Liesbos - Breda

‘Studying carefully, persistently and repeatedly drawing Bargue's ‘Exercises au Fusain’ has given me a better understanding of figure drawing. I have learnt to measure and see, and look for broad lines. So that what used to seem desperately impossible to me is gradually becoming possible, thank God.

Up to five times I have drawn a farmer with a shovel, that is, ‘un bêcheur’, in all kinds of positions, twice a sower, twice a girl with a broom. Then a woman with a white hat, peeling potatoes, and a shepherd leaning on his stick, and finally an old sick farmer, sitting on a chair by the fireplace with his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

Letter to Theo van Gogh. Etten, mid-September 1881 - persistent drawing

Vincent regularly drew in the Liesbos near Breda. This is probably how he made the drawing Bosrand there. When the artist friend Anthon van Rappard came to visit him in June 1881, Vincent also made several drawings in the Liesbos, but these are not known.

At the entrance to Camping Liesbos is an audio column that tells the story of Vincent in the Liesbos and Princenhage.