The Bench at Saint Remy - by Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh's drawings were mainly done in pencil, black chalk, red chalk, blue chalk, reed pen and charcoal, although he often mixed mediums when drawing.

Van Gogh was happy when he was drawing, but he doubted his abilities. In the same letter to Theo from 1880 Van Gogh writes:

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I have taken up drawing again. I had been thinking about it for a long time, but always considered it impossible and beyond my abilities.

Although his paintings are much more popular than his drawings, Van Gogh is considered a master draftsman as well. Even after Van Gogh began painting, he continued to draw often doing studies of paintings before and after he completed the canvas.