QUOTATIONS
by Topic
by Author
by User
 
TOP 10
Quotations
Topics
Authors
 

OTHER Subscriptions

Advertising
About Us

Contact Us

                    

Vincent van Gogh quotes

Dutch painter, one of the greatest of the Post-Impressionists, 1853-1890


If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.

 

If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.

 

What a splendid thing watercolour is to express atmosphere and distance, so that the figure is surrounded by air and can breathe in it

 

I want to do drawings which touch people...In figure or landscape I should wish to express, not sentimental melancholy, but serious sorrow.

 

Look here, I often feel the same in more than one respect--not just in financial things, but in art itself, and in life in general. But do you think it's anything exceptional? Don't you think every man with a little spirit and energy has those moments? Moments of melancholy, of distress, of anguish--I think we all have them to a greater or lesser extent, and it is a condition of every conscious human life. It seems that some people have no consciousness of self. But for all that, those who have it may sometimes be in distress, they are not unhappy, nor is the distress anything exceptional.

 

In my painting of the 'All -Night Cafe' I've tried to express the idea that the cafe is a place where one can ruin oneself, become crazy and criminal. Through the contrast of the delicate pink, blood red and dark red, of mild Louis-XV and Veronese green against the yellow-green and stark-blue tones- all this in an atmosphere like the devil's inferno and pale sulphurous yellow...I've tried to convey the sinister power of such a place.

 

I'm able to get by very well in life, and also with my work, without beloved God. But I, a suffering human being, can not survive without there being something greater than myself, which for me is my whole life- the creative power...I want to paint men and women with that certain eternal touch- an idea which the sacred halo embodied earlier and which we seek to express today through light and the palpitating movement of our colors...The love between a couple is expressed by the unity of two complementary colors, by their mixture and contrasts, by the secretive vibrations of similar tones; the intelligence of a forehead is portrayed by using a light tone on a dark background; hope by a star and a man's passion by a vibrant sunset.

 

If one keeps loving faithfully what is really worth loving, and does not waste one's love on insignificant and unworthy and meaningless things, one will get more light by and by and grow stronger. Sometimes it is well to go into the world and converse with people, and at times one is obliged to do so, but he who would prefer to be quietly alone with his work, and who wants but very few friends, will go safest through the world and among people. And even in the most refined circles and with the best surroundings and circumstances, one must keep something of the original character of an anchorite, for other wise one has no root in oneself; one must never let the fire go out in one's soul, but keep it burning. And whoever chooses poverty for himself and loves it possesses a great treasure, and will always clearly hear the voice of his conscience; he who hears and obeys that voice, which is the best gift of God, finds at least a friend in it, and is never alone.

 

Our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.

 


< Previous Page

NextPage >

quotes | Advertising | contact us | FAQ/ Help| Privacy & Security Policy

  Vincent van Gogh quotes

  
Want to receive a daily FREE!! new Quotation? Subscribe NOW!

more info

 

Top Topics

- Quotations quotes
- Maxim quotes
- Cute quotes
- Sports quotes
- Basketball quotes
- Friends quotes
- Cute love quotes
- Life quotes
- Baseball quotes
- Best friend quotes

Top Authors

-Bible quotes
-Mark Twain quotes
-Eddie Izzard quotes
-Homer Simpson quotes
-Thomas Jefferson quotes
-Abraham Lincoln quotes
-Winston Churchill quotes
-Albert Einstein quotes
-George Carlin quotes
-Jack Handy quotes