Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker observes that the Mediterranean sea changes color frequently, defying simple description.
In plain terms
The sea changes color so much you cannot pin it down to just one shade.
What can you take from it?
Nature is complex and resists simple labels.

Where it applies

  • painting a landscape
  • describing a view
  • studying light

Putting it to work

  • observe details closely
  • accept ambiguity
  • appreciate shifting beauty

Questions to consider

  • How do you describe something that changes?
  • What color is the truth?

Another view

It focuses only on visual appearance without deeper symbolic meaning.

More from Vincent Van Gogh

  1. Thank God, I have my work, but instead of earning money by it, I need money to be able to work; that is the difficulty. I think there are no signs in my work t…

    Permalink to quote #80
  2. The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.

    Permalink to quote #82
  3. Sometimes there is relief, sometimes there is new inner energy, and one stands up after it; till at last, someday, one perhaps doesn't stand up any more, que s…

    Permalink to quote #79

Related quotes

  1. He will watch from dawn to gloom The lake-reflected sun illume The yellow bees in the ivy-bloom, Nor heed nor see, what things they be; But from these create h…

    Percy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe Shelley quote #72
  2. The Mediterranean has the color of mackerel, changeable I mean. You don't always know if it is green or violet, you can't even say it's blue, because the next …

    Vincent Willem Van GoghVincent Willem Van Gogh quote #81
  3. The ladies of St. James's! They're painted to the eyes; Their white it stays forever Their red it never dies: But Phillida, my Phillida! Her color comes and go…

    Henry Austin DobsonHenry Austin Dobson quote #1