The Dickens Winter in The Hague
After Dickens died, someone painted 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 another letter he mentioned the print Luke Fildes made for The Graphic after Dickens's death: "Dickens painted an empty chair after his death — 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. The seed was planted in 1882.
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