漏 Copyright 2001 R. G. Harrison Letter 357 Nuenen, c. 18 鈥?23 February 1884
Dear Theo,
Just a word to tell you 鈥?that partly as a result of your letter, in which you mention pen-and-ink drawings 鈥? I can send you 5 such drawings of weavers, which I drew after my painted studies, and which are a little different 鈥?and I think more vigorous of technique, than the pen drawings of mine you have seen up to now.
I am working at them early and late, for except the painted studies, and the pen-and-ink drawings, I have also some new watercolours of them on the easel.
My thoughts have been with you often recently, partly owing to a little book which you sent origionally and which I borrowed from L. 鈥?Poems by Fran莽ois Coppe茅. I knew only very few of them, but they had already greatly struck me at the time.
He is one of the true artists 鈥?鈥渜ue y mettent leur peau鈥?鈥?which is evident from more than one poignant confession. Artist the more because he finds his inspiration in so many very diverse things, and can paint a third-class waiting room full of emigrants who are spending the night there 鈥?everything grey and gloomy and melancholy 鈥?and in another mood he can draw a little marquise dancing a minuet, as elegant as a little figure by Watteau That losing oneself in the present 鈥?that being quite carried away and inspired by the surroundings in which one chances to be 鈥?how can one help it? And even if one should resist it at will, of what use would it be,
why shouldn鈥檛 one yield to what is directly before one, this being apr猫s tout, the surest way to create something.
I was struck by the last poem in the book, called: 鈥淒茅sir dans le spleen,鈥?which I copy to remind you of it: Tout vit, tout aime, et moi, triste et seul, je me dresse Ainsi qu鈥檜n arbre mort sur le ciel de printemps鈥? [All life, all love, and I, sad and alone, I am sanding like a dead tree against the sky of spring鈥
and then this: DOULEUR BERC脡E Toi que j鈥檃i vu pareil au ch锚ne foudroy茅 Je te retrouve 茅poux, je te retrouve p猫re鈥? [SORROW ASSUAGED You, who I have seen like a lightning-struck oak,
I find you again, a husband, I find you again, a father鈥
And then this: BLESSURE ROUVERTE O mon coeur, es tu donc si d茅bile et si l芒che,
Et serais tu pareil au for莽芒t qu鈥檕n rel芒che鈥? [REOPENED WOUND Oh my heart, are you then so feeble and so cowardly,
And would you be like a convict whom they release鈥
Sure this is poetry, and of the best.
鈥淒茅sir dans le spleen鈥?especially I think so true, it paints how, in those very souls that are exhausted and on the verge of dropping, there arises at moments that infinite renewal of desire, as if they had no past behind 漏 Copyright 2001 R. G. Harrison them. I thought of Rembrandt鈥檚 鈥淛ewish Bride,鈥?and what Thor茅 says of it. Thor茅 in his prime, and Th茅ophile Gautier and so many others 鈥?how things have changed since then 鈥?and how much duller everything has become. If one wants to keep some of the sacred fire alive nowadays, in short, one must show it as little as possible to others.
Did you receive the package I sent you last week? I must keep the pen-and-ink drawings here for another week, because I need them to finish other things which I started at the same time.
However, you will receive them soon, but please let me know if the package arrived all right, and if it had enough stamps.
Because drawings perhaps count as manuscripts, more may be due for them.
Goodbye, I hope you will be able to find some use for them.
Yours sincerely, Vincent
Father wrote you a few days ago about Mother; since then all is well, and today the doctor said that at first he had not dared to hope that all would go so favourably.