Van Gogh in a letter to his brother Theo
I cannot tell you how happy I am to have taken up drawing again. I’ve been thinking of it but always considered the thing impossible and beyond my reach.
Age 27, Vincent Van Gogh decided to learn to draw, something he’d wanted to do for a long time. In the 27 years he’d spent avoiding what he really wanted, he’d worked as a clerk in a bookstore, run an art shop and been sacked as a preacher for being too zealous. Finally he faced up to that little voice inside which had been telling him what he wanted to do.
But what if he hadn’t? What if he’d continued to consider the thing impossible and beyond his reach?
It didn’t end well for him. Madness, poverty, self-mutilation and suicide. He did learn to draw though and spent his days working on the passion which meant the most to him. And he changed the art world forever.
I wonder if you have something calling to you like this? Something scratching at the window, wanting to be let in? I wonder if you, too, consider it impossible and beyond your reach? I wonder if you should do it anyway?
