Friday, 28 September 1883

No — still never…
In short, everything is going badly — everything, everything, everything! There is…
You know — when everything is truly going very badly, and it is not touching or poetic; when there is not even anyone to be indignant at… One has not the heart to complain.
So what I shall say will be the least sad things: my painting is not yet finished, which is cruelly irritating. When it is finished, I shall have to leave for a month or two.
Here everything drags — no dates, no fixed season, no necessity of any kind. An immense tedium, drowsy work, a vague or despairing state of mind…
Alas, I shall leave — but it will be like the lady with the thin legs who runs and whose legs follow her… For the truly horrible sadnesses will follow me… Everything else could be arranged.
Monsieur Renan does not believe in miracles; neither do I, and I am very sorry for it.