Vincent Willem van Gogh – holenderski malarz postimpresjonistyczny, którego twórczość dzięki żywej kolorystyce i emocjonalnemu oddziaływaniu wywarła dalekosiężny wpływ na sztukę XX w. Artysta w ciągu swego życia cierpiał na napady lękowe i narastające ataki spowodowane zaburzeniami psychicznymi. Zmarł w wieku 37 lat jako twórca nieznany szerszemu ogółowi, w wyniku postrzału z broni palnej – prawdopodobnie samobójczego.
Mało doceniany za życia, van Gogh zyskał sławę po śmierci. Dziś jest powszechnie uważany za jednego z największych malarzy w historii, artystę, którego twórczość stanowi istotne źródło sztuki współczesnej. Van Gogh zaczął malować na kilka lat przed ukończeniem 30. roku życia, a swe najbardziej znane dzieła stworzył w ciągu 2 ostatnich lat. Jest autorem ponad 2000 dzieł, w tym: 870 obrazów, 150 akwarel i ponad 1000 rysunków i 133 szkiców listowych. Dziś jego liczne autoportrety, pejzaże, portrety i słoneczniki należą do najbardziej rozpoznawalnych i najdroższych dzieł sztuki na świecie.
Lata wczesnej młodości van Gogh spędził, pracując w Goupil & Cie, firmie handlującej dziełami sztuki, i podróżując między Hagą, Londynem a Paryżem. Po powrocie do Anglii otrzymał posadę nauczyciela. Jego wczesnym pragnieniem zawodowym było zostanie pastorem. Od 1879 pracował jako misjonarz w górniczym zagłębiu w Belgii. W tym czasie rozpoczął sporządzanie szkiców ludzi z lokalnej społeczności. W 1885 namalował swoje pierwsze wielkie dzieło: Jedzący kartofle. Jego paleta w tamtym czasie składała się przeważnie z mrocznych, ziemistych odcieni i nie wykazywała ani odrobiny żywej kolorystyki, która charakteryzowała jego późniejsze prace. W marcu 1886 van Gogh przeniósł się do Paryża i odkrył francuskich impresjonistów. Później wyjechał na południe Francji i poddał się czarowi silnego światła słonecznego, które tam znalazł. Jego prace stały się jaśniejsze kolorystycznie, a on sam wypracował swój jedyny i bardzo rozpoznawalny styl, który w pełni rozwinął się podczas jego pobytu w Arles w 1888.
Rozmiar wpływu, jaki choroba umysłowa van Gogha wywarła na jego twórczość, stał się przedmiotem spekulacji po jego śmierci. Pomimo szeroko rozpowszechnionej tendencji do romantyzowania złego stanu jego zdrowia, współcześni krytycy widzą w nim artystę głęboko sfrustrowanego bezczynnością i chaosem myślowym wywołanym atakami choroby. Według krytyka sztuki Roberta Hughesa późne prace van Gogha ukazują go jako artystę w pełni zdolności twórczych i całkowicie panującego nad sobą.
Wikipedia
„Niedola będzie trwała wiecznie.”
ostatnie słowa przed śmiercią, wypowiedziane do brata.
Źródło: Collin Wilson, Outsider-artysta (van Gogh), „Życie Literackie” nr 9, 2 marca 1958, s. 10 http://mbc.malopolska.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=14903.
„Jeśli chodzi o moją pracę, naraziłem dla niej życie, a rozum mój załamał się.”
Źródło: Collin Wilson, Outsider-artysta (van Gogh), „Życie Literackie” nr 9, 2 marca 1958, s. 10 http://mbc.malopolska.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=14903.
1880s, 1884, Letter to Theo (Nuenen, Oct. 1884)
Kontekst: I tell you, if one wants to be active, one must not be afraid of going wrong, one must not be afraid of making mistakes now and then. Many people think that they will become good just by doing no harm - but that's a lie, and you yourself used to call it that. That way lies stagnation, mediocrity.
Just slap anything on when you see a blank canvas staring you in the face like some imbecile. You don't know how paralyzing that is, that stare of a blank canvas is, which says to the painter, You can't do a thing. The canvas has an idiotic stare and mesmerises some painters so much that they turn into idiots themselves. Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of 'you can't' once and for all.
