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foraging_pages's review against another edition
This beautiful collection of Vincent’s letters to his brother Theo begins with a memoir by his sister-in-law. It’s quite extensive and detailed.
This collection gave me many gifts. I now have a lifetime of quotes to share and contemplate. It also left me with a need to study Millet’s paintings, read Zola’s literature, and immerse myself in nature more often.
___________
A large chunk of Vincent’s letters are him asking his brother for money or calculating the cost of living. This became old quickly. But it isn’t fair to judge his choices when he was trying to pursue his passion.
This collection gave me many gifts. I now have a lifetime of quotes to share and contemplate. It also left me with a need to study Millet’s paintings, read Zola’s literature, and immerse myself in nature more often.
___________
A large chunk of Vincent’s letters are him asking his brother for money or calculating the cost of living. This became old quickly. But it isn’t fair to judge his choices when he was trying to pursue his passion.
starlake's review
amei mt até ficar mt repetitivo!!! espero conseguir voltar a pegar some other time :)
samaira's review
I realised I am not that interested in Van Gogh's life to read this whole thing! and that's okay! nonfiction is mostly not for me I guess, since most of my DNFs have been nonfiction. I just don't think the letters of Van Gogh are that interesting to me.
alexandra_7's review
5.0
Oh, Vincent, what a passionate soul you were.
I don't have words to describe how beautiful these letters are, but thankfully I don't need any because the letters speak for themselves.
"Admire as much as you can, most people don't admire enough."
"I've got nature & art & poetry, & if that isn't enough, what is?"
"The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too."
"How right it is to love flowers and the greenery of pines and ivy and hawthorn hedges; they have been with us from the very beginning."
"Well, that's how it is, can you tell what goes on within by looking at what happens without? There may be a great fire in your soul, but no one ever comes to warm himself by it, all that passers-by can see is a little smoke coming out of the chimney and they walk on."
"Oh, please give me the freedom to be a bird like other birds."
"You see, brother, I think of you a very great deal these days, in the first place because everything, all that I have, is really yours, my lust for life and my energy, too, for I am able to get going now with your help and can feel my capacity to work flowing back."
"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 never will 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."
"You do realize, don't you, that I'm sure you have saved my life and I shall never forget that. [...] Money can be repaid, not kindness such as yours."
"Art is something which, though produced by human hands, is not wrought by hands alone, but wells up from a deeper source, from man's soul."
"To some, woman is heresy and diabolical. To me she is the opposite."
"I have work and nature here. If I didn't have that, I should turn melancholy. [...] For what is really wretched is loneliness, worries, problems, and the unfulfilled need for kindness and sympathy. Feelings of sadness or disappointment undermine us more than dissipation - those of us, I say, who find ourselves the happy owners of irregular hearts."
"But when shall I ever get round to doing the starry sky, that picture which is always in my mind?"
"And in my pictures I want to say something consoling, as music does. I want to paint men and women with a touch of the eternal, whose symbol was once the halo, which we try to convey by the very radiance and vibrancy of our colouring."
"Well, do you know what I hope for, once I allow myself to begin to hope? It is that the family will be for you what nature, the clods of earth, the grass, the yellow wheat, the peasant, are for me, in other words, that you find in your love for people something not only to work for, but to comfort and restore you when there is a need."
"It is only when I stand painting before my easel that I feel in any way alive."
"Ever yours,
Vincent"
I don't have words to describe how beautiful these letters are, but thankfully I don't need any because the letters speak for themselves.
"Admire as much as you can, most people don't admire enough."
"I've got nature & art & poetry, & if that isn't enough, what is?"
"The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too."
"How right it is to love flowers and the greenery of pines and ivy and hawthorn hedges; they have been with us from the very beginning."
"Well, that's how it is, can you tell what goes on within by looking at what happens without? There may be a great fire in your soul, but no one ever comes to warm himself by it, all that passers-by can see is a little smoke coming out of the chimney and they walk on."
"Oh, please give me the freedom to be a bird like other birds."
"You see, brother, I think of you a very great deal these days, in the first place because everything, all that I have, is really yours, my lust for life and my energy, too, for I am able to get going now with your help and can feel my capacity to work flowing back."
"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 never will 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."
"You do realize, don't you, that I'm sure you have saved my life and I shall never forget that. [...] Money can be repaid, not kindness such as yours."
"Art is something which, though produced by human hands, is not wrought by hands alone, but wells up from a deeper source, from man's soul."
"To some, woman is heresy and diabolical. To me she is the opposite."
"I have work and nature here. If I didn't have that, I should turn melancholy. [...] For what is really wretched is loneliness, worries, problems, and the unfulfilled need for kindness and sympathy. Feelings of sadness or disappointment undermine us more than dissipation - those of us, I say, who find ourselves the happy owners of irregular hearts."
"But when shall I ever get round to doing the starry sky, that picture which is always in my mind?"
"And in my pictures I want to say something consoling, as music does. I want to paint men and women with a touch of the eternal, whose symbol was once the halo, which we try to convey by the very radiance and vibrancy of our colouring."
"Well, do you know what I hope for, once I allow myself to begin to hope? It is that the family will be for you what nature, the clods of earth, the grass, the yellow wheat, the peasant, are for me, in other words, that you find in your love for people something not only to work for, but to comfort and restore you when there is a need."
"It is only when I stand painting before my easel that I feel in any way alive."
"Ever yours,
Vincent"
fateandkarma's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
I found myself struggling through some of the exceptionally long parts but overall this was a very lovely read. My heart aches for Vincent.