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575 To Emile Bernard. Paris, about December 1887.

METADATA

No. 575 (Brieven 1990 578, Complete Letters B1)

From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Emile Bernard
Date: Paris, about December 1887

Source status
Original manuscript

Location
New York, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum

Date
Van Gogh organized an exhibition that was held in November or December 1887. The formulation Ill gladly do all I can to make a success of what was started in
the dining-room (l. 94-95) seems to imply that the exhibition had now closed, which is why we have dated the letter to around December 1887.

ORIGINAL TEXT

1r:1
54 Rue Lepic. 1

Mon cher copain Bernard,

je sens le besoin de te demander pardon de tavoir lch si brusquement lautre jour. 2 Ce que par la prsente je fais donc sans tarder. Je te recommande de lire les
lgendes russes de Tolsto 3 et je taurai aussi larticle sur Eug. Delacroix dont je tai parl. 4

Je suis moi tout de mme all chez Guillaumin, mais dans la soire, et jai pens que peut-tre toi ne sais pas son adresse qui est 13 Quai dAnjou. 5 Je crois que

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comme homme Guillaumin a les ides mieux en place que les autres et que si tous taient comme lui on produirait davantage de bonnes choses et aurait moins de temps
et denvie de se manger le nez.
Je persiste croire que, non pas parceque moi je tai engueul mais parceque cela deviendra ta propre conviction, je persiste croire que tu tapercevras que dans les
ateliers non seulement on napprend pas grand chose quant la peinture mais encore pas grand chse de bien en tant que savoir vivre. 1v:2 Et quon se trouve oblig
dapprendre vivre comme peindre sans avoir recours aux vieux trucs et trompe loeil dintrigants.
Je ne pense pas que ton portrait de toi-meme sera ton dernier ni ton meilleur 6 quoique en somme ce soit terriblement toi.
Dites donc en somme ce que je cherchais lautre jour texpliquer revient ceci. Pour eviter les gnralits permets moi de prendre un exemple sur le vif.
Si tu es brouill avec un peintre, par exemple avec Signac et quen consequence de cela tu dis si Signac expose l o jexpose je retire mes toiles et si tu le dnigres,
alors il me semble que tu agis pas aussi bien que tu pourrais agir. 7
Car il est mieux dy regarder longtemps avant de juger si categoriquement et de reflchir, la rflection nous faisant apercevoir nous-mme, en cas de brouille, pour
notre propre compte autant de torts que notre adversaire et celui ci autant de raison dtre que nous puissions en desirer pour nous.
1v:3
Si donc tu as deja rflechi que Signac et les autres qui font du pointill font avec cela assez souvent de trs belles choses
Au lieu de dnigrer celles-l il faut surtout en cas de brouille les estimer et en parler avec sympathie.
Sans cela on devient sectaire troit soi-mme et lquivalent de ceux qui nestiment pour rien les autres et se croient les seuls justes.
Ceci stend mme aux acadmiciens car prends par exemple un tableau de Fantin Latour surtout lensemble de son oeuvre. Eh bien voila quelquun qui ne sest
pas insurg et est-ce que cela lempche, ce je ne sais quoi de calme et de juste quil a, detre un des caracteres les plus indpendants existants.
Je voulais encore te dire un mot pour ce qui regarde le service militaire que tu seras oblig de faire. 8 Il faut absolument que tu toccupes ds prsent de cela.
Directement pour bien tinformer de ce que lon peut faire en pareil cas, pour garder le droit de travailler dabord, pour pouvoir choisir une garnison &c. Mais
indirectement en soignant ta sant. il ne faut pas y arriver 1r:4 trop anmique ni trop nerv si tu y tiens sortir de l plus fort.
Je ne considre pas cela comme un tres grand malheur pour toi que tu sois oblig de partir soldat mais comme une preuve trs grave de laquelle si tu en sors tu en
sortiras un trs grand artiste. Dici l fais tout ce que tu peux pour te fortifier car il te faudra joliment du nerf. Si pendant cette anne tu travailles beaucoup je crois que tu
peux bien arriver avoir un certain stock de toiles, desquelles on cherchera ten vendre, sachant que tu auras besoin dargent de poche pour te payer des modles.
Volontiers je ferai mon possible pour faire que ce que lon a commenc dans la salle reussisse 9 mais je crois que la premiere condition pour reussir cest de laisser l
les petites jalousies, il ny a que lunion qui fait la force. Lintert commun vaut bien quon y sacrifie lgoisme, le chacun pour soi.
Je te serre bien la main.

Vincent

TRANSLATION

1r:1
54 rue Lepic. 1

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My dear old Bernard,

I feel the need to beg your pardon for leaving you so abruptly the other day. 2 Which I therefore do herewith, without delay. I recommend that you read Tolstoys Les
Lgendes Russes, 3 and Ill also let you have the article on E. Delacroix that Ive spoken to you about. 4