Life itself, too, is forever turning an infinitely vacant, dispiriting blank side towards man on which nothing appears, any more than it does on a blank canvas. But no matter how vacant and vain, how dead life may appear to be, the man of faith, of energy, of warmth, who knows something, will not be put off so easily. He wades in and does something and stays with it, in short, he violates, "defiles" - they say. Let them talk, those cold theologians.
In his letter to Theo, The Hague, 11 March 1883, http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/12/274.htm?qp=art.material,as translated by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, edited by Robert Harrison, in The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh (1991)
1880s, 1883
Kontekst: It constantly remains a source of disappointment to me that my drawings are not yet what I want them to be. The difficulties are indeed numerous and great, and cannot be overcome at once. To make progress is a kind of miner’s work; it doesn’t advance as quickly as one would like, and as others also expect, but as one stands before such a task, the basic necessities are patience and faithfulness. In fact, I do not think much about the difficulties, because if one thought of them too much one would get stunned or disturbed.
A weaver who has to direct and to interweave a great many little threads has no time to philosophize about it, but rather he is so absorbed in his work that he doesn’t think but acts, and he feels how things must go more than he can explain it. Even though neither you nor I, in talking together, would come to any definite plans, etc., perhaps we might mutually strengthen that feeling that something is ripening within us. And that is what I should like.
1880s, 1880, Letter to Theo (Cuesmes, July 1880)
Kontekst: What is true is that I have at times earned my own crust of bread, and at other times a friend has given it to me out of the goodness of his heart. I have lived whatever way I could, for better or for worse, taking things just as they came. It is true that I have forfeited the trust of various people, it is true that my financial affairs are in a sorry state, it is true that the future looks rather bleak, it is true that I might have done better, it is true that I have wasted time when it comes to earning a living, it is true that my studies are in a fairly lamentable and appalling state, and that my needs are greater, infinitely greater than my resources. But does that mean going downhill and doing nothing?
In his letter to Theo, from The Hague, 21 July 1882, http://www.vggallery.com/letters/245_V-T_218.pdf
1880s, 1882
Kontekst: What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart.
That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion.
Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.
1880s, 1880, Letter to Theo (Cuesmes, July 1880)
Kontekst: People are often unable to do anything, imprisoned as they are in I don't know what kind of terrible, terrible, oh such terrible cage.
I do know that there is a release, the belated release. A justly or unjustly ruined reputation, poverty, disastrous circumstances, misfortune, they all turn you into a prisoner. You cannot always tell what keeps you confined, what immures you, what seems to bury you, and yet you can feel those elusive bars, railings, walls. Is all this illusion, imagination? I don't think so. And then one asks: My God! will it be for long, will it be for ever, will it be for eternity?
Letter to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Thursday, 29 December 1881. p. 83; as cited in Dear Theo: the Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh (1995), edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone -
1880s, 1881
Kontekst: I feel a certain calm. There is safety in the midst of danger. What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? It will be a hard pull for me; the tide rises high, almost to the lips and perhaps higher still, how can I know? But I shall fight my battle, and sell my life dearly, and try to win and get the best of it.
In his letter to Theo, from The Hague, 21 July 1882, http://www.vggallery.com/letters/245_V-T_218.pdf
1880s, 1882
Kontekst: What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart.
That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion.
Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.
“I would rather die of passion than of boredom”
Not by van Gogh, but from Emile Zola's novel The Ladies' Paradise (1883)
Misattributed
Quote in his letter from Drenthe, The Netherlands, Oct. 1883, 'Van Gogh's Letters', http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/13/336.htm
1880s, 1883
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
In his letter to Theo, from The Hague, 22 October 1882, http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/11/237.htm
1880s, 1882
“That God of the clergymen, He is for me as dead as a doornail. But am I an atheist for all that?”
In his letter to Theo, from Etten, c. 21 December 1881, Letter #164 http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/10/164.htm, as translated by Mrs. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, as published in The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh (1991) edited by Robert Harrison] <!-- also quoted in Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh (1995) Edited by Irving Stone -->
1880s, 1881
Kontekst: That God of the clergymen, He is for me as dead as a doornail. But am I an atheist for all that? The clergymen consider me as such — be it so; but I love, and how could I feel love if I did not live, and if others did not live, and then, if we live, there is something mysterious in that. Now call that God, or human nature or whatever you like, but there is something which I cannot define systematically, though it is very much alive and very real, and see, that is God, or as good as God. To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God, not a dead one, or a stuffed one, but a living one, who with irresistible force urges us toward aimer encore; that is my opinion.
“I have often neglected my appearance. I admit it, and I also admit that it is "shocking."”
