Letter 4, page 2

But all in all it's not as good
as your painting yet. Never mind. It'll come, and you must certainly continue doing sonnets.

There are so many people, especially among our pals, who imagine that words are nothing.
On the contrary, don't you think, it's as interesting and as difficult to say a thing well as to paint a
thing. There's the art of lines and colors, but there's the art of words that will last just the same.
Here's a new orchard, quite simple in composition: a white tree, a small green tree, a square
corner of greenery—a lilac field, an orange roof, a big blue sky. Have nine orchards in progress; one
white, one pink, one almost red pink, one white and blue, one pink and gray, one green and pink.

I worked one to death yesterday, of a cherry tree against blue sky, the young shoots of the
leaves were orange and gold, the clusters of flowers white. That, against the blue green of the sky,
was darned glorious. Unfortunately there's rain today, which prevents me going back on the attack.

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© 2007 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam