To make progress is a kind of miner’s work it doesn’t advance as quickly as one would like, and as others also expect, but as one stands before such a task, the basic necessities are patience and faithfulness. The difficulties are indeed numerous and great, and cannot be overcome at once. It constantly remains a source of disappointment to me that my drawings are not yet what I want them to be. The emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting. 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. 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 will never have in short, the lowest of the low. I tell you, the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. And then one asks: My God! will it be for long, will it be for ever, will it be for eternity? Vincent van Gogh Is all this illusion, imagination? I don’t think so. You cannot always tell what keeps you confined, what immures you, what seems to bury you, and yet you can feel those elusive bars, railings, walls. I wish I could manage to make you really understand that when you give money to artists, you are yourself doing an artist’s work, and that I only want my pictures to be of such a quality that you will not be too dissatisfied with your work. But have I set my heart on my work being a success? A thousand times no. I see more and more that my work goes infinitely better when I am properly fed, and the paints are there, and the studio and all that. You must choose your own line, as I hope to do, and it will probably be color. You can’t be at the pole and the equator at the same time. I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate. I want them to say ‘he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.’ Vincent van Gogh My opinion is that the best thing would be to work on till art lovers feel drawn toward it of their own accord, instead of having to praise or to explain it. But that spurs me on to work and to seriousness, as a miner who is always in danger makes haste in what he does. But during the attacks it is terrible – and then I lose consciousness of everything. I am not strictly speaking mad, for my mind is absolutely normal in the intervals, and even more so than before. I throw myself headlong into my work, and come up again with my studies if the storm within gets too loud, I take a glass too much to stun myself. If I were to think of and dwell on disastrous possibilities, I could do nothing. I certainly hope to sell in the course of time, but I think I shall be able to influence it most effectively by working steadily on, and that at the present moment making desperate efforts to force the work I am doing now upon the public would be pretty useless. I am risking my life for my work, and half my reason has gone. Van Gogh was 37 years old when he passed away.Ĭheck out these books on Vincent van Gogh: “ Van Gogh: Complete Works“, “ The Letters of Vincent van Gogh“, and “ Van Gogh: His Life and Works in 500 Images“. Vincent van Gogh died on the 29th of July, 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. He suffered from various mental problems which eventually led to his early death from a self inflicted gunshot wound. His mother was Anna Cornelia Carbentus and his father Theodorus van Gogh. Mini biography: Born Vincent Willem van Gogh on the 30th of March, 1853 in Zundert, Netherlands. Famous Vincent van Gogh paintings include “Sunflowers”, “The Potato Eaters”, “Bedroom in Arles”, and “The Night Cafe”. He produced paintings and drawings of mostly landscapes, portraits and still lifes. During his lifetime he wasn’t financially successful as an artist but after his death he would influence modern art and beyond. Vincent van Gogh is a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter and one of the most famous artists in the world.