to draw the old churchyard at Nuenen, and the weavers. To make, for instance, during a month, studies of Brabant, and to come back [to The Hague] with a lot of them, for a large drawing of a peasant funeral for instance.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote of letter 295, from The Hague, 1883; as cited in Vincent van Gogh, Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, catalog-page: Dutch Period 2. - Weaver
1880s, 1883

“The thing has already taken form in my mind before I start it. The first attempts are absolutely unbearable. I say this because I want you to know that if you see something worthwhile in what I am doing, it is not by accident but because of real direction and purpose.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

As quoted in The Path of Least Resistance : Principles for Creating What You Want to Create (1984) by Robert Fritz, p. 181
Undated

“I am busy painting every day studies of the weavers here, which I think are technically better than the painted studies from Drenthe, which I sent you.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

1880s, 1884
Quelle: Quote from Letter 355, from Nuenen The Netherlands, January 1884; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, page: Catalog: Dutch Period 2. - Weaver

“Certainly after all you are right, damn well right - even making allowance for hope, the thing is to accept the probably disastrous reality. I am hoping to throw myself once again wholly in my work which has got behind hand.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Arles, France, 29 March 1889; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 582), p 25
1880s, 1889

“And my intention is to try to form a collection of many such things, which would not be quite unworthy of the title 'heads of the people.' By working hard, boy, I hope to succeed in making something good. It isn't there yet, but I aim at it, and struggle for it. I want something serious, - some thing fresh - something with soul in it! Forward - forward”

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Vincent Van Gogh

quote in his letter to brother Theo, from The Hague, The Netherlands, 3 Jan. 1883; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 257), pp. 20-21
1880s, 1883

“If I should find something it will probably be a position between clergy man and missionary in the suburbs of London among the working people. Do not speak to anybody about it yet.”

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Vincent Van Gogh

In his letter to brother Theo from Welwyn, England, 17 June 1876; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, p. 17 (letter 69)
as school teacher and lay preacher near London
1870s

“.. the best way to know God is to love many things. Love a friend, a wife, something, whatever you like... But one must love with a lofty and serious intimate sympathy, with strength, with intelligence… That leads to God, that leads to unwavering faith... To give you an example: someone loves Rembrandt, but seriously, - that man will know that there is a God, he will surely believe it... To try to understand the real significance, of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God..”

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Vincent Van Gogh

Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Cuesmes, Belgium July 1880; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935 https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_1996_300061887.pdf, (letter 133) p. 39
1880s, 1880

“I fear that in a few years there may be a kind of 'panic', in this form: 'since Millet' we have sunk very low — the word decadence, now whispered or pronounced in veiled terms (see Herkomer), will then sound like an alarm bell. Many, like I myself, now keep quiet, because they already have the reputation of being awkward customers,5 and talking about it doesn't help. That — namely, talking — isn't what one needs to do — one must work, though with sorrow in the heart. Those who later cry out the loudest about decadence will themselves belong to it the most. I repeat: by this shall ye know them, [from: Matt. 7:16. ] by their work, and it won't be the most eloquent who say the truest things. See Millet himself, see Herkomer, they're certainly not orators, and speak almost reluctantly.”

Help us translate this quote

Vincent Van Gogh

In his letter to Theo, from The Hague, 5 Nov. 1882 - original manuscript of letter no. 280 - at Van Gogh Museum, location Amsterdam - inv. b263 a-b V/1962, http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let280/letter.html
1880s, 1882