"What most makes me a human being?" This is the existential question that Vincent Van Gogh asked his brother in a letter and that he answered himself at once: "A person who doesn't feel small – who doesn't realize that he's a speck – what a fundamental mistake he makes." Bertold Hummel used this timeless statement in 1984 as a text basis for his compact three-part motet, with the classical style of the a cappella work emphasizing the power of the text.