“Drawing is the beginning of everything”

That was Vincent Van Gogh’s reasoning in a letter to his brother Theo early in his artistic career. In fact drawing became so important to his work that he eventually developed a style that influenced the history of art profoundly. These are studies of some of his earlier drawings, before he developed the language of dots and dashes that he became remembered for.

The third is drawn over a previous drawing. I thought at first that the first sketch would show through, but I ended up obliterating it. This gleaner is one of my favorites by Van Gogh — I’ve always been partial to his early work depicting peasants and miners. I think it’s also one of my best studies this year.