Why did Vincent van Gogh find drawing important?

Van Gogh believed drawing would benefit his painting skills. Drawing was cheap compared with painting. And when the mistral wind was too fierce to put up his easel, drawing on paper tacked on board was no problem.

Today 139 years ago, on 11 August 1882,

Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother from The Hague. This was at the beginning of his painting career:

"Now I would like quietly to amass a good number of painted studies to hang in my studio without referring to this as a change. And should anyone express surprise at seeing painted work by me, to say: Well, did you think I had no feeling for that or couldn’t do it? But I’ve put a lot of work into drawing and will continue to do so, because it’s the backbone of painting, the skeleton supporting everything else.”

And one day later:

"When I’d written this letter, I realized that it lacked something. I thought — I must ensure that I can write to him that I’ve tackled a piece of sand, sea and sky like we saw together at Scheveningen. Then I kept my letter back and marched off to the beach this morning, and have just got back with a fairly large painted study of sand, sea and sky."

The Dune
The Hague, 1882
Oil on panel
36,8 x 59,7 cm
Private collection

You may also like to read:

• Stolen Van Gogh paintings found.

Van Gogh’s ‘The Dune’.

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