The Copyist Manifesto of Saint-Rémy
He set Millet’s black-and-white drawings before him and asked what another language could do in oil paint.
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F690 Sower (after Millet) 1890
Events
- The Translator · Letter 816
Painting after Millet’s drawings, he described the work as translating them into another language rather than copying them.
- The Translator · Letter 839
He explained that he was translating the black-and-white chiaroscuro of drawings and woodcuts into the language of colour, and hoped to make Millet’s work accessible to a wider public.
From the Letters
il me semble que faire de la peinture d’après ces dessins de Millet soit les traduire dans une autre langue bien plutôt que de les copier. It seems to me that doing painting after these Millet drawings is much rather to translate them into another language than to copy them.
c’est pas copier pur et simple que l’on ferait. c’est plutôt traduire dans une autre langue/ celle des couleurs/ les impressions de clair obscur en blanc & noir. it’s not copying pure and simple that one would be doing. It is rather translating into another language, the one of colours, the impressions of chiaroscuro and white and black.
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.
- The Shattering Stroke 1888.02 – 1889.05 Open period F422 / JH1470 The Sower Brushstroke Representative of directional brushwork
- The World in Motion 1889.05 – 1890.05 Open period F689 / JH1837 Sower (after Millet)