1885-11 · Antwerp · Knot of Silence

Antwerp Academy

He lived hard up in Antwerp, yet he still put his money and attention into materials, prints, and things worth looking at.

F212 Skull with Burning Cigarette 1886

Letter

November 1885 to February 1886, Antwerp. He wrote: "I now have a whole collection of Japanese prints — they give me a lot of pleasure." And: "I didn't last long at the academy — they wanted me to draw differently from how I did." And: "I have seen Rubens — and that struck me very much." The quarrel with the academy has a precise shape: the professors insisted one must start from the contour — prendre par le contour — and he was relegated to the bottom of the class. He fired back in a letter: how flat, how lifeless the results of that system are — everyone's drawings looked exactly alike, and his was absolutely different. He had already adopted the opposite principle back in Nuenen, learned from Delacroix: do not work from the outline, work from the centre. Three months — he met Rubens's colour, the Japanese flat plane, and the ceiling of the academy.

Place

Antwerp, a Belgian port — docks, flea markets, a museum, supply shops. He lodged cheaply near the wharves, ate badly, lost teeth. The Japanese prints came off a flea-market table, maybe from sailors; in the museum he stood a long time before Rubens's reds. Three months only: November 1885 to February 1886, the hinge between the Dutch dark and Paris. He walked in painting like the Potato Eaters and walked toward colour.

before

Nuenen was too dark, too small; he knew he needed to move on somewhere else. Antwerp was a passage, not a destination.

now

He entered the academy and clashed with his teachers over three months — they said the line of his drawing was wrong, and he went on drawing his own way. At the same time he began collecting Japanese prints in Antwerp, which took up more of his time than the classes did.

after

He wrote asking Theo to prepare a place for him in Paris — and then set off for Paris more abruptly than Theo expected.

Events

1885-11 The Colour Experimenter · Letter 545
Moved from Nuenen to Antwerp. Took a cheap hotel near the docks, entering for the first time the colour environment of a large city
1885-11 The Translator · Letter 545
Bought his first batch of Japanese prints at the flea market. 'I now have a whole collection of Japanese prints — they give me a lot of pleasure.'
1885-12 The Colour Experimenter · Letter 547
Saw Rubens in the museum. 'I have seen Rubens — and that struck me very much.' The red of flesh, the gleam of silk, the colour of blood for the first time hit him
1886-01 The Copyist · Letter 551
Enrolled at the Antwerp Academy. Required to draw anatomy specimens and plaster casts to academy rules
1886-02 The Colour Experimenter · Letter 555
Painted Skull with Burning Cigarette. A piece of irony inside an academy assignment — he added a lit cigarette to the anatomical specimen
1886-02 The Translator · Letter 556
Conflict with the academy. 'I didn't last long at the academy — they wanted me to draw differently from how I did.'
1886-02 The Translator · Letter 557
Decided to leave Antwerp for Paris, to live with Theo. Three months of city experience: Japanese prints, Rubens, and the ceiling of the academy

From the Letters

Ik heb nu een heele verzameling Japansche prenten — die mij veel plezier doen.

I now have a whole collection of Japanese prints — which give me a lot of pleasure.

Letter 545

Op de academie heb ik het niet lang uitgehouden — ze wilden dat ik anders teekende dan ik deed.

I didn't last long at the academy — they wanted me to draw differently from how I did.

Letter 556

Ik heb Rubens gezien — en dat heeft mij zeer getroffen.

I have seen Rubens — and that struck me very much.

Letter 547

Letter Sources

Van Gogh letter records referenced on this page, linked to the Van Gogh Letters Project. vangoghletters.org