Excerpt from Van Gogh: A Self-Portrait; Letters Revealing His Life as a Painter In most cases, to go through a man's correspondence and make the proper selection for publication would be easy. One would merely have to piek out the few letters which were interesting and discard the many which were dull or unintelligible to the general reader without elaborate editorial notes. But there is scarcely one letter by Van Gogh which I, who am certainly no expert, do not find fascinating. Anyone who can afford them will want to possess and ought to buy the magnificent three volumes edited by Vincent W van Gogh.

What, I asked myself, is the single most important fact about Van Gogh? To that there seemed only one answer That he painted pic tures.

I have, therefore, confined my selection to those of his letters which contain reflections upon the art of painting and the problems of being a painter, and have only included letters concerned with his personal rela tions, to his father and his brother, for example, in so far as these throw direct light upon his career as a painter.

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