Quotation of the Week #1
Van Gogh, Detail of Self-portrait (1886) Pencil and ink on paper, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
"For a painter, it is probably twice as interesting if, while painting a nest, he dreams of a cottage and, while painting a cottage, he dreams of a nest. It is as though one dreamed twice, in two registers, when one dreams of an image cluster such as this. For the simplest image is doubled; it is itself and something else than itself."
Vincent van Gogh, writing to his brother, Theo1
1. Cited in Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, trans. M. Jolas (Boston: Beacon Press) 1994 p.98.
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Reader Comments
I would say myself that this quote from Vincent to his brother Theo represents about 90% of the mysteries of how masterful artists include the mystery of their works of art,... and afterward they are destroyed by most art restorers.
Bob Miller
29 Jul 2016
Thanks, Bob. Agreed.
Simon Abrahams
29 Jul 2016