IDENTITY
Letter 635 — Preparation, Rapid Execution & Supply
Arles, 1888
Content Summary
Around 1 July 1888 at Arles, Van Gogh explains that canvases executed quickly could nevertheless have been calculated long beforehand, while also recording the receipt of Tasset colours and canvases.
CONTEXT
Topics
Working Method, Preparation, Rapid Execution, Calculation, Support, Receipt, Tasset colours and canvases, Arles Practice
Materials & Pigments
Canvas
Related People
Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh, Tasset, Adolphe Monticelli, Eugène Delacroix, Edmond de Goncourt, Jules de Goncourt
Paintings
RESEARCH
Quotation
canvases done quickly one after another but calculated long beforehand. And look, when people say they’re done too quickly you’ll be able to reply that they looked at them too quickly.
Research Focus
The letter is central to understanding the relationship between preparation and speed in Van Gogh’s method: rapid execution could be the final stage of prolonged visual and compositional thought.
Related Work / Relevance
Contextual
SOURCES & EVIDENCE
Source Type
Letter
Source
Source Edition
Vincent van Gogh — The Letters, scholarly online edition (Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING)
Source URL
Evidence Type
Primary Source
Related Readings