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VINCENT VAN GOGH:
Excerpts from the Letters
PAINT YOUR GARDEN AS IT IS
To Emile Bernard, St. Remy, beginning of December 1889
As you know, once or twice, while Gauguin was in Arles, I gave myself free rein
with abstractions, for instance in the "Woman Rocking" in the "Woman
Reading a Novel" black in a yellow library; and at the time abstraction seemed to
me a charming path. But it is enchanted ground, old man, and one soon finds
oneself up against a stone wall.
I won't say that one might not venture on it after a virile lifetime of
research, of a hand-to-hand struggle with nature, but I personally don't want to
bother my head with such things. I have been slaving away on nature the whole
year, hardly thinking of Impressionism or of this, that and the other. And yet,
once again I let myself go reaching for stars that are too big-a new failure-and
I have had enough of it.
So I am working at present among the olive trees, seeking after the
various effects of a gray sky against a yellow soil, with a green-black note in the
foliage; another time the soil and the foliage all of a violet hue against a yellow
sky; then again a red-ocher soil and a pinkish green sky. Yes, certainly, this
interests me far more than the above-mentioned abstractions.
If I have not written you for a long while, it is because, as I had to struggle
against my illness, I hardly felt inclined to enter into discussions-and I found
danger in these abstractions. If I work on very quietly, the beautiful subjects will
come of their own accord; really, above all, the great thing is to gather new vigor
in reality_, without any preconceived plan or Parisian prejudice ....
I am telling you about these two canvases, especially about the first one,
to remind you that one can try to give an impression of anguish without aiming
straight at the historic Garden of Gethsemane; that it is not necessary to portray the
characters of the Sermon on the Mount in order to produce a consoling and gentle
motif.
Oh! undoubtedly it is wise and proper to be moved by the Bible, but
modern reality has got such a hold on us that, even when we attempt to reconstruct
the ancient days in our thoughts abstractly, the minor events of our lives tear us
away from our meditations, and our own adventures thrust us back into our
personal sensations-_joy, boredom, suffering, anger, or a smile ....
Sometimes by erring one finds the right road. Go make up for it by
painting your garden just as it is, or whatever you like. In any case it is a good
thing to seek for distinction, nobility in the figures; and studies represent a real
effort, and consequently something quite different from a waste of time. Being
able to divide a canvas into great planes which intermingle, to find lines, forms
which make contrasts, that is technique, tricks if you like, cuisine, but it is a sign
all the same that you are studying your handicraft more deeply, and that is a good
thing.
However hateful painting may be, and however cumbersome in the
times we are living in, if anyone who has chosen this handicraft pursues it
zealously, he is a man of duty, sound and faithful. Society makes our existence
wretchedly difficult at times, hence our impotence and the imperfection of our
work. I believe that even Gauguin himself suffers greatly under it too, and cannot
develop his powers, although it is in him to do it. I myself am suffering under an
absolute lack of models. But on the other hand there are beautiful spots here. I
have just done five size 30 canvases, olive trees. And the reason I am staying on
here is that my health is improving a great deal. What I am doing is hard, dry,
but that is because I am trying to gather new strength by doing some rough work,
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