The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
Page 56
4 Herman Tersteeg.
* The same is true of the feeling for art. Do not succumb too much to that either. Above all, save some love for the business & for your work, & respect for Mr Tersteeg. One day you will appreciate, better than now, how much he deserves that. No need to overdo it, though.
1 Vincent.
1 Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Epistle to the Philippians 4:8).
2 ‘ “Bread… life”’: in English.
1 ‘The early… noon’: in English.
1 Slight misquotation (in English) from Christina Rossetti’s ‘Up-Hill’. Van Gogh had already quoted this poem earlier, in a letter to Theo from Paris on 6 October 1875.
1 Quotation in English. Based on Isaiah 66:2.
2 Quotation in English. Based on Acts 2:47.
3 Teunis van Iterson, Tersteeg’s assistant at Goupil’s in The Hague.
4 Reproduced here as Vincent wrote it.
1 Chalk cliffs.
2 Melancholy.
3 Woe.
4 Courage.
5 Hogere Burgerschool (high school).
1‘ “which… wings’”: in English.
2 IJ: lake near Amsterdam.
3 General History.
4 It took only forty years’ work, thought and attention.
5 Melancholy.
6 His life of ink and paper.
1 That at certain times in his life it did him good to forget himself completely and to throw himself into his work without reservation, that he then achieved a great deal and later felt strengthened and further along the road on which he had set out, and enlightened in spirit For all that, no one knows even now how much effort his sermons cost him.
2 ‘Lord… green!’: in English.
1 We are today what we were yesterday.
2 Gentlemen.
3 With a ray of light from on high and a fiety finger.
4 Inward and spiritual man.
5 Labourers, your life is bleak, labourers, your life is full of suffering, labourers, you are blessed.
6 A whole life of struggle and labour borne unflinchingly.
7 Should be indefessi favente Deo (by the grace of God unwearied).
8 Melancholy.
9 Woe.
10 Courage.
11 Of throwing oneself into work unreservedly and with all one’s strength.
12 Lift up your hearts.
1. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, sayin Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
2 Christ.
1 Cures worse than the disease.
2 ‘Yours truly’: in English.
1 ‘ “shocking”‘: in English.
2 ‘“the inside of a church”’: in English.
3 Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities.
4 You may never have thought what your country really is, he continued, placing his hand on my shoulder; it is everything around you, everything that has raised and nourished you, everything that you have loved. This countryside that you see, these houses, these trees, these young girls laughing as they pass, that is your country! The laws that protect you, the bread that rewards your labour, the words you speak, the joy and sorrow that come from the people and things in whose midst you live, that is your country! The little room where you used in days gone by to see your mother, the memories she left you, the earth in which she rests, that is your country! You see it, you breathe it, everywhere! Imagine your rights and your duties, your affections and your needs, your memories and your gratitude, gather all that together under a single name and that name will be your country.
1 A digger.
1 “‘intangible’”: in English.
2 ‘ “taming… shrew”’: in English.
3 Willy-nilly.
4 Persistence is better than surrender.
1 Amistakefor 3/11 1881 (3 November 1881).
2 Minor irritations of human life.
3‘ “how… it”’: in English.
4. The more she disappears the more she appears.
5. ‘old boy’: in English.
1 Much good it may do you; ’old boy’: in English.
2 Unreservedly.
3 What a business!
4 That’s all there is to it
5 A town near Etten in Noord-Brabant, also called St Willebrord.
6 Johannus Paulus Strieker, Uncle Strieker, the father of Kee unannounced, he might perhaps have no alternative but to turn a blind eye for the sake of peace.
7 Minor irritations of human life.
8 ‘ “that… danger” ’: in English.
9 ‘ “This… flattery” ’: in English (from As You Like It).
10 Every man is considered innocent until proved guilty.
11 ‘Yours truly’: in English.
12 A lost soul.
13 ‘I speak … down” ’: in English.
14 ‘What’s … thee?’: in English.
15 God knows.
1 A mistake for 18/11 (18 November 1881).
2 Reluctantly.
3 Be that as it may.
4 Well, I shake your hand, and believe me.
1 False position.
2 So be it.
3 Minor irritation of human life (see Letter 153).
4 What’s that?
5 ‘intangible’: in either French or English.
6 And after that?
7 The correct title is Du prêtre, de la femme, de h famille.
8 I am under great pressure.
9 A woman worker.
10 Any woman, at any age, if she loves and is a good woman, can give a man not the infinity of a moment, but a moment of infinity.
11 I don’t know what.
12 Greenhorn.
13 So much the better for him.
14 All the same.
15 There are no old women.
16 Without realizing it.
17 Inside information.
18 So much the better.
19 There is some good in every movement.
20 Anna Carbentus, Vincent’s cousin.
1 At all costs.
2 Deep down.
3 For want of anything better.
4 Inside information.
5 Title in English.
6 Title in English.
7 Title in English.
8 The artists’ society and headquarters of the Hague School.
1 There you have it.
2 ‘after all’: in English.
3 Shame to him who thinks ill of if, usually rendered ‘evil be to him who evil thinks’.
1 Landscape painter.
2 Man of the world.
3 What are you doing to me? You are getting on my nerves.
4 That will do.
5 Without knowing it.
6 However that may be.
7 ‘ “how… it” ’: in English.
8 Well, we shall see.
9 After all.
10 Nothing.
11 Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
12 Is that enough?
* Small wonder she wasn’t well, the child was in the wrong position and she needed an operation, that is, the child had to be turned round with forceps. But there is a good chance that she will pull through. She is due to given birth in June.
