Was Van Gogh a perfectionist?

Vincent van Gogh often took the time he needed before sending a batch of paintings to his brother, self critical like a real perfectionist. The fact that he was able to finish a painting in a day sometimes doesn’t mean it was done hastily. It was just his artistic style that required a certain pace of painting.

Today 134 years ago, on 10 March 1888,

Vincent van Gogh wrote to Theo from Arles:

"I have two more studies of landscapes, I hope the work will continue steadily and that in a month I’ll get a first consignment to you — I say in a month because I want to send you nothing but the best, and because I want it to be dry, and because I want to send at least a dozen or so all at once because of the cost of transport.”

One of the studies probably was:

The Gleize Bridge over the Vigueirat Canal
Arles, 1888
Oil on canvas
46,8 × 51,3 cm
Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan

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Van Gogh's 'The Gleize Bridge over the Vigueirat Canal'

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