Praeterita

From a letter dated October, 1884: Just slap anything on  when you see a blank canvas staring at you like some imbecile. You don’t know how  paralyzing  that is, that  stare  of a blank canvas, which says to the painter:  you can’t do a thing . The canvas has an  idiotic  stare and mesmerizes some painters so much that they turn into idiots themselves. Many painters are  afraid  in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas  is  afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of ‘you can’t’ once and for all.”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader