van Gogh novel excerpt
This is a description of van Gogh painting sunflowers from Terrence James Coffman's novel entitled: "A WALK THROUGH THE WHEATFIELDS The Missing Journals of Vincent van Gogh" available from Amazon.com or by ordering direct. For information concerning price and ordering information email terrence.coffman@sbcglobal.net
Journal entry: August 29, 1888

It is late August, and as promised Roulin negotiated the lease for the yellow house. I took my time moving in. I bought two beds, a couple of tipsy chairs and a second-hand table for the kitchen. I secured pots and pans, linens and other household necessities; I even had the house modernized by bringing in gas for the stove. I painted Gauguin’s room blue and decorated it with paintings of sunflowers. I wanted the house to be perfect for my friend.

Daylight comes early in the Midi, unlike my native Holland; the sky over Provence is always a clear transparent flood of ultramarine hues. Every moment of sunlight is precious to me. This morning I rose with the swallows as they drifted down from the air currents upon which they sleep. Descending the staircase leading to the café below my room, I sat beside the large window near the doorway. I enjoyed the feel of the warm morning sun as it cast highlights upon the pages of the newspaper. The light falling off the deckled edges of the paper traveled along its chosen path to the porcelain vase filled with lavender and wildflowers. Flecks of purple and fine yellow dust gathered at its base.

After finishing the newspaper, I folded it neatly and lifted the small cup of coffee to my lips, straining the last drops of sepia syrup between the hairs of my mustache and my mouth. Tiny pearls of cream and coffee fell upon the unbleached muslin tablecloth. Seizing my paint box, easel and a size thirty canvas I exited the café, my destination, the golden fields below the Abbey of Montmajour. Sunflowers stood on top of emerald staffs, swaying to the cadence of the angel’s breath that blew across the plains of rice and wheat. Savannas of sunflowers floated in a quilted sea of rolling amber grain, creating vistas that would have inspired Corot, Mauve or Millet.

I set my easel on a small knoll overlooking an endless expanse of yellow. Beyond the sunflowers was a grouping of stone buildings with red tiled roofs. Further still stood the blue violet mountains under a pulsating sphere of sunlight. Each brush stroke echoed with a dull thud followed by a swishing reply as it bounced off the drum of tightly stretched canvas. Quick short darting movements, subtle twists of the wrist, the smudge of a finger and the swipe of my palette knife composed a rhythm for my painting to dance. A ballet performed before God and nature, in amber fields on a linen land of white lead and dreams.

"A WALK THROUGH THE WHEATFIELDS The Missing Journals of Vincent van Gogh" published by Vantage Press, Inc.516 West 34th Street, New York, New York 10001. ISBN: 0-533-14046-3


Terrence Coffman Center Avenue Studio