Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh by Irving Stone and Jean Stone


As a young art student, I bought:

Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh by Irving Stone and Jean Stone. The wisdom of Vincent on drawing and pursuing a life as an artist was most encouraging. One passage in particular spoke to me and I thought I would pass it onto you. 


This can be found on page 253 should you decide to buy this wonderful little book:

"There is a saying by Gustave Dore which I have always admired: 'J'ai la patience d'un boeuf.'  I find in it a certain resolute honesty. It is the word of a real artist. Ought one not learn patience from nature, learn patience from seeing the corn slowly ripen, seeing things grow? Should one think oneself so absolutely dead as to imagine one will grow no more? Should one deliberately thwart one's own development.

It was this little bit of wisdom that helped me as I learned to the skills to draw.

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