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244 LETTERS.
not discovered until our thoughts are to be ranged in rank
and file, and not until then can they be placed in regular
order. And in now going to march up my recruits, I must
request the experienced general — experienced on the field
of fine arts — whenever it is required, to give the words of
command: halt! right! left!
- If yesterday my words should have made you believe,
my dear Baron, that I do not understand how to appreciate
the happiness of the collector of works of art, I should be
very sorry, because they must then have been more stupid
than niyself. I only wanted to express a way of feeling,
individual to myself, and with reference only to my own
life. The indescribable enjoyment which I derive from
works of art, the higher life which I feel while wandering
about in your museum, must be the best interpreters of
what I think of the influence of the fine arts upon happi-
ness, and of the life of the collector. That, notwithstand-
ing this, I shall never be a collector of works of art, nor,
like you, surround myself with visible productions of art,
is owing to reasons which I do not wish to explain. I will
only say this much, that any thing having money value will
not long remain in my possession— not even a medal
awarded by the Swedish Academy. Offer me fifty rix dol-
lars for any thing, except for a warm cloak, and it is yours
at once. Nevertheless, my dear Baron, I adore art, and
walk through life — allow me to say it with humble joy —as
a novice in art. Of every thing which I experience in life ;
which I enjoy and suffer; and which I perceive in man, in
nature, in my own soul — of all this I endeavor with love
to comprehend the meaning and essence, according to my
best understanding, and to form out of it a clearer and
mote perfect image of life with its power, that is to say, a
group, in which God, man, and things, live together in har-
mony. This I would wish to call, the art of life. This
seems to me to belong to every intelligent person, and
without this art I do not understand life, neither here on
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