Letter 1, page 2

And that one finds oneself obliged to learn to live, as one does to paint, without resorting to the old
tricks and trompe l'oeil of schemers.

I don't think your portrait of yourself will be your last, or your best—although all in all it is
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 you've fallen out with a painter, with Signac, for example, and if as a result you say:
I'll withdraw my canvases if Signac exhibits where I exhibit—and if you run him down, then it
seems to me that you are not behaving as well as you could.

Because it's better to take a long look at it before judging so categorically and to reflect,
reflection making us see in ourselves, when there's a falling out, as many faults on our own side
as in our adversary, and in him as many justifications as we might

© 2007 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam