Even when we look at nature, our imagination constructs the picture. (1 September 1859) - Eugène Delacroix

The contour should come last, only a very experienced eye can place it rightly.

To be like other people is the real condition of happiness. Sea air and diversions are producing this miraculous effect upon me. What you need is just the contrary. You are dying of boredom from what most mortals regard as bliss – having nothing to do. You need the treatment opposite to mine; I am not joking in the very least: one has to be compelled to some task, driven to it: anyone who is not a drunken brute must achieve boredom at all costs unless he can discover the secret of a taste for amusements.. .These reflections.. ..are not likely to comfort you, but they will change your frame of mind for a few minutes. I shall probably be back in Paris on Thursday...

Pourquoi ne pas profiter des contrepoisons de la civilisation, les bons livres.