1880s, 1880, Letter to Theo (Cuesmes, July 1880)
Kontekst: I have often neglected my appearance. I admit it, and I also admit that it is "shocking." But look here, lack of money and poverty have something to do with it too, as well as a profound disillusionment, and besides, it is sometimes a good way of ensuring the solitude you need, of concentrating more or less on whatever study you are immersed in.
that's another fact.
Apart from that, both she and I have grief enough and trouble enough, but as for regrets — neither of us have any. Look here — I believe without question, or have the certain knowledge, that she loves me. I believe without question, or have the certain knowledge, that I love her. It has been sincerely meant. But has it also been foolish, etc?
Perhaps, if you like — but aren't the wise ones, those who never do anything foolish, even more foolish in my eyes than I am in theirs?
1880s, 1884, Letter to Theo (Nuenen, Oct. 1884)
1880s, 1884, Letter to Theo (Nuenen, Oct. 1884)
Kontekst: I tell you, if one wants to be active, one must not be afraid of going wrong, one must not be afraid of making mistakes now and then. Many people think that they will become good just by doing no harm - but that's a lie, and you yourself used to call it that. That way lies stagnation, mediocrity.
Just slap anything on when you see a blank canvas staring you in the face like some imbecile. You don't know how paralyzing that is, that stare of a blank canvas is, which says to the painter, You can't do a thing. The canvas has an idiotic stare and mesmerises some painters so much that they turn into idiots themselves. Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of 'you can't' once and for all.
Life itself, too, is forever turning an infinitely vacant, dispiriting blank side towards man on which nothing appears, any more than it does on a blank canvas. But no matter how vacant and vain, how dead life may appear to be, the man of faith, of energy, of warmth, who knows something, will not be put off so easily. He wades in and does something and stays with it, in short, he violates, "defiles" - they say. Let them talk, those cold theologians.
In a letter to Émile Bernard, from Arles, June 1888, in 'Van Gogh's Letters', http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/18/B06.htm
1880s, 1888
Kontekst: There is no blue without yellow and without orange, and if you put in blue, then you must put in yellow, and orange too, mustn't you? Oh well, you will tell me that what I write to you are only banalities.
“The work is an absolute necessity for me.”
Quote in Vincent's letter to Theo van Gogh, from The Hague, 3 June 1883; as cited in Stranger on the Earth : A Psychological Biography of Vincent Van Gogh (1996) by Albert J. Lubin, p. 22
Variant translation: For me, the work is an absolute necessity. I cannot put it off; I don't care for anything else; that is to say, the pleasure in something else ceases at once, and I become melancholy when I cannot go on with my work. I feel then as the weaver does when he sees that his threads have got tangled, the pattern he had on the loom has gone to the deuce, and his exertion and deliberation are lost.
As quoted in Dear Theo: the Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh (1995) edited by Irving Stone and Jean Stone, p. 204
1880s, 1883
Kontekst: The work is an absolute necessity for me. I can't put it off, I don't care for anything but the work; that is to say, the pleasure in something else ceases at once and I become melancholy when I can't go on with my work. Then I feel like a weaver who sees that his threads are tangled, and the pattern he had on the loom is gone to hell, and all his thought and exertion is lost.
In a letter to his sister Willemien, c. 21 October 1889, from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let812/letter.html
Vincent refers in this quote to his late painting 'Ward in the hospital'
1880s, 1889
Kontekst: Now I'm working on [a painting of the hospital ward https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Ward_in_the_Hospital_in_Arles.jpg. In the foreground a big black stove around which a few grey or black shapes of patients, then behind the very long ward, tiled with red with the two rows of white beds, the walls white, but a lilac or green white, and the windows with pink curtains, with green curtains, and in the background two figures of nuns in black and white. The ceiling is violet with large beams. I had read an article on Dostoevsky, who had written a book, 'Souvenirs de la maison des morts' and that spurred me on to begin work again on a large study that I'd begun in the fever ward in Arles. But it's annoying to paint figures without models. I've read another of Carmen Sylva's ideas, which is very true: when you suffer a lot – you see everybody at a great distance, and as if at the far end of an immense arena – the very voices seem to come from a long way off. I've experienced this in these crises to such a point that all the people I see then seem to me, even if I recognize them – which isn't always the case – to come from very far away and to be entirely different from what they are in reality..
“The lamps are burning and the starry sky is over it all.”
Źródło: The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
