In September of 1888, Vincent Van Gogh painted Starry Night Over the Rhone,
During the same month, he wrote a letter to his brother Theo, and he began trying to explain how his frame of mind had changed since his recent move to Arles. Because of his move to Arles, Vincent had begun to recognize light in the world.
By June of 1889, Vincent was consumed by light, and he painted the most famous Starry Night–an interpretation of his earlier painting,
Fortunately, we have Vincent Van Gogh’s letters and can visualize how light has the capacity to alter one’s outlook on life.
To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 18 September 1888.
Letter 682
My dear Theo,
“Many thanks for your letter and for the 50-franc note it contained. …Last night I slept in the house, and although there are still things to be done, I feel very happy there. Besides, I feel that I can make something of it that will last, and from which someone else will also be able to benefit. Now money spent will no longer be money wasted, and I believe it won’t be long before you see the difference there. …
“My dear Theo, here we are, at last, more on the right road! It’s true that it doesn’t matter not having hearth nor home as long as you’re young, and living like a traveller, in cafés, but that was becoming intolerable to me now, and most of all, it wasn’t compatible with thoughtful work. So my plan is all worked out. I’ll try to do painting for what you send me every month, and then I want to do painting for the house. What I do for the house will be to reimburse you for previous expenditure. …
Letter 683
My dear Theo,
I already wrote to you early this morning,
1 then I went to continue working on a painting of a sunny garden.
2
Path in a Public Garden – Vincent Van Gogh
Painted in September 1888
Then I brought it back — and went out again with a blank canvas and that’s done, too.3
The Poet’s Garden – Vincent Van Gogh
Painted in 1888
And now I feel like writing to you again.
Because I’ve never had such good fortune;
nature here is extraordinarily beautiful. Everything and everywhere. The dome of the sky is a wonderful blue, the sun has a pale sulphur radiance, and it’s soft and charming, like the combination of celestial blues and yellows in paintings by
Vermeer of Delft. I can’t paint as beautifully as that, but
it absorbs me so much that I let myself go without thinking about any rule.
That gives me 3 paintings of the gardens facing the house.
Cafe Terrace at Night – Vincent Van Gogh
Painted in September of 1888
The Night Cafe – Vincent Van Gogh
Painted in 1888
Sunflowers – Vincent Van Gogh
Painted in 1888
Eugene Boch – Vincent Van Gogh
Painted in 1888
Self Portrait at the Easel – Vincent Van Gogh
Painted in 1888
Then the red sun over the factory
8 and the men unloading sand.
9 The old mill.
10 Leaving the other studies aside, you can see that some hard work has been done.
1v:2
But my colours, my canvas, my wallet are completely exhausted today. The last painting, done with the last tubes on exhausted today.
Path in a Public Garden
The last painting, done with the last tubes on the last canvas, is a naturally green garden, is painted without green as such, with nothing but Prussian blue and chrome yellow. I’m beginning to feel quite different from what I was when I came here, I have no more doubts, I no longer hesitate to tackle something, and that could increase still further.
But what scenery! It’s a public garden where I am, just near the street of the good little ladies, and
Mourier, for example, never went there, whereas we used to walk in these gardens almost every day, but on the other side (there are 3 of them).
11 But you’ll understand that it’s precisely that which gives a
je ne sais quoi of
Boccaccio to the place.
12 That side of the garden is also, for the same reason of chastity or morality, empty of flowering shrubs such as the oleander. It’s ordinary plane trees, pines in tall clumps, a weeping tree and green grass. But it has such intimacy! There are gardens like that by
Monet.
1v:3 ….
“I’m thrilled, thrilled, thrilled with what I see.
And that gives you yearnings for autumn,13 a zest that means that time passes without your feeling it. Beware the morning after, beware the winter mistrals. …
“I have such luck with the house — with work — that I even dare believe that blessings won’t come singly, but that you’ll share them for your part, and have good luck too. …
” Now Petrarch was just near here, in Avignon,16 and I see the same cypresses and oleanders.
I’ve tried to put something of that into one of the gardens, painted with thick impasto, lemon yellow and lemon green.
17 …
“My dear Theo, when you’ve seen the cypresses, the oleanders, the sun down here — and that day will come, don’t worry — you’ll think even more often of beautiful works by Puvis de Chavannes: Pleasant land19…
“When the mistral’s blowing, though, it’s the very opposite of a pleasant land here, because the mistral’s really aggravating. But what a compensation, what a compensation, when there’s a day with no wind. What intensity of colours, what pure air, what serene vibrancy. 2r:5 Tomorrow I’m going to draw until the colours arrive.24
The Poet’s Garden
“But now I’ve reached the point where I’ve made up my mind not to draw a painting in charcoal any more. There’s no point; you have to tackle the drawing with the colour itself in order to draw well,” From the Letters at the Van Gogh Museum
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Discover more from Jacki Kellum
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
