your loving, vincent

quotes from letters penned by vincent van gogh

[nostalgicbones]

made a new uquiz: choose your favorite paintings by vincent van gogh and i’ll assign you a quote from one of his letters 💫🎨🌅

[lettersfromvincent]

“The days fly past, […] but I fight against it by stretching them out a bit in the mornings and evenings.”

Letter #120. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Amsterdam, Tuesday, 12 June 1877.

[lettersfromvincent]

“There is safety in the midst of danger. What would life be if we didn’t dare to take things in hand?”

Letter #194. Vincent Van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Thursday, 29 December 1881.

[lettersfromvincent]

“This morning I still have a lot of work to do, I see that it isn’t easy and will no doubt become much more difficult, yet have unfaltering hope that I’ll succeed, and I’m also convinced that I’ll learn to work by working, and that my work will become better and more substantial.”

Letter #115. Vincent Van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Amsterdam, Monday, 21 and Tuesday, 22 May 1877.

[lettersfromvincent]

“I sometimes think how wonderful it is that we have the same ground beneath our feet and that we speak the same language.”

Letter #102. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Dordrecht, Wednesday, 7 and Thursday, 8 February 1877.

[lettersfromvincent]

“Again and again one heard thunder and saw lightning, the sky looked like a painting by Ruisdael, and the gulls were flying low over the water. It was a magnificent sight, and really refreshing after the oppressive heat of yesterday.”

Letter #120. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Amsterdam, Tuesday, 12 June 1877.

[lettersfromvincent]

“We want to stay together today. Which would be better, the joy of seeing each other again or the sadness of parting? (…) Wasn’t it as though nature sympathized with us? It was so grey and rather dismal a couple of hours ago. Now I look out over rolling pastures, and everything is so quiet and the sun is setting behind the grey clouds and throws a golden glow across the land. (…) When we arrived at the last station before London the sun rose. The bank of grey clouds had disappeared and there was the sun, so simple and as big as possible, a real Easter sun. The grass was sparkling with dew and night frost. And yet I prefer that grey hour when we parted.”

Letter #076. Vincent van Gogh to Theodorus van Gogh and Anna van Gogh-Carbentus. Ramsgate, Monday, 17 April 1876.

[lettersfromvincent]

“And now this evening New Year’s Eve again, if only you were here.”

Letter #100. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Etten, Sunday, 31 December 1876.

[lettersfromvincent]

“Be of good heart if things sometimes get difficult, everything will come right later on, and no one can do what he really wants in the beginning.”

Letter #004. Vincent Van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Tuesday, 28 January 1873.

[lettersfromvincent]

To express the love of two lovers through a marriage of two complementary colours, their mixture and their contrasts, the mysterious vibrations of adjacent tones. To express the thought of a forehead through the radiance of a light tone on a dark background. To express hope through some star. The ardour of a living being through the rays of a setting sun. That’s certainly not trompe-l’oeil realism, but isn’t it something that really exists?

Letter #673. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Arles, Monday, 3 September 1888.

[lettersfromvincent]

“Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that’s the real way to learn to understand art better and better. Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see.”

Letter #017. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. London, beginning of January 1874.

[lettersfromvincent]

“Be of good heart if things sometimes get difficult, everything will come right later on, and no one can do what he really wants in the beginning.”

Letter #004. Vincent Van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Tuesday, 28 January 1873.

[lettersfromvincent]

“…there’s a house surrounded by pine trees, yesterday evening the light was shining through the windows in such a friendly way…”

Letter #113. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Dordrecht, Monday, 30 April 1877.

[lettersfromvincent]

Love is the best and most noble thing in the human heart, especially when it has been tried and tested in life like gold in the fire, happy is he and strong in himself who has loved much and, even if he has wavered and doubted, has kept that divine fire and has returned to that which was in the beginning and shall never die.

Letter #143. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Amsterdam, Wednesday, 3 April 1878.

[lettersfromvincent]

“Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that’s the real way to learn to understand art better and better. Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see.”

Letter #017. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. London, beginning of January 1874.

[lettersfromvincent]

“Do let us go on quietly, examining all things and holding fast to that which is good, and trying always to learn more that is useful, and gaining more experience.”

Letter #143, Vincent Van Gogh to Theo Van Gogh, Amsterdam, Wednesday, 3 April 1878.

[lettersfromvincent]

“The hours we spent together passed quickly, that small path behind the station where we saw the sun going down over the fields and the evening sky reflected in the ditches, and where those old moss-covered tree-trunks are standing, and the little mill in the distance – I’ll walk there again and think of you.”

Letter #103. Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. Dordrecht, Monday, 26 February 1877.