Borinage 1879
In the Borinage he lost his post, his direction and his language. About a year later he began, in earnest, to take painting as a road. What happened in between, he never fully explained.
No painting at this knot — only a letter.
From London, to theological study, to preaching in the Belgian coal district — he kept searching for a form of life in which he could be of use. He gave away his clothes and food to the miners, until his superiors called him "too zealous" and relieved him of his post.
He stayed on in the Borinage with no position, no income, writing almost no letters. Later, in a long letter to Theo from Cuesmes, he did not simply sum up that time; he wrote out the metaphor of a caged bird: the bird knows it ought to fly, yet beats against the bars; a person too can be shut in by poverty, by misunderstanding, by circumstance — unable even to say what it is that hems him in.
The silence lasted nearly a year. What he did there we do not fully know. Then one day he began to draw — in earnest.
Events
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 154
Preaching in the mining district. Gave away his clothes and food to miners, slept on the floor
- Synaesthetic Precision · Letter 155
Dismissed by the church — 'excessive zeal.' Nearly a year of silence begins
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 155
In silence, reading Hugo's Les Misérables and Dickens's Hard Times
- Synaesthetic Precision
Theo visited. Found him living in a miner's shack, gaunt and haggard
- The Copyist · Letter 155
Began copying Millet's prints. Wrote the famous letter: 'The aim will stand out slowly — as the draft becomes a sketch, the sketch a painting'
From the Letters
Het is een mijnwerkersdorp en ik heb er al heel wat interessants gevonden. It is a mining village and I have already found a great deal of interest there.
Ik zou willen beginnen met kleine dingen. I would like to begin with small things.
Maar wat is je doel definitief, zul je zeggen. Dat doel wordt bepaalder, zal zich langzaam en zeker afteekenen, als de schets tot schilderij wordt. But what is your definite aim, you will say. That aim becomes more definite, will stand out slowly and surely, as the rough draft becomes a sketch, and the sketch becomes a painting.
Letter Sources
Van Gogh letter records referenced on this page, linked to the Van Gogh Letters Project. vangoghletters.org