The Dickens Winter in The Hague
He read Dickens, and he also read the people pushed into corners in English prints. After Dickens died, someone drew his empty chair. Vincent remembered this.
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F1658 Old Man with Head in Hands 1882 -
F1655 Worn Out 1882
Painting
The drawings of this period are of old men — Worn Out, Old Man with Head in Hands. These drawings and the Dickens he was reading were the same world: people forgotten by society, people sitting in corners, people no one had painted. He was choosing his models with Dickens's eyes.
Letter
November 1882, The Hague. He wrote: "I am now reading Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit — it is a magnificent book." In his letters he talked about Dickens, and also about Forster's biography of Dickens: long walks, outskirts, and how a writer lets books ferment inside ordinary walking. He also used materials from Dickens and Herkomer to distinguish a more honest image tradition, recoiling from the way "what sells" can overrule truth. Literature, biography, and prints trained his eyes together.
He also mentioned Luke Fildes's print The Empty Chair, made for The Graphic after Dickens's death: "After Dickens died, someone drew his empty chair — that is one of the most beautiful things I know." Six years later he painted the Two Chairs — Gauguin's chair with a candle and novels on the seat.
Place
The Hague, a workers' district. He was also collecting large numbers of English illustrated prints — Herkomer, Fildes, Daumier. These prints and the Dickens he was reading belonged to the same tradition: using image or word to record people society ignores. Here he first understood that "writing" and "image" can do the same thing.
Events
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 279
Began reading Dickens intensively. Martin Chuzzlewit, Little Dorrit, American Notes appeared in the same month's letters
- The Translator · Letter 278
Simultaneously collecting large numbers of English illustrated prints — Herkomer, Fildes, Daumier. The prints and Dickens belonged to the same tradition: recording people society ignores
- The Translator · Letter 282
Mentioned in a letter the print Luke Fildes made after Dickens's death, The Empty Chair: 'That is one of the most beautiful things I know.' The translation chain word→print→oil begins here
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 280
Also reading Zola's Pot-bouille and Hugo's Quatre-vingt-treize — three languages, three ways of writing the working world in the same month
- The Translator · Letter 728
Six years later, he painted the Two Chairs — Gauguin's chair with a candle and novels on the seat. The 'empty chair' read in 1882 was translated into oil in 1888
From the Letters
Ik lees nu Martin Chuzzlewit van Dickens — het is een prachtig boek. I am now reading Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit — it is a magnificent book.
Dickens heeft een lege stoel geschilderd na zijn dood — dat is een van de mooiste dingen die ik ken. Dickens painted an empty chair after his death — that is one of the most beautiful things I know.
Dickens wist wat armoede was — hij heeft het zelf doorgemaakt als kind. Daarom is hij zoo waar. Dickens knew what poverty was — he went through it himself as a child. That is why he is so true.
Er is iets van Rembrandt in Dickens — en iets van Dickens in Rembrandt. There is something of Rembrandt in Dickens — and something of Dickens in Rembrandt.
Ik wou dat ik zoo kon teekenen dat het werkte als een goed boek — dat het de menschen troostte. I wish I could draw in such a way that it worked like a good book — that it comforted people.
Het lezen van boeken is als het kijken naar schilderijen — men moet zonder twijfelen, zonder aarzelen, datgene bewonderen wat mooi is. Reading books is like looking at paintings — one must admire without doubting, without hesitating, that which is beautiful.
Letter Sources
Van Gogh letter records referenced on this page, linked to the Van Gogh Letters Project. vangoghletters.org
Technique Evidence
This work appears as evidence in this site’s technique-evolution axis.
- Redemptive Drawing 1880.08 – 1883.12 Open period F863 / JH34 Worn Out