1 Christien’s.
2 Reluctantly.
3 Inopportune.
1 Awkward customer.
2 Be that as it may.
3 After all.
4 Devotion.
1 United we stand, divided we fall.
2 Despite everything.
3 Just between us.
4 The other side of the coin.
1 In spite of everything.
2 It seems absurd to me that people want to seem other than they are.
3 At that.
> 4 Endless. Van Gogh was probably referring to ‘paper on a roll’ of a certain standard thickness.
1 did this or that all the same. Vincent actually wrote the Dutch for ‘or’, of, instead of the French ou.
2 I must do this or that all the same. Vincent wrote ok [where] instead of ou.
3 A type of cigar.
4 There must be soup for the children all the same.
5 Lost illusions.
1 Terracottas.
1 Forlorn efforts.
1 Van Gogh was referring to Scenes de la vie de Bobéme, by Henry Murger.
2 Assiduously.
1 The crack of dawn.
2 ‘Black… exhibition’: in English.
3 Washed.
4 ‘Black & White’: in English.
5 ‘Black & White’: in English.
6 ‘Black & White’: in English.
7 Dried Herbs, the Dutch translation of Reuter’s Sämtlube Werke (Complete Works).
8 So be it.
1 Edge of a wood.
2 A comer of nature viewed through a temperament.
3 Man added to nature.
4 So much the better.
5 As absurd as can be.
6 ‘“Weird”‘: in English.
7 All the same.
8 Prejudice.
9 A standard size of paper, 61/2 x 41/2 nches (16.5 x 10.5 cm) for photographs.
10 When all’s said and done.
11 Sketches.
12 Bearing.
13 Facial expressions.
1 In spite of everything.
2 So much the better.
1 Error in viewpoint
2 More or less.
3 With all the more reason.
4 After all.
5 cAnguish.
6 Whatever happens.
7 Thy will be done.
1 Overall impression.
2 Of one hundred masterpieces.
1 Voluptuousness.
2 Communal ovea.
3 Faded.
4 Shifting Sands and Black Sheep.
5 After all.
1 ‘“weird”‘: in English.
2 “quaint”‘: in English.
1 ‘Money… yours’: in English.
1 Eagerness.
2 Too bad.
3 The male is very savage.
1 Those Messrs.
2 For all that.
3 Those two faces looked at each other - they exchanged a spiteful, cold, secretive glance - what is the matter? Always the same thing- she is.
* I am referring here to the study of the cottage at dusk and to the largest of the turf huts, namely the one with the small green field in the foreground.
4 Come now.
5 That a door must be either open or closed.
6 Everything has its price.
7 Common grave.
8 After all.
9 To go through hard times.
10 Awkward customers.
11 That’s all.
12 Willingness not to cause offence, confidence to stand firm.
1 When all is said and done.
2 Lions do not ape one another.
3 Skilful.
4 Tricks of the studio.
5 Of good faith.
1 At our place we love the clients.
2 To conquer [or] to be conquered.
3 ‘would be’: in English.
4 Mouret says, ‘If you think you are strong because you refuse to be stupid and to suffer, well, then you’re just a fool, that’s all.’
‘Are you enjoying yourself?’
Mouret did not seem to understand immediately, but when he remembered their earlier conversation abou the empty stupidity and the pointless torture of life, he replied, ‘Of course – I have never lived so intensely… Ah, my dear fellow, don’t scoff! The hours in which one dies of suffering are the shortest.’
I want her, I shall have her!… and – if she escapes me then you’ll see what I do to be cured of it all – You don’t understand this language, my dear fellow, otherwise you’d know that action is its own reward – to act, to create. To fight against the facts, to conquer them or be conquered by them, therein lies all human health and happiness!
5 In spite of everything.
6 After all.
1 Peasants at home.
2 Pastor Theodoras van Gogh had unexpectedly died of a heart attack on 26 March 1885.
3 I would never do away with suffering, for it is often what makes artists express themselves most forcefully.
4 For the best.
5 As I go about in clogs, I’ll manage.
6 What matters is going about in clogs.
7 Suburbs.
8 One has to put one’s all into art
1 Acting-creating.
2 Overall effect.
3 What a daub!
4 nasty, crude, filthy, stinking.
1 Knowledge - no one has that.
2 A little knowledge.
3 Professional expertise.
1 The brave.
2 After all.
3 Future.
4 Working like several slaves.
5 Painting angels! Who has ever seen angels?
6 Justice in the harem, who has ever seen justice in the harem?
7 Bullfights, who has ever seen those?
8 Makers of popular prints!
9 Prejudice.
10 In the picture (the work of art), I look for, I love the man - the artist.
11 It cannot be done better.
12 Above all.
13 Modelling.
14 Men of the world.
15 Workers.
1 ‘for ever’: in English.
2 ‘Black & White’: in English.
3 Frame.
4 Flickering. Van Gogh ‘Dutchified’ the French papilhtement.
5 Picture dealers.
1 Café providing a cabaret or musical entertainment
2 For my part, champagne doesn’t cheer me up, it makes me very sad.
3 A people withdrawn from society.
4 Even so.
5 Enterprising.
6 Dance halls.
7 High spirits.
8 Van Gogh’s doctor in Brabant
9 After all.
10 A tough hide.
11 Teashop.
12 Gravity.
13 Confound it
14 At all costs.
15 The end of the century.
1 A 20-franc piece.
2 Probably Grapes and Pears.