The most beautiful quotes from Van Gogh's letters
The top 3 according to 144 votes from people: Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful. · The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. · The financier is the desolation of the artist.. (Updated Dec 8, 2020.)
Finding things beautiful, painting the stars when he needed religion and great things made of small things brought together: the most quoted lines from Vincent van Gogh's letters, mostly to his brother Theo, with the date they were written.
Top 13
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1
Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.
Letter to his brother Theo, January 1874.
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2
The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.
Letter to his brother Theo, Arles, 18 September 1888.
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3
The financier is the desolation of the artist.
Letter to his brother Theo, 1884, written in French.
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4
One must learn to read, just as one must learn to see and learn to live.
Letter to his brother Theo, Cuesmes, July 1880.
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5
Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that's the real way to learn to understand art better and better.
Letter to his brother Theo, January 1874.
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6
Do you know what makes the prison disappear? Every deep, genuine affection.
Letter to his brother Theo, Cuesmes, July 1880.
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7
The best way to know God is to love many things.
Letter to his brother Theo, Cuesmes, July 1880.
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8
Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.
Letter to his brother Theo, The Hague, 18 March 1883.
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9
Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.
Letter to his brother Theo, The Hague, 22 October 1882.
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10
I've got nature and art and poetry, and if that isn't enough, what is?
Letter to his brother Theo, January 1874.
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11
What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?
Letter to his brother Theo, The Hague, 29 December 1881.
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12
When I have a terrible need of — shall I say the word — religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.
Letter to his brother Theo, Arles, September 1888.
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13
There is no blue without yellow and without orange, and if you put in blue, then you must put in yellow, and orange too, mustn't you?
Letter to Émile Bernard, June 1888.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (1)
"Then I go out and paint the stars" and you know exactly which painting came next. His letters to Theo are honestly as good as the paintings.