Letter 06/01/1884 - by Vincent van Gogh

In my last letter I already wrote you that as well as the woman spinning, I wanted to start on a large male figure. Here is a scribble of it. Perhaps you remember the two studies that I had in the studio when you were here, of the same little corner.

The laws of colors are indescribably wonderful, particularly because they are in no way accidental. Just as these days we no longer believe in arbitrary miracles, no longer believe in a God who capriciously and despotically skips at random from one thing to another, but in fact are beginning to acquire more respect and admiration and belief in nature, even so and for the same reasons I think that we should in art no longer ignore the oldfashioned ideas of innate genius, inspiration, etc., but thoroughly consider, verify and ... change them very considerably. However, I do not deny the existence of genius and even the innate nature of it. But the conclusions from this, that by the nature of things theory and education are always useless, that I deny.

The same thing that I did in the little woman spinning and the old man winding thread, I hope, or rather, I shall try, to do much better in the future.

But in these two studies from life I have been a little more myself than up to now in most of my other studies - unless I was successful in being so in some of my drawings.