A good painting should be the equivalent of a good deed. Vincent Van Gogh More Quotes by Vincent Van Gogh More Quotes From Vincent Van Gogh Art is but imitation of nature. Vincent Van Gogh art-isimitationart It always strikes me, and it is very peculiar, that, whenever we see the image of indescribable and unutterable desolation—of loneliness, poverty, and misery, the end and extreme of things—the thought of God comes into one's mind. Vincent Van Gogh lonelinessgodmind I felt my energy return and that I said to myself, in any event I'll recover from it, I'll pick up my pencil that I put down in my great discouragement and I'll get back to drawing, and from then on, it seems to me, everything has changed for me. Vincent Van Gogh drawingreturnenergy It is a pity that, as one gradually gains experience, one loses one's youth. Vincent Van Gogh pityyouthgains I am no friend of present-day Christianity, though its Founder was sublime. Vincent Van Gogh no-friendssublimechristianity For me work is an absolute necessity, indeed I can't really drag it out, I take no more pleasure in anything than in work, that's to say, pleasure in other things stops immediately and I become melancholy if I can't get on with the work. Vincent Van Gogh dragmelancholypleasure It seems to me it's a painter's duty to try to put an idea into his work. Vincent Van Gogh artisttryingideas One of the reasons why I have no regular job, and why I have not had a regular job for years, is quite simply that my ideas differ from those of the gentlemen who hand out the jobs to individuals who think as they do. It is not just a question of my appearance, which is what they have sanctimoniously reproached me with. It goes deeper, I do assure you. Vincent Van Gogh jobshandsthinking Don't lose heart if it's very difficult at times, everything will come out all right and nobody can in the beginning do as he wishes. Vincent Van Gogh difficultwishheart That I was not suited to commerce or academic study in no way proves that I should also be unfit to be a painter. Vincent Van Gogh academicstudyway Well, I am ploughing on my canvases as they do on their fields (the peasants). It goes badly enough in our profession - in fact that has always been so, but at the moment it is very bad. Vincent Van Gogh ploughingfieldsfacts Art, although produced by man's hands, is something not created by hands alone, but something which wells up from a deeper source out of our soul.....My sympathies in the literary as well as in the artistic field are drawn most strongly to those artists in whom I see most the working of the soul. Vincent Van Gogh menhandsart Sometimes I long so much to do landscape, just as one would go for a long walk to refresh oneself, and in all of nature, in trees for instance, I see expression and a soul. Vincent Van Gogh long-walksexpressiontree Drawing is the root of everything. Vincent Van Gogh drawingroots I will not live without love. Vincent Van Gogh without-lovelove The uglier, older, meaner, iller, poorer I get, the more I wish to take my revenge by doing brilliant color, well arranged, resplendent. Vincent Van Gogh colorrevengewish If you work diligently... without saying to yourself beforehand, 'I want to make this or that,' if you work as though you were making a pair of shoes, without artistic preoccupation, you will not always find you do well. But the days you least expect it, you will find a subject which holds its own with the work of those who have gone before. Vincent Van Gogh shoesgonewant To know life, one must love many things. Vincent Van Gogh knows A woman is not old as long as she loves and is loved Vincent Van Gogh long There was a sentence in your letter that struck me, “I wish I were far away from everything, I am the cause of all, and bring only sorrow to everybody, I alone have brought all this misery on myself and others.” These words struck me because that same feeling, just the same, not more nor less, is also on my conscience. Vincent Van Gogh sorrowwishfeelings
