Quotes by
Vincent Van Gogh |
1853-1890 , Dutch painter
One of the greatest painters in art history. He started to paint when he was 27 years old. In 1886 he went to live and work in Paris; two years later he moved to Arles.In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks. His suicide at 37 followed years of mental illness and poverty.
| 46 quotes | 4,071 visits |
Quotations
| • | The sadness will last forever. (his last words) 13 |
| • | Art is to console those who are broken by life. 11 |
| • | For my part, I know nothing with any certainty but the sight of the stars makes me dream. 8 |
| • | To some, woman is heresy and diabolical. To me she is just the opposite. 8 |
| • | The heart of man is very much like the sea: it has its storms, its tides, and its depths; it has its pearls too. 7 |
| • | If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere. 6 |
| • | Normality is a paved road. It’s comfortable to walk but no flowers grow on it. 6 |
| • | I would rather die of passion than of boredom. 6 |
| • | Art is a faith that imposes the duty to ignore public opinion. 5 |
| • | Someday death will take us to another star. 5 |
| • | I dream my painting and I paint my dream. 5 |
| • | Exaggerate the essential, leave the obvious vague. 4 |
| • | When you want to be active, do not be afraid to do some things wrong, do not be afraid to make some mistakes. 4 |
| • | If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. 4 |
| • | Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it. 4 |
| • | Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. 3 |
| • | Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and that to those we obey without knowing it. 3 |
| • | You have to start by experiencing what you want to express. 3 |
| • | Making sketches is like planting seeds to grow pictures. 3 |
| • | When you prove yourself capable of one thing and you understand one subject, you can be sure to understand many more. 3 |
| • | Principles are only good when they generate acts. 3 |
| • | Whoever loves much, performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well. 3 |
| • | What color is in a picture, enthusiasm is in life. 3 |
| • | The beginning is perhaps more difficult than anything else, but keep heart, it will turn out all right. 3 |
| • | In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, scepticism and humbug, and we shall want to live more musically. 3 |
| • | To suffer without complaint is the only lesson we have to learn in this life. 3 |
| • | Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all. 3 |
| • | ...and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough? 3 |
| • | I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say, “he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.” 3 |
| • | I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. 3 |
| • | One must work and dare if one really wants to live. 3 |
| • | There is no blue without yellow and without orange. 3 |
| • | I think the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. 3 |
| • | Conscience is a man’s compass. 3 |
| • | How difficult it is to be simple! 3 |
| • | It is a pity that, as we gradually gain experience, we lose our youth. 2 |
| • | Admire more. Most people don’t admire enough. 2 |
| • | What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? 2 |
Personal Stories
| • | I am such a nobody. 7 |
| • | I put my heart and soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process. 6 |
| • | So often, a visit to a bookshop has cheered me, and reminded me that there are good things in the world. 4 |
| • | The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting. 3 |
| • | The sunflower is mine, in a way. 2 |
| • | For me, the work is an absolute necessity. I cannot put it off. 2 |
| • | Here, under a stronger sun, I have found true what Pissarro said, and what Gauguin wrote to me as well, the simplicity, the lack of color, the gravity of great sunlight effects. 2 |
| • | Now I am working with another model, a postman in a blue uniform with gold trimmings, a big, bearded face, very Socratic. 2 |
