I'm now painting with all the elan of a Marseillais eating soup, which won't surprise you when I tell you I'm painting large sunflowers. The idea? To decorate the studio, now there's hope of Gauguin living here. I aim at a dozen panels of sunflowers in the room I've set aside for Gauguin.

Often whole days pass without my speaking to anyone, except to ask for diner or coffee. And it has been like that form the beginning.

The sunflower is mine, in a way.

How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.

For me work is an absolute necessity, indeed I can't really drag it out, I take no more pleasure in anything than in work, that's to say, pleasure in other things stops immediately and I become melancholy if I can't get on with the work.

What preys on my mind is simply this one question: what am I good for, could I not be of service or use in some way?

Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.