Triple Visual Languages: Antwerp to Paris
Rubens, the Japanese print, Impressionism — three visual languages hit him at once.
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F212 Skull with Burning Cigarette 1886
Events
- The Colour Experimenter · Letter 545
Saw Rubens in the museum. 'The red of flesh, the gleam of silk' — the Dutch dark palette shattered for the first time
- The Translator · Letter 545
Bought his first batch of Japanese prints at the flea market. 'I now have a whole collection of Japanese prints.'
- The Translator · Letter 553
'Rubens, the Japanese print, Impressionism — three forces at once.' Three visual languages hitting him simultaneously
- The Translator · Letter 555
'I must learn to speak all these languages at once.' The translator talent upgraded from inter-cultural to inter-aesthetic-system translation
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 552
Reading Gonse's L'Art japonais — a French theoretical book becoming his entry to understanding Japan
From the Letters
Rubens, de japansche prent, en het impressionisme — drie krachten tegelijk. Rubens, the Japanese print, and Impressionism — three forces at once.
Ik moet leeren al deze talen tegelijk te spreken. I must learn to speak all these languages at once.
In Antwerpen heb ik Rubens gezien — en dat is een openbaring van kleur. In Antwerp I have seen Rubens — and that is a revelation of colour.
De japansche prenten leeren mij vlak te werken — Rubens leert mij vol te werken. Beide tegelijk. The Japanese prints teach me to work flat — Rubens teaches me to work full. Both at once.
Parijs is een school waar men alles tegelijk leert — het is overweldigend. Paris is a school where one learns everything at once — it is overwhelming.
Ik moet een nieuwe taal vinden die al deze invloeden samenvoegt. I must find a new language that brings all these influences together.
Letter Sources
Van Gogh letter records referenced on this page, linked to the Van Gogh Letters Project. vangoghletters.org