Lessons of Van Gogh
Visual Perception

When – and take note that I'm referring to the simplification of color in the Japanese manner – I see in a green park with pink paths a gentleman dressed in black, and a justice of the peace by profession.

The harsh, hard white of a white wall against the sky can be expressed, in a peculiar manner, by using both the harsh white and the same white softened with a neutral tone. This is because the sky itself fills it with a delicate lilac hue.

In short, black, and white are colors too, or rather, they can be considered colors in many cases, as their simultaneous contrast is as sharp as that of green and red, for example.

No blue without yellow and orange, and if you use blue, make sure to include yellow and orange as well.

The painting [The Sower] is divided into two halves; the top half is yellow, and the bottom is violet. The presence of white trousers rests the eye and distracts it, precisely at the point where the excessive simultaneous contrast of yellow and violet would otherwise become bothersome.

If you saw my canvases, what would you say about them – you wouldn’t find Cézanne’s almost timid and conscientious brushwork there. But since I am currently painting the same countryside of Crau and Camargue - although in a slightly divergent place - however, there could remain certain color relationships.

Knowing how much you love Cézanne; I thought these sketches of Provence might please you. Not that there are similarities between a drawing by me and Cézanne; oh, no, no more than between Monticelli and me — but I too like the country they loved so much, and for the same reasons of color, of logical design.

It is always a study in which color plays such a role that the black and white of a drawing could not render it.

I'm thinking of decorating my studio with half a dozen paintings of sunflowers. A decoration where raw or broken chrome will burst against various blue backgrounds, from the palest Veronese to royal blue, framed by thin slats painted in orange lead.

Among these studies is an entrance to a quarry, with pale lilac rocks in reddish earth, reminiscent of certain Japanese drawings. In terms of design and the division of color into large planes, it's quite closely related to what you're doing in Pont-Aven.

I had more control over myself in these latest studies, as my state of health had firmed up. So there's also a No. 30 canvas with broken lilac plowed fields and a background of mountains that go all the way up the canvas: Nothing but rough ground and rocks, with a thistle and dry grass in a corner, and a little violet and yellow man. This will prove, I hope, that I haven't yet gone soft.