Jan Mankes Quotes

I wanted to paint crows in a big spot of lonely black with a digger head and paws. But stronger was nature which forced me to make a beast, sparkling of blue and purple, a subdued pleasure for the eyes. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)

(original Dutch: citaat van Jan Mankes, in het Nederlands:) ..een kraai, een vlug, tam beest, met onbevlekte vederpracht, loopt hier bij me rond, waar ik hoop nog veel van te kunnen profiteeren, daar ik bijzonder van kraaien houd. De omstreken zijn heel anders dan in Delft, meer bosch, soms zelfs hei, vaak begroeid met die mooie, witte berkenboompjes. Tot buiten werken is het echter nog niet gekomen, als ik aan mijn kraai denk loop ik weer hard naar huis, maar t kan verkeeren, wie weet.

.. a crow, a quick, tame animal with immaculate feathering walks around here at home; I hope to be able to benefit a lot of it, because I love crows so much. The surroundings here [of ] are very different than around Delft; more forest, sometimes even heath, often overgrown with beautiful, white birch trees. I have not yet come to work outside however, because, when I think of my crow I walk home again, but may be it change, who knows. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)

What dusty and sober can a day in August be. You would like to take yourself away on such a day because of all the misery that is trying to penetrate you. But you know: the serene evening is coming and the lapwing sounds over the low fields. You are walking in the dew and see the backs of the cows and the steaming trees. and the thought of all these things blesses that fierce August Day, and you don't start to grumble and scold, or try to change or improve it, but you are seeking a quiet, shadowy corner somewhere on a deserted place here and there and you wait and know that it will come. Nature doesn't hide anything, but gives everything; and those days in August, they also have to get a place in our spiritual community. But the nights with winter-storms, they will also come and the lovely mornings and evenings in May, which are nothing but profundity. Only that depth, which we will get by experiencing all extremes, can create true friendship. Shall fate allow us to walk through all these phases? (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)

Yet I would like to get acquainted with Japanese drawings or paintings.. ..especially as they appreciate birds so strongly and therefore already they are my friends. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)

For example, in recent times I was looking to avoid in my works the greasy parts, which in the dark places [of the painting] are obstructing the material expression so heavily to appear. Rubbing with pumice and (the use of a lot of) oil I dispensed and then, look... like in my older works all details seem to appear much better, like in all the feathers of the crow; The job now has become much bigger, but no problem. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)

(original Dutch: citaat van Jan Mankes, in het Nederlands:) Toch zou ik wel eens graag kennis maken met Japansche teekeningen of schilderijen.. ..vooral daar ze vogels zo hoog stellen en daardoor dus al mijn vrinden zijn.

(original Dutch: citaat van Jan Mankes, in het Nederlands:) ..voerlui, sjouwerslui en schippers.. ..aan het kanaal wordt permanent turf geladen en elk paard staat een half uur stil [tijd voor schetsen].

(original Dutch: citaat van Jan Mankes, in het Nederlands:) Het wonder is gekomen. Zo ineens en zo plotseling dat ik het zelf nog niet bevatten kan. Ik ben verloofd. Mijn meisje is de dominee van en heet . Je zult haar leren kennen en dan zul je weten wat voor een groots en heerlijks dat voor mij betekent.

They say that he [ Floris Verster ] has made beautiful impressionist things in the past, afterwards he suddenly has achieved a tender drawing; in this time for example he painted dead rooks, so intimately pure and at the same time monumental, that it seemed to me the best what was made here [in the Netherlands] about that time. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)