Embittered by the latest episode with his family over the Kee Voss incident, Vincent returned to the Hague, where he took up more formal studies in art. He began experimenting with oil painting here in 1882 and doing more and more work in oil in 1883.
A common misconception about Vincent is that he either sold none of his art during his lifetime, or only one painting. It may be true that he (or rather, Theo) sold only one of his paintings, but when he was in the Hague this time, he sold some sketches to Herman Tersteeg, who ran the Goupil and Co. in Den Haag, and some others. His Uncle Cornelius commissioned him to do a series of drawings of views of Den Haag. In August 1882, Theo provided money for oil paint, and Vincent started exploring that genre in earnest.
He received some reproach from Theo about the Kee Vos incident, but urged him to begin their correspondence again. Vincent replied with an inquiry as to whether he should keep his letters stiff and formal and businesslike, or if he would be allowed to continue being himself.
It was while he was here that Vincent latched onto a strange superstition, based on what he’d read about the life and death of artist Guillaume Regamey: He determined that he had roughly six to ten more years left in his life expectancy to produce as an artist, and he was obsessed with making as much of the time left to him as possible. This could be literally a self-fulfilling prophecy – as it turns out, he only had seven more years left.
Vincent became involved with and planned to marry a pregnant, down-on-her-luck prostitute named Clasina Maria Hoornik, who is more often known as Sien. At first she and her child were just models for Vincent – she was the subject in his drawing “Sorrow”, in which her dejection is fully tangible.
But soon romance blossomed. Sien accepted the unconventional Vincent with open arms, which was a soothing balm to Kee’s most recent blunt rejection, and claimed not to mind that he was down on his luck as well, in a misery-loves-company mind set. Besides being on the rebound, Vincent’s involvement with Sien could be seen as a direct flaunting of his family’s values, based on their non-support given him during the Kee Vos incident. In any case, it caused more ripples in his relationship with his family. He heard that his father was seriously considering having him committed. His response to his family’s concern for her being of a “lower class” was, “I know that what I have to do is withdraw from the company of my own class, which cast me out a long time ago, as it is.” In other words, if my class is going to cast me out, let me show them how far out I will cast myself.” A self-fulfilling prophecy, as it were.
However, Sien’s and Vincent’s open-armed acceptance of each other wasn’t enough to give Sien the strength to stand up against her mother’s demanding ways, and she and Vincent disagreed constantly about this. Also, Sien’s new baby arrived, money was tight and Theo’s contributions were now having to stretch to take care of four, resulting in one of the few “common” life experiences for Vincent -- fighting with his significant other about money. Their differences ultimately led Vincent to break off with Sien and move on.
Sorrow (drawing) 10 April 1882
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A common misconception about Vincent is that he either sold none of his art during his lifetime, or only one painting. It may be true that he (or rather, Theo) sold only one of his paintings, but when he was in the Hague this time, he sold some sketches to Herman Tersteeg, who ran the Goupil and Co. in Den Haag, and some others. His Uncle Cornelius commissioned him to do a series of drawings of views of Den Haag. In August 1882, Theo provided money for oil paint, and Vincent started exploring that genre in earnest.
He received some reproach from Theo about the Kee Vos incident, but urged him to begin their correspondence again. Vincent replied with an inquiry as to whether he should keep his letters stiff and formal and businesslike, or if he would be allowed to continue being himself.
It was while he was here that Vincent latched onto a strange superstition, based on what he’d read about the life and death of artist Guillaume Regamey: He determined that he had roughly six to ten more years left in his life expectancy to produce as an artist, and he was obsessed with making as much of the time left to him as possible. This could be literally a self-fulfilling prophecy – as it turns out, he only had seven more years left.
Vincent became involved with and planned to marry a pregnant, down-on-her-luck prostitute named Clasina Maria Hoornik, who is more often known as Sien. At first she and her child were just models for Vincent – she was the subject in his drawing “Sorrow”, in which her dejection is fully tangible.
But soon romance blossomed. Sien accepted the unconventional Vincent with open arms, which was a soothing balm to Kee’s most recent blunt rejection, and claimed not to mind that he was down on his luck as well, in a misery-loves-company mind set. Besides being on the rebound, Vincent’s involvement with Sien could be seen as a direct flaunting of his family’s values, based on their non-support given him during the Kee Vos incident. In any case, it caused more ripples in his relationship with his family. He heard that his father was seriously considering having him committed. His response to his family’s concern for her being of a “lower class” was, “I know that what I have to do is withdraw from the company of my own class, which cast me out a long time ago, as it is.” In other words, if my class is going to cast me out, let me show them how far out I will cast myself.” A self-fulfilling prophecy, as it were.
However, Sien’s and Vincent’s open-armed acceptance of each other wasn’t enough to give Sien the strength to stand up against her mother’s demanding ways, and she and Vincent disagreed constantly about this. Also, Sien’s new baby arrived, money was tight and Theo’s contributions were now having to stretch to take care of four, resulting in one of the few “common” life experiences for Vincent -- fighting with his significant other about money. Their differences ultimately led Vincent to break off with Sien and move on.
Sorrow (drawing) 10 April 1882
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