I, for my part, did go to Guillaumins anyway, but in the evening, and I thought that perhaps you didnt know his address, which is 13 quai dAnjou. 5 I believe that, as
a man, Guillaumin has sounder ideas than the others, and that if we were all like him wed produce more good things and would have less time and inclination to be at
each others throats.
I persist in believing that not because I gave you a piece of my mind but because it will become your own conviction I persist in believing that youll realize that in
the studios not only does one not learn very much as far as painting goes, but not much thats good in terms of savoir vivre, either. 1v:2 And that one finds oneself
obliged to learn to live, as one does to paint, without resorting to the old tricks and trompe loeil of schemers.
I dont think your portrait of yourself will be your last, or your best 6 although all in all its frightfully you.
Look here briefly, what I was trying to explain to you the other day comes down to this. In order to avoid generalities, let me take an example from life.
If youve fallen out with a painter, with Signac, for example, and if as a result you say: if Signac exhibits where I exhibit, Ill withdraw my canvases and if you run him
down, then it seems to me that youre not behaving as well as you could behave. 7
Because its better to take a long look at it before judging so categorically, and to reflect, reflection making us see in ourselves, when theres a falling out, as many faults
on our own side as in our adversary, and in him as many justifications as we might desire for ourselves. 1v:3
If, therefore, youve already considered that Signac and the others who are doing pointillism often make very beautiful things with it
Instead of running those things down, one should respect them and speak of them sympathetically, especially when theres a falling out.
Otherwise one becomes a narrow sectarian oneself, and the equivalent of those who think nothing of others and believe themselves to be the only righteous ones.
This extends even to the academic painters, because take, for example, a painting by Fantin-Latour and above all his entire oeuvre. Well then theres someone who
hasnt rebelled, and does that prevent him, that indefinable calm and righteousness that he has, from being one of the most independent characters in existence?
I also wanted to say a word to you about the military service that youll be required to do. 8 You must absolutely see to that now.
Directly, in order to inform yourself properly about what one can do in such an event; first to retain the right to work, to be able to choose a garrison, &c. But indirectly,
by taking care of your health. You mustnt arrive there 1r:4 too anaemic or too agitated if you want to emerge from it stronger.
I dont see it as a very great misfortune for you that you have to join the army, but as a very grave ordeal, from which, if you emerge from it, youll emerge a very great
artist. Until then, do all you can to build yourself up, because youll need quite a bit of spirit. If you work hard that year, I believe that you may well succeed in having a fair
stock of canvases, some of which well try to sell for you, knowing that youll need pocket money to pay for models.
Ill gladly do all I can to make a success of what was started in the dining-room, 9 but I believe that the first condition for success is to put aside petty jealousies; its
only unity that makes strength. Its well worth sacrificing selfishness, the each man for himself, in the common interest.
I shake your hand firmly.

Vincent

NOTES

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1. See for this address: letter 569.

2. It transpires further on in the letter that Van Gogh and Bernard had had a difference of opinion about the usefulness of a studio training for a painter (Van Gogh felt
that there was little an artist could learn in those surroundings), and about Bernards attitude towards the Neo-Impressionist Paul Signac. Bernard did not want to exhibit
together with Signac. Van Gogh, however, was concerned with a more common interest.

3. See for Tolstoys A la recherche du bonheur: letter 574, n. 19.

4. This was probably Thophile Silvestres Eugne Delacroix. Documents nouveaux (1864), which Van Gogh also refers to as an article elsewhere. We know that on one
occasion he lent it to Bernard (see letter 735).

5. That was indeed Armand Guillaumins address. It had previously been the studio of the painter Charles-Franois Daubigny.

6. It is not known which of Bernards self-portraits he is referring to.

7. In the course of 1887 Bernard and Anquetin had demonstratively distanced themselves from the Pointillism of Seurat and Signac. They developed a synthetizing style
that became known as Cloisonnism and was heavily influenced by Japanese printmaking. Line and contour governed their work, and as regards colour they sought the
solution in simplified, large areas instead of small dots. Cf. exhib. cat. Toronto 1981 and letter 620, nn. 11 and 12.
Whereas Bernard rejected the Neo-Impressionists, Van Gogh wanted to involve them with the group of artists who had exhibited together in Restaurant du Chalet:
This group, to which he wished to introduce Seurat and Signac, was not to survive; its life was therefore limited to this single presentation (Ce groupe auquel il voulait
rattacher Seurat et Signac, ne devait pas vivre; son existence se borna donc cette unique prsentation). See Bernard 1994, vol. 1, pp. 241-242. The exhibition in
Restaurant du Chalet is mentioned later in the letter (see n. 9 below).

8. Bernards military service was a regular topic of conversation. In 1888 it seemed for a while that he would have to go to Algeria, but in the end he was not called up.

9. In November-December 1887, Van Gogh organized an exhibition of painters of the Petit Boulevard Anquetin, Bernard, Koning, Toulouse-Lautrec and himself in
Grand Bouillon-Restaurant du Chalet, 43, avenue de Clichy. See exhib. cat. Paris 1988, p. 33. For the Petit Boulevard see letter 584, n. 6. According to Bernard, the show
was an endeavour on Van Goghs part alone (une tentative de Van Gogh seul). See Bernard 1994, vol. 1, p. 242.
Bernard wrote about the room: The room referred to here is the dining-room of a working-class restaurant on avenue de Clichy, whose owner Vincent had won over,
and which he had turned into an exhibition of our paintings. Unfortunately, this socialist exhibition of our inflammatory canvases came to a rather sorry end. There was a
violent altercation between the owner and Vincent, which made Vincent decide to take a hand-barrow without delay and cart the whole exhibition to his studio in rue
Lepic. Obviously, the art of the Petit Boulevard had not been understood by its Barnum. (La salle dont il est question ici est celle dun restaurant populaire de lavenue de
Clichy dont Vincent avait conquis le patron et quil avait transforme en exposition de nos tableaux. Par malheur, cette exhibition socialiste de nos toiles incendiaires se
termina assez piteusement. Il y eut une altercation violente entre le patron et Vincent, ce qui dcida ce dernier prendre sans retard une charette bras et porter toute
lexposition son atelier de la rue Lepic. Evidemment lart du petit boulevard navait pas t compris de son barnum). See Lettres Bernard 1911, p. 75.

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