Quotes

A selection of Van Gogh's most remarkable quotes. Do you miss one? Let us know!

"I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate."

(Letter to Horace M. Livens, August/Oct 1886)

"I am struggling for life and progress in art."

(Letter to Horace M. Livens, August/Oct 1886)

"Bad time must be lived through."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 26 January 1882)

"This model is a beautiful girl but she wants 1.50 guilders a day and that is too expensive for me just now. So I try to manage with my little old woman."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 26 January 1882)

"I think the success or failure of a drawing also depends greatly on the mood and the condition of the painter."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 26 January 1882)

"If I had done only landscapes, yes, then I should probably do something that would sell at a small price now, but then later I would be stranded."

(Letter Theo van Gogh, 13 February 1882)

"I think that in my last drawings the proportions are much better than before, which has been the worst fault in my drawings up to now; thank God it is changing, and then I shall not fear anything."

(Letter Theo van Gogh, 13 February 1882)

"Drawing is the principal thing, whatever they may say, and it is the most difficult too."

(Letter Theo van Gogh, 18 February 1882)

"My work is becoming more and more absorbing to me, and it is only with effort that I tear myself away from it to write a letter or call on someone when necessary."

(Letter Theo van Gogh, 25 February 1882)

"Although money is of great value to me, especially now, the principal thing is for me to make something serious."

(Letter Theo van Gogh, 25 February 1882)

"It may take a longer or a shorter time, but the surest way is to penetrate deep into nature."

(Letter Theo van Gogh, 25 February 1882)

"I simply must sell something. If I could afford to, I would keep everything that I am doing now for myself, since if I could just keep it for a year, I feel sure I would get more for it."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 3 March 1882)

"I do not say peace at any price."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 22 September 1883)

"I am not good from a clergyman's point of view. I know full well that, frankly speaking, prostitutes are bad, but I feel something human in them which prevents me from feeling the slightest scruple about associating with them; I see nothing very wrong in them."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 22 September 1883)

"If I look at my equipment, everything is too miserable, too insufficient, too dilapidated."

(Letter from Vincent to Theo van Gogh, 26 September 1883)

"Lord, keep my memory green!"

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 3 March 1878)

"If I did not feel more strongly every day that I must earn some money."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 26 March 1884)

"There are two ways of thinking about painting, how not to do it and how to do it; how to do it -- with much drawing and little color; how not to do it -- with much color and little drawing."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, April 1882)

“In both figure and landscape … I want to get to the point where people say of my work: that man feels deeply, that man feels keenly.”

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 21 July 1882)

"I know for sure that I have an instinct for color, and that it will come to me more and more, that painting is in the very marrow of my bones."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 3 September 1882)

"Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitrary use of color to express myself more forcefully."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 11 August 1888)

"Just consider whether it is sensible to talk a great deal about technique nowadays."

(Letter to Anthon van Rappard, 2nd half March 1884)

"Painting is like having a bad mistress who spends and spends and it's never enough ... I tell myself that even if a tolerable study comes out of it from time to time, it would have been cheaper to buy it from somebody else."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 23 June 1888)

"Nature always begins by resisting the artist, but he who really takes it seriously he will not be put off by that opposition.”

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 12 October 1881)

"... in the future my name ought to be put in the catalogue as I sign it on the canvas, namely Vincent and not Van Gogh, for the simple reason that they do not know how to pronounce the latter name here."

(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 24 March 1888)

Quotes

"I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate."

"I am struggling for life and progress in art."

"Bad time must be lived through."

"This model is a beautiful girl but she wants 1.50 guilders a day and that is too expensive for me just now. So I try to manage with my little old woman."

"I think the success or failure of a drawing also depends greatly on the mood and the condition of the painter."

"If I had done only landscapes, yes, then I should probably do something that would sell at a small price now, but then later I would be stranded."

"I think that in my last drawings the proportions are much better than before, which has been the worst fault in my drawings up to now; thank God it is changing, and then I shall not fear anything."

"Drawing is the principal thing, whatever they may say, and it is the most difficult too."

"My work is becoming more and more absorbing to me, and it is only with effort that I tear myself away from it to write a letter or call on someone when necessary."

"Although money is of great value to me, especially now, the principal thing is for me to make something serious."

"It may take a longer or a shorter time, but the surest way is to penetrate deep into nature."

"I simply must sell something. If I could afford to, I would keep everything that I am doing now for myself, since if I could just keep it for a year, I feel sure I would get more for it."

"I do not say peace at any price."

"I am not good from a clergyman's point of view. I know full well that, frankly speaking, prostitutes are bad, but I feel something human in them which prevents me from feeling the slightest scruple about associating with them; I see nothing very wrong in them."

"If I look at my equipment, everything is too miserable, too insufficient, too dilapidated."

"Lord, keep my memory green!"

"If I did not feel more strongly every day that I must earn some money."

"There are two ways of thinking about painting, how not to do it and how to do it; how to do it -- with much drawing and little color; how not to do it -- with much color and little drawing."

“In both figure and landscape … I want to get to the point where people say of my work: that man feels deeply, that man feels keenly.”

"I know for sure that I have an instinct for color, and that it will come to me more and more, that painting is in the very marrow of my bones."

"Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitrary use of color to express myself more forcefully."

"Just consider whether it is sensible to talk a great deal about technique nowadays."

"Painting is like having a bad mistress who spends and spends and it's never enough ... I tell myself that even if a tolerable study comes out of it from time to time, it would have been cheaper to buy it from somebody else."

"Nature always begins by resisting the artist, but he who really takes it seriously he will not be put off by that opposition.”

"... in the future my name ought to be put in the catalogue as I sign it on the canvas, namely Vincent and not Van Gogh, for the simple reason that they do not know how to pronounce the latter name here."

Get our free Newsletter!