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Vincent Van Gogh Quotes - Page 12

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If we study Japanese art, we see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time doing what? He studies a single blade of grass.

If we study Japanese art, we see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time doing what? He studies a single blade of grass.

Vincent Van Gogh
Wise, Art, Intelligent
Vincent van Gogh, Mark Roskill (1997). “The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh”, p.295, Simon and Schuster

What has changed is that my life then was less difficult and my future seemingly less gloomy, but as far as my inner self, my way of looking at things and of thinking is concerned, that has not changed. But if there has indeed been a change, then it is that I think, believe and love more seriously now what I thought, believed and loved even then.

Vincent Van Gogh
Believe, Thinking, Self
Vincent van Gogh (2014). “Delphi Complete Works of Vincent van Gogh (Illustrated)”, p.1334, Delphi Classics

I assure you that there's a lot involved in compositions with figures. ... It's like weaving... you must control and keep an eye on several things at once.

Vincent Van Gogh
Eye, Weaving, Figures

I want to paint men and women with that something of the external which the halo used to symbolize, and which we now seek to give by the actual radiance and vibrancy of our colorings.

Vincent Van Gogh
Men, Giving, Halos

It is good to love many things

Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh, Mark Roskill (1997). “The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh”, p.110, Simon and Schuster

Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see.

Vincent Van Gogh
And Love, Teach, Painter
Vincent van Gogh (2009). “Saint-Rémy-de-Provence - Auvers-sur-Oise, 1889-1890, [772-902]”

I am always in the hope to express the love of two lovers by a marriage of two complementary colors - colors which marry each other... complement each other as a man and a woman do.

Vincent Van Gogh
Men, Two, Color

I feel the need of relations and friendship, of affection, of friendly intercourse.... I cannot miss these things without feeling, as does any other intelligent man, a void and a deep need.

Vincent Van Gogh
Intelligent, Men, Missing

One must learn to read, just as one must learn to see and learn to live.

Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh, Victoria Charles (2014). “Vincent van Gogh”, p.130, Parkstone International

If one keeps loving faithfully what is really worth loving, and does not waste one's love on insignificant and unworthy and meaningless things, one will get more light by and by and grow stronger.

Vincent Van Gogh
Light, Meaningless Things, Stronger
Vincent van Gogh, Mark Roskill (1997). “The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh”, p.110, Simon and Schuster

I am painting with the same enthusiasm as a Marseillaise eats bouillabaisse ... I am painting big sunflowers.

Vincent Van Gogh
Sunflower, Enthusiasm, Painting

I will not live without love.

Vincent Van Gogh
Love, Without Love
Vincent van Gogh (1959). “Complete Letters: With Reproductions of All the Drawings in the Correspondence”

The worse I get along with people the more I learn to have faith in Nature and concentrate on her.

Vincent Van Gogh
Nature, People, Have Faith
Vincent van Gogh (1959). “Complete Letters: With Reproductions of All the Drawings in the Correspondence”

Gauguin says that when sailors have to move a heavy load or raise an anchor, they all sing together to keep them up and give them vim. That's just what artists lack!

Vincent Van Gogh
Moving, Artist, Anchors

For instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitrary use of colour to express myself more forcefully.

Vincent Van Gogh
Color, Trying, Arbitrary
"The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh".

l can do very well without God both in my life and in my painting, but l cannot, ill as I am, do without something which is greater than l, which is my life — the power to create.

Vincent Van Gogh
Artist, Suffering, Atheism
"The Drawings of Van Gogh".

Modern reality has got such a hold on us that... when we attempt to reconstruct the ancient days in our thoughts...the minor events of our lives tear us away from our meditations, and... thrust us back into our personal [problems]

Vincent Van Gogh
Reality, Meditation, Tears

One can never study nature too much and too hard

Vincent Van Gogh
Nature, Too Much, Study
Vincent van Gogh (1959). “Complete Letters: With Reproductions of All the Drawings in the Correspondence”

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
God, Loneliness, Mind
Vincent van Gogh (1959). “Complete Letters: With Reproductions of All the Drawings in the Correspondence”

If I were to think of and dwell on disastrous possibilities, I could do nothing. I throw myself headlong into my work, and come up again with my studies.

Vincent Van Gogh
Thinking, Study, Possibility
Vincent van Gogh (1959). “Complete Letters: With Reproductions of All the Drawings in the Correspondence”

But what's your ultimate goal, you'll say. That goal will become clearer, will take shape slowly and surely, as the croquis becomes a sketch and the sketch a painting, as one works more seriously, as one digs deeper into the originally vague idea, the first fugitive, passing thought, unless it becomes firm.

Vincent Van Gogh
Ideas, Goal, Shapes
Vincent van Gogh (2009). “Saint-Rémy-de-Provence - Auvers-sur-Oise, 1889-1890, [772-902]”

To the one party, woman is always heresy and diabolical. To me, the opposite.

Vincent Van Gogh
Party, Opposites, Impressive

You can feel the stars and the infinity of the sky since life, in spite of everything, is like a dream.

Vincent Van Gogh
Dream, Stars, Sky

I believe it is one's duty to paint the rich and magnificent aspects of nature. We need gaiety and happiness, hope and love.

Vincent Van Gogh
Believe, And Love, Needs

I feel a certain calm. There is safety in the midst of danger. What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

Vincent Van Gogh
Hands, Safety, Calm
Letter to Theo van Gogh, December 29, 1881.

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