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拍品專文
'... That bustling of the workmen and the women, with the baskets being loaded from the barge, is very intriguing to look at. Those are the things I should want to draw and paint vigorously - the life and movement in such a scene, and the types of people... A general knowledge of the figure is needed for it, which I try to acquire by drawing large figure studies. And I firmly believe that if I continue doing this, I shall learn to express the bustle of laborers in the streets or in the fields. That potato market is such a curious place. All the poor people from the Geest, from the Ledig Erf, and all those places in the neighborhood, come running out. There are always such scenes - one time it is a barge full of peat, then one with fish, then one with coal or something or other. I have a great many sketches of Ireland by English artists. I think the quarter I'm writing you about must be very much like an Irish town.
I always try my best to put all my energy into my work, for my greatest desire is to make beautiful things. But making beautiful things costs trouble and disappointment and perseverance... This afternoon I must go to the potato market again. It is impossible to paint there because of the people... Well, it is Saturday night, and so there will certainly be something characteristic going on worth looking at. I wish you all good luck, know that I think of you daily. Adieu, with a handshake,
Yours sincerely, Vincent
(to Theo, on 9 September 1882)
(The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, vol. I, London, no. 229, p. 451-452)
In December 1881, after a very formative year's stay with the Hague painter Anton Mauve, Van Gogh moved to The Hague, where he remained until September 1883. He had fled to the Dutch coastal city exasperated by a serious row with his parents which exploded around Christmas 1881. But he immediately adapted to the new surroundings and the twenty months he spent here gave him 'moments of domestic bliss that were not to fall to his lot again' (J. Hulsker, op. cit., p. 92). Although he had first looked for a place in the picturesque fishing vilage of Scheveningen, his financial situation did not allow him to rent a room in what was becoming a home for bohemian artists and a fancy resort - he was thus compelled to settle in Schenkstraat, on the edge of the town. He found a small studio, with enough light for him to work, and embarked upon a deeply exciting experimental journey, marked by the enthusiastic discovery of new painting techniques. Watercolour and pencil drawing were soon at the centre of his passionate quest. Fired by the example of Millet, whom he took as a mentor for both his spiritual and artistic development, between September and October 1882 Van Gogh found his inspiration for a series of important watercolours in the markets and villages surrounding Schenkstraat. On 9 September, he described to Theo the potato market which had become the focus of his sketches, in preparation of the present more complex, larger watercolour. Around 1 October he wrote to Theo emphasising his relentless work on the same series of watercolours, among which is also The Poor and the Money (fig. 1), the Van Gogh Museum's only large watercolour from the Hague period. The Potato Market and The Poor and the Money are extremely close, in tone and style: they share an almost identical format and display of the figures on the pictorial surface; a similar sense of perspective; and above all, the same palette, splendidly played around the earthy hues that will become the hallmark of Van Gogh undisputed masterpiece of the Neunen phase, The Potato Eaters (1885, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh).
I always try my best to put all my energy into my work, for my greatest desire is to make beautiful things. But making beautiful things costs trouble and disappointment and perseverance... This afternoon I must go to the potato market again. It is impossible to paint there because of the people... Well, it is Saturday night, and so there will certainly be something characteristic going on worth looking at. I wish you all good luck, know that I think of you daily. Adieu, with a handshake,
Yours sincerely, Vincent
(to Theo, on 9 September 1882)
(The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, vol. I, London, no. 229, p. 451-452)
In December 1881, after a very formative year's stay with the Hague painter Anton Mauve, Van Gogh moved to The Hague, where he remained until September 1883. He had fled to the Dutch coastal city exasperated by a serious row with his parents which exploded around Christmas 1881. But he immediately adapted to the new surroundings and the twenty months he spent here gave him 'moments of domestic bliss that were not to fall to his lot again' (J. Hulsker, op. cit., p. 92). Although he had first looked for a place in the picturesque fishing vilage of Scheveningen, his financial situation did not allow him to rent a room in what was becoming a home for bohemian artists and a fancy resort - he was thus compelled to settle in Schenkstraat, on the edge of the town. He found a small studio, with enough light for him to work, and embarked upon a deeply exciting experimental journey, marked by the enthusiastic discovery of new painting techniques. Watercolour and pencil drawing were soon at the centre of his passionate quest. Fired by the example of Millet, whom he took as a mentor for both his spiritual and artistic development, between September and October 1882 Van Gogh found his inspiration for a series of important watercolours in the markets and villages surrounding Schenkstraat. On 9 September, he described to Theo the potato market which had become the focus of his sketches, in preparation of the present more complex, larger watercolour. Around 1 October he wrote to Theo emphasising his relentless work on the same series of watercolours, among which is also The Poor and the Money (fig. 1), the Van Gogh Museum's only large watercolour from the Hague period. The Potato Market and The Poor and the Money are extremely close, in tone and style: they share an almost identical format and display of the figures on the pictorial surface; a similar sense of perspective; and above all, the same palette, splendidly played around the earthy hues that will become the hallmark of Van Gogh undisputed masterpiece of the Neunen phase, The Potato Eaters (1885, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh).