From a letter by Van Gogh dated 22 October, 1882:
"What is drawing? How does one come to it? It is working through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what ones feels and what one can do. How is one to get through that wall - since pounding at it is of no use? In my opinion one has to undermine that wall, filing through it steadily and patiently. And there you are - how can one continue such work assidu without being distracted or diverted, unless one reflects and orders one's life by principles? And as it is with art so it is with other things. And great things are not something accidental, they must be distinctly willed."
A proposito: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SheaMMd8H5g
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"What is drawing? How does one come to it? It is working through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what ones feels and what one can do. How is one to get through that wall - since pounding at it is of no use? In my opinion one has to undermine that wall, filing through it steadily and patiently. And there you are - how can one continue such work assidu without being distracted or diverted, unless one reflects and orders one's life by principles? And as it is with art so it is with other things. And great things are not something accidental, they must be distinctly willed."
A proposito: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SheaMMd8H5g
Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader