Notes

Vincent's means of travel are nowhere specified in the record. Paul Gauguin recalled that Vincent told him that the painting of worn shoes that hung on the wall of his bedroom in the Yellow House depicted the shoes that he, Vincent, "put on one nice morning to embark on a journey by foot from Holland to Belgium. ... on his way to see those in the mines whom he called his brothers." (Gauguin, "Still Lifes," in Stein, ed., p. 121.) But this strikes us as a poetic, garbled, and unlikely report of Vincent's actual journey from Brussels to Dour in late November or early December 1878. It is difficult to be sure which painting Gauguin was referring to. It is likely to be A Pair of Shoes (F 461 JH 1569, August 1888, oil on canvas, 17.3 by 20.9 in., 44 by 53 cm., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) or A Pair of Leather Clogs (F 607 JH 1364, March, 1888, oil on canvas, 12.8 by 16 in., 32.5 by 40.5 cm., The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), or one like them painted in 1888. It presumably could not date from earlier than the first half of 1886, when A Pair of Shoes (F 331 JH 1235, First-half of 1886, oil on paper on cardboard, 13 by 16 in., 33 by 41 cm., The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) was painted. Either way, it was painted at least five years after the event; for Vincent did not travel "from Holland to Belgium," but only from Brussels to Dour, a trip of about forty-five miles, hardly enough to wear out a pair of shoes. We have been guided by the recollection of the local preacher, Rev. David Bonté, who gave his recollections to the scholar Piérard about thirty-five years later. Rev. Bontérecalled very clearly that Vincent arrived in the area well-dressed and clean, which argues against a grueling winter walk, and in favor of a short and inexpensive train ride (Piérard, The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh, p. 45).

Context:
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "There are sunken roads here, overgrown with thorn-bushes and with old, twisted trees with their gnarled roots, which look exactly like that road in the etching by Dürer, The knight and Death."

Context:
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "These people are completely black when they come out of the dark mines into the daylight again, they look just like chimney-sweeps."

Piérard, The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh, p. 53: Piérard quotes an early church archive in which Vincent is referred to as "M[onsieur] Vincent." The archive is strikingly similar to the minutes of the Congregational Church at Turnham Green near Isleworth, in which Vincent is referred to by his fellow teachers as "Mr. Vincent." Hence, Vincent had clearly settled on this pre-emptive name change by this time.

In an era when mobility was still unusual, no one willingly moved to an area like the Borinage (except missionaries). Thus, it seems unlikely that Hulsker is correct, although there is always the possibility of a more distant family connection. Also, the length of Vincent's stay with Van der Haeghen is often mistaken in the literature. As Hulsker points out (Hulsker, Vincent and Theo, p. 76), a letter from Vincent's mother is dispositive on this question: "a letter from Vincent arrived and one from Verhaegen [sic], a colporteur to whom Dad used to write. It is where Vincent lived the first eight days and the person who got him the excellent boarding house at Denis." (b2463 V/1982, "Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 2/27/1879.)

From this, it is clear that when Dorus wrote Theo in mid-December, "[Vincent] has found a good boardinghouse with a Protestant farmers family in Pâturages," he was referring not to Van der Haeghen, but to Denis (b2448 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/15/1878). It is probably Dorus's mistaken reference to Pâturages that has caused subsequent scholars to assume that the reports in the same letter about Vincent's paying "30 francs per month" board and "instruct[ing] children in the evening" refer to his stay with Van der Haeghen. Examples of this include: Piérard, The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh, p. 38; and Tralbaut, p. 58. What is harder to explain is Vincent's instruction in a letter dated December 26, 1878, for Theo to address his letters. "If you write, please address your letter care of M. Vanderhaegen, Colporteur à Pâturages près de Mons (Borinage Haînaut)" (JLB 149, 12/26/1878). We can only assume that he was not yet quite settled in the Denis house, into which he must have moved about ten days earlier.

Context:
JLB 693, 10/2/1888: "If you ever go to Petit-Wasmes, would you find out if Jean Baptiste Denis (farmer) and Joseph Quinez [Quintet] (miner) are still living there, and tell them on my behalf that I've never forgotten the Borinage, and that I'll always have a wish to see it again?"

Context:
BVG 127, 12/26/1878: "I have already spoken several times here, both in a fairly large room especially designed for religious meetings and also at the meetings they usually hold in the evenings in the workmen's cottages, and which may best be called Bible classes."
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "I've already spoken here at various times, both in a fairly large room, specially furnished for religious meetings, and in the gatherings that are customarily held in the workers' houses in the evenings, which one can best call Bible-reading."

BVG 127, 12/26/1878: "I have already had occasion to visit some of the sick, since there are so many of them here."
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "I've already had the opportunity to visit a few sick people, for many people here are ill."

Context:
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "I've already spoken here at various times, both in a fairly large room, specially furnished for religious meetings, and in the gatherings that are customarily held in the workers' houses in the evenings, which one can best call Bible-reading."

Context:
BVG 127, 12/26/1878: "That we should think of him as a workman, with lines of sorrow and suffering and fatigue on his countenance, without pomp or glory but with an immortal soul and needing the food that does not perish, namely God's word, because man liveth not by bread alone, but by all the words that flow from God's mouth."
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "How we should imagine him as a worker with signs of sorrow and suffering and fatigue on his face, without form or glory but with an immortal soul that has need of the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, namely the Word of God, for man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Context:
BVG 127, 12/26/1878: "How Jesus Christ is the Master who can strengthen and comfort and enlighten one like the Macedonian, a workman and labourer whose life is hard. Because He Himself is the great Man of Sorrows who knows our ills, Who was called the son of a carpenter, though He was the Son of God and the great Healer of sick souls."
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "How Jesus Christ is the Master who can strengthen, comfort and enlighten a man like the Macedonian, a workman and labourer who has a hard life. Because He himself is the great Man of Sorrows, who knows our diseases, who himself is called the carpenter's son, even though He was the Son of God and the great physician of sick souls."

Context:
JLB 387, 9/16/1883: "The last muster -- you must have seen it too -- what virility! I'd very much like to see the Jules Breton, A miner's daughter -- there's still a coal-mine in Courrières; when I went there on a rainy day the labourers were just going back through the mud, like a caravan of chimney-sweeps, one with an old capote on, I remember; the women, though (at least those that I saw) didn't wear men's clothes like they do in the Borinage, where the 'pit rags' are the same for all."

Context:
BVG 325, 9/16/1883: "When I went there on a rainy day, the miners were just going home through the mud, like a caravan of chimney sweeps; I remember one with an old capote, but the women, at least the ones I saw, did not wear men's clothes the way they do in the Borinage, where the 'loques de fosse' [the 'pit rags'] are the same for everybody. JLB 387, 9/16/1883: "… when I went there on a rainy day the labourers were just going back through the mud, like a caravan of chimney-sweeps, one with an old capote on, I remember; the women, though (at least those that I saw) didn't wear men's clothes like they do in the Borinage, where the 'pit rags' are the same for all."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: " It is a gloomy spot, and at first everything looks dreary and desolate."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: " It's a somber place, and at first sight everything around it has something dismal and deathly about it."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "I went on a very interesting excursion not long ago; the fact is, I spent 6 hours in a mine. In one of the oldest and most dangerous mines in the area no less, called Marcasse."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "Around the mine are poor miners' huts, a few dead trees black from smoke, thorn hedges, dunghills, ash dumps, heaps of useless coal, etc."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "All around the mine are poor miners' dwellings with a couple of dead trees, completely black from the smoke, and thorn-hedges, dung-heaps and rubbish dumps, mountains of unusable coal &c."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "This mine has 5 levels, 3 of which, the uppermost ones, are exhausted and abandoned, one no longer works in them because there's no more coal."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "The tunnels themselves are like the big chimneys of the Brabant farms."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The passageways themselves are like the large chimneys of the Brabant farmsteads."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "There's also a stable there, 700 metres below ground, with around 7 old horses that transport larger amounts, bringing them to the so-called accrochage, that being the place where they're hauled up."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "Some of the miners work in the maintenages, others load the loosened coal into small wagons that are transported along rails resembling a tramway. It's mostly children who do this, both boys and girls."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "The maintenages or gredins (cells where the miners work) which are situated farthest from the exit are called des caches (hiding places, places where men search)."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The maintenages or gradins (cells where the miners work) that are farthest removed from the exit are called 'des caches' (hidden places, places where one searches)."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "The maintenages or gredins (cells where the miners work) which are situated farthest from the exit are called des caches (hiding places, places where men search)."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The maintenages or graadins (cells where the miners work) that are farthest removed from the exit are called 'des caches' (hidden places, places where one searches)."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "The arrangement is more or less like the cells in a beehive, or like a dark, gloomy passage in an underground prison, or like a row of small weaving looms, or rather more like a row of baking ovens such as the peasants have, or like the partitions in a crypt."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The arrangement is more or less like the cells in a beehive, or like a dark, sombre passageway in an underground prison, or like a series of small looms, or actually they look like a row of ovens such as one sees among the peasants, or like the separate tombs in a vault."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "The arrangement is more or less like the cells in a beehive, … or like the partitions in a crypt."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The arrangement is more or less like the cells in a beehive, … or like the separate tombs in a vault."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "In each of the cells is a worker in a coarse linen suit, dingy and soiled as a chimney-sweep, chipping away at the coal by the dim light of a small lamp."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "I went on a very interesting excursion not long ago; the fact is, I spent 6 hours in a mine. In one of the oldest and most dangerous mines in the area no less, called Marcasse. This mine has a bad name because many die in it, whether going down or coming up, or by suffocation or gas exploding, or because of water in the ground, or because of old passageways caving in and so on."

Context:
BVG 126, 11/15/1878: "… but the Belgium miner has a happy disposition, he is used to that kind of life, and when he descends the shaft, carrying on his hat a little lamp that is destined to guide him in the darkness, he trusts himself to God, Who sees his labour and Who protects him, his wife and his children."
JLB 148, 11/13/1878-11/15/1878 or 11/16/1878: "… but the Belgian foreman has a cheerful character, he's used to this way of life, and when he goes down the pit, his hat topped with a little lamp whose job is to guide him in the darkness, he entrusts himself to his God Who sees his labours and Who protects him, his wife and his children."

Context:
JLB 674, 9/4/1888: "He's very much of his country, because in his speech and in his manners I recognized very clearly the accent of his country, the timidity of those miners, whom I still think about so often."

Context:
BVG 127, 12/26/1878: "The people here have something unique and attractive about them thanks to their simplicity and good nature, not unlike the Brabant people in Zundert and Etten."
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "The people here have something special and appealing because of their simplicity and kind-heartedness, just like the Brabanters in Zundert and Etten."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "People here are very ignorant and untaught -- most of them cannot read -- but at the same time they are intelligent and quick at their difficult work; brave and frank, they are short but square-shouldered, with melancholy deep-set eyes."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The people here are very uneducated and ignorant, and most of them can't read, yet they're shrewd and nimble in their difficult work, courageous, of rather small build but square-shouldered, with sombre, deep-set eyes."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "They have a nervous temperament -- I do not mean weak, but very sensitive."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "Very nervous dispositions, I mean not weak but sensitive."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "They have a nervous temperament -- I do not mean weak, but very sensitive."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "Very nervous dispositions, I mean not weak but sensitive."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "They have an innate, deep-rooted hatred and a strong mistrust of anyone who is domineering."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "Have a festering and deep-rooted hatred and an innate distrust of anyone who tries to boss them around."

Context:
BVG 127, 12/26/1878: "The miner's talk is not very easy to make out, but they understand ordinary French well, provided it is spoken quickly and fluently enough, for then it automatically sounds like their patois, which comes out with amazing speed."
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "The mine-workers' language is not all that easy to understand, but they understand normal French well if one can speak it rapidly and fluently, then it naturally resembles their dialect, which is spoken amazingly fast."

Context:
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: "The mine-workers' language is not all that easy to understand, but they understand normal French well if one can speak it rapidly and fluently, then it naturally resembles their dialect, which is spoken amazingly fast."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The people here are very uneducated and ignorant, and most of them can't read, yet they're shrewd and nimble in their difficult work, courageous, of rather small build but square-shouldered, with sombre, deep-set eyes. They're skilled at many things and work amazingly hard. Very nervous dispositions, I mean not weak but sensitive. Have a festering and deep-rooted hatred and an innate distrust of anyone who tries to boss them around. With charcoal-burners one must have a charcoal-burner's nature and character, and no pretensions, pridefulness or imperiousness, otherwise one can't get on with them and could never win their trust."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The people here are very uneducated and ignorant, and most of them can't read, yet they're shrewd and nimble in their difficult work, courageous, of rather small build but square-shouldered, with sombre, deep-set eyes."

Context:
BVG 132, 8/1/1879-8/15/1879: "Like everyone else, I need friendly or affectionate relationships or intimate companionship, and am not made of stone or iron like a pump or a lamppost, and like any man of culture or decency I cannot do without these things and not feel a void, a lack of something -- and I tell you all this to let you know how much good your visit has done me."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "Like everyone else, I have need of relationships of friendship or affection or trusting companionship, and am not like a street pump or lamp-post, whether of stone or iron, so that I can't do without them without perceiving an emptiness and feeling their lack, like any other generally civilized and highly respectable man -- and I tell you these things to let you know what a salutary effect your visit had on me."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "Like everyone else, I need friendly or affectionate relationships or intimate companionship, and am not made of stone or iron like a pump or a lamppost, and like any man of culture or decency I cannot do without these things and not feel a void, a lack of something -- and I tell you all this to let you know how much good your visit has done me."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "Like everyone else, I have need of relationships of friendship or affection or trusting companionship, and am not like a street pump or lamp-post, whether of stone or iron, so that I can't do without them without perceiving an emptiness and feeling their lack, like any other generally civilized and highly respectable man -- and I tell you these things to let you know what a salutary effect your visit had on me."

Context:
BVG 132, 8/1/1879-8/15/1879: "How desirable and attractive have become the difficult days, full of care, here in this poor country, in these uncivilized surroundings, compared to that."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "How desirable and appealing the rather difficult and troubled days here in this poor country, in these primitive surroundings, seem to me compared with then."

Context:
BVG 129, 4/1/1879: "With miners one must have a miner's character and temperament, and no pretentious pride or mastery, or one will never get along with them or gain their confidence."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "With charcoal-burners one must have a charcoal-burner's nature and character, and no pretensions, pridefulness or imperiousness, otherwise one can't get on with them and could never win their trust."

Context:
BVG 128, March 1879: "I think that Father has been impressed with the Borinage and that he will not easily forget it; no one who visits this curious, remarkable and picturesque region can."
JLB 150, 3/4/1879-3/31/1879: "I believe that Pa received an impression of the Borinage that he won't easily forget, as it would be with anyone who visited this singular, remarkable and picturesque region of the country."

Context:
BVG 128, 3/1/1879: "The country and the inhabitants charm me more every day. One has a homelike feeling here, like on the heath, or in the dunes; the people have something simple and good."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "The country and the people here appeal to me more each day, one has here a familiar feeling as though on the heath or in the dunes, there's something simple and kind-hearted about the people."

Context:
BVG 129, 4/1/1879: "It is lovely here in spring, too; there are spots where one could almost fancy oneself in the dunes, because of the hills."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "Here it's also attractive in the country in the spring; here and there are places where one could imagine oneself in the dunes, because of the hills."

Context:
BVG 128, 3/1/1879: " One has a homelike feeling here, like on the heath, or in the dunes; the people have something simple and good."
JLB 150, 3/4/1879-3/31/1879: "… one has here a familiar feeling as though on the heath or in the dunes, there's something simple and kind-hearted about the people."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "Not long ago I made a very interesting expedition, spending six hours in a mine."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "I went on a very interesting excursion not long ago; the fact is, I spent 6 hours in a mine."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The maintenages or gradins (cells where the miners work) that are farthest removed from the exit are called 'des caches' (hidden places, places where one searches)."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "It has a bad reputation because many perish in it, either going down or coming up, or through poisoned air, firedamp explosion, water seepage, cave-ins, etc."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: " This mine has a bad name because many die in it, whether going down or coming up, or by suffocation or gas exploding, or because of water in the ground, or because of old passageways caving in and so on."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "It has a bad reputation because many perish in it, either going down or coming up, or through poisoned air, firedamp explosion, water seepage, cave-ins, etc."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: " This mine has a bad name because many die in it, whether going down or coming up, or by suffocation or gas exploding, or because of water in the ground, or because of old passageways caving in and so on."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: "The villages here look desolate and dead and forsaken; life goes on underground instead of above."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The villages here have something forsaken and still and extinct about them, because life goes on underground instead of above."

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: " As the mariners ashore are homesick for the sea, notwithstanding all the dangers and hardships which threaten them, so the miner would rather be under the ground than above it."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: " Just as sailors on land are homesick for the sea, despite all the dangers and difficulties that threaten them, so the mine-worker would rather be below ground than above."

Context:
BVG 127, 12/26/1878): "You know that large drawing by Bosboom, "Chaudfontaine" -- it gives a good impression of the countryside in these parts, except that here everything is coal while to the north of Hainaut there are stone quarries and in Chaudfontaine they have iron." (JLB 149, 12/26/1878): "You know that large drawing by Bosboom, Chaudfontaine, it conveys the character of the land here well, only here everything is coal, in the north of Hainaut stone-quarries, and Chaudfontaine more iron ore."

Context
JLB 150, 3/4/1879-3/31/1879: "When the cart with a white horse (l'blanc ch'val) brings an injured man home from the mine, one sees things that remind one of Israëls's shipwreck, and over and over again there is something that moves one."

Context:
BVG 130, April 1879: "Generally there is a kind of haze hanging over it all, or a fantastic chiaroscuro effect formed by the shadows of the clouds, reminding one of pictures by Rembrandt or Michel or Ruysdael."
JLB 152, 6/19/1879: "Usually a sort of fog hangs over it, or else there's the fanciful effect of light and shade owing to the shadows of clouds that remind one of paintings by Rembrandt or Michel or Ruisdael."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "The workers there are usually people, emaciated and pale owing to fever, who look exhausted and haggard, weather-beaten and prematurely old, the women generally sallow and withered."

Context:
BVG 129, 4/1/1879: "A picture of the maintenages would be something new and unheard of -- or rather, never before seen."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "If anyone were to try and make a painting of the maintenages, that would be something new and something unheard-of or rather never-before-seen."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "So there are again many sickly and bedridden people, lying emaciated on their beds, weak and miserable."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "If now you can forgive a man for going more deeply into paintings, admit also that the love of books is as holy as that of Rembrandt, and I even think that the two complement each other."

Context:
BVG 130, April 1879: " There is still so much slavery in the world, and in this remarkably wonderful book that important question is treated with so much wisdom, so much love, and such zeal and interest in the true welfare of the poor oppressed that one comes back to it again and again, always finding something new."
JLB 152, 6/19/1879: "Am currently reading Uncle Tom's cabin a lot -- there's still so much slavery in the world -- and in that astonishingly beautiful book this extremely momentous matter is treated with such wisdom, with a love and a zeal and interest in the genuine welfare of the poor and oppressed, that one can't help coming back to it again and again and finding more in it each time."

Context:
BVG 131, 8/5/1879: "It is a masterpiece, the author in this work has painted a moving and sympathetic portrait of a working man called Stephen Blackpool."
JLB 153, 8/5/1879: "It's masterly, one of the characters is a worker, Stephen Blackpool, who's well portrayed and extremely likeable."

Context:
BVG 131, 8/5/1879: "It is a masterpiece, the author in this work has painted a moving and sympathetic portrait of a working man called Stephen Blackpool."
JLB 153, 8/5/1879: "It's masterly, one of the characters is a worker, Stephen Blackpool, who's well portrayed and extremely likeable."

Context:
JLB 152, 6/19/1879: "A painting by Mauve or Maris or Israëls speaks more and more clearly than nature itself."

Context:
BVG 127, 12/26/1878: "And God wills that in imitation of Christ, man should live and walk humbly on earth, not reaching for the sky, but bowing to humble things, learning from the Gospel to be meek and humble of heart."
JLB 149, 12/26/1878: " ... and God wants man to live and walk humbly upon the earth, in imitation of Christ, minding not high things, but condescending to men of low estate, learning from the gospel to be meek and lowly in heart."

Context:
JLB 148, 11/13/1878-11/15/1878 or 11/16/1878: "There are already a number of small Protestant congregations in the Borinage, and certainly schools as well, may God point me to a place [the Borinage] where I can be active as an evangelist in the way we spoke about, by preaching the gospel to the poor, thus to those who have need of it and for whom it is suited to perfection."

Context:
JLB 148, 11/13/1878-11/15/1878 or 11/16/1878: "The poor horse -- the old faithful servant, stands patient and submissive, but courageous nonetheless and as resolute, as it were, as the old guard who said 'the guard dies but does not surrender' -- waits for its final hour. I couldn't help thinking of that print this evening when I saw those dust-cart horses."

For the same reasons, we do not credit Tralbaut's vaguely-attributed account of Vincent's indignant confrontation with the mine overseers (which appears to be just an imaginative filling-out of the earlier account with a heavy gloss of pro-labor proselytizing): "When [Vincent] saw how we worked like slaves in the mines, for twelve hours a day, and for a daily wage that ranged from 2.51 to 3.44 Belgian francs, he was furious and exclaimed: How can they treat God's creatures like this? And he went to the bosses of the mines, who, incidentally, out of every 100 francs of net receipts paid 60.9 francs in wages and 39.1 francs to the shareholders; he wanted to get a juster share for us, but they only insulted him. They said: 'We'll have you shut up in the madhouse, M. Vincent, if you don't leave us in peace.' A miner's strike broke out shortly afterwards; we wanted to set fire to the mine, but M. Vincent persuaded us against violence. He told us not to be unworthy men, for brutality destroys everything that is good in man." (Tralbaut, pp. 62, 64; emphasis in original.)

Context:
JLB 479, 1/23/1885: "It's a different mood from that of the miners I lived with in a year of strikes and many accidents."

Context:
BVG 392, 1/20/1885: "That was even worse, yet it is often pathetic here too; the people are quiet, and literally nowhere have I heard anything resembling rebellious speeches."
JLB 479, 1/23/1885: "That was even worse -- but all the same, it's often heart-rending here too -- the people are quiet, and literally nowhere have I heard anything resembling inflammatory arguments."

Context:
JLB 272, 10/15/1882: "As for the one by Roll, I myself was present at such a scene in all its vivid reality. What I find so good in his painting is that as a whole it depicts such a situation so truly, even though one finds few of the details."

Context
BVG 129, April 1879: "Since that time there have been many cases of typhoid and malignant fever, of what they call la sotte fièvre, which gives them bad dreams like nightmares and makes them delirious."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "But since then there have been quite a few cases of typhus and virulent fever, including what is known as 'foolish fever', which causes one to have bad dreams such as nightmares and delirium."

This is probably also the same man whom Vincent described to Gauguin a decade later. Gauguin related the story: "One of [the injured], frightfully mutilated and scorched on the face, was taken in by Vincent. In the meantime the company doctor classified this man a hopeless case, to be salvaged only by a miracle ... But Vincent believed in miracles ... [He] watched over the bed of the moribund victim. He effectively prevented any contaminating air from reaching the wounds and he paid for the needed medicaments. ... [He] succeeded in reviving a Christian from the dead." (Gauguin, "Gauguin on Vincent (1888)," pp. 42-43.) This is also probably the same man who entered the record in various exaggerated accounts (e.g., Tralbaut, p. 60), of which Vincent's story to Gauguin should probably be seen as a prime example, although it is impossible to know if Vincent or Gauguin, or both, were responsible for the dramatic details. (Either Vincent or, more likely, Gauguin told the same story to Bernard, who reported it in a letter in 1889 [Bernard, n.p.].)

The romantic myth-making around Vincent's ministry to the sick and injured in the Borinage began early. Piérard already attributes to Vincent near miraculous powers (Piérard, The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh, p. 52). "Women would come to the holy man at the time of drawing lots for conscription and ask him to point out a passage in the Scriptures that would act as a talisman to make their sons draw the right numbers and save them from the barracks" (ibid.). By the 1990s, the great nephew of Vincent's landlord Denis reported to Wilkie that the miners referred to Vincent as "the Christ of the Coalmine" (Wilkie, p. 77).

Context:
BVG 129, April 1879: " Thank God, he has recovered and is going out again, and is beginning to walk some distance just for exercise; his hands are still weak and it will be some time before he can use them for his work, but he is out of danger."
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: " Thank God he has now recovered and goes out and about and is beginning to take long walks as practice, his hands are still weak and it will be some time before he's able to use them for his work, yet he has been saved."

Context:
JLB 150, 3/4/1879-3/31/1879: "Have rented a small house where I'd really like to live entirely on my own, but which now serves only as a workplace or study, because Pa thinks it better that I board with Denis, and I do too. I have prints on the wall there and all sorts of things."

The first of these meetings, in February, probably included only selected "gentlemen from the district" (our translation) and some local preachers, in addition to the inspector, Rochedieu. This impromptu meeting, called at the request of leaders in the congregation, must have resulted in some kind of preliminary report to the Committee and a warning to Vincent. Because it was not a part of the regular review process, and because of the sensitivity of the situation, it was probably conducted quietly. The briefness of Vincent's tenure (a little over one month) would also have argued for a quiet, private inquiry. Additional meetings resulted in additional rebukes and warnings (Hulsker, Vincent and Theo, p. 80). The last of these meetings preceded the final decision to sever Vincent's relationship with the Committee in July, a decision that was ratified in the Evangelical Committee's annual report for 1879–80 (Piérard, The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh, p. 47). This last meeting took place in June, and, as a regular part of the review at the end of the six-month probationary period, might have included more of the congregation (''Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 7/2/1879, quoted in Hulsker, Vincent and Theo, p. 80). This last meeting may have given rise to the legends describing a raucous, accusatory session that resembled, at least in spirit, a "stoning" (Piérard, The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh, p. 50). It seems highly doubtful to us that the Committee would have wanted to publicly air its problems (especially its mistake in hiring Vincent) by inviting "the people of the neighborhood" to attend any of these meetings (Hulsker, Vincent and Theo, p. 78-79).

Context:
JLB 150, 3/4/1879-3/31/1879: "Together we visited the 3 ministers of the Borinage and walked through the snow and visited a miner's family and saw coal being hauled up from a mine called Les trois Diefs (the three heaps of earth) and Pa attended two Bible readings, so we did a great deal in those couple of days."

Context:
JLB 150, 3/4/1879-3/31/1879: "Together we visited the 3 ministers of the Borinage and walked through the snow and visited a miner's family and saw coal being hauled up from a mine called Les trois Diefs (the three heaps of earth) and Pa attended two Bible readings, so we did a great deal in those couple of days."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: " Plans for improvement and change and generating energy -- and yet, do not be offended, I am a little frightened by them, not least because I have sometimes acted upon them only to have my hopes dashed."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: " Plans for improvement and change and raising the spirits -- and yet, don't let it anger you, I'm a little afraid of them -- also because I sometimes acted upon them and ended up rather disappointed."

Context:
BVG 128, March 1879: "I have rented a small house that I would like to make my home, but now it serves only as a workshop or study; Father, and I too, think it preferable that I lodge with Denis."
JLB 150, 3/4/1879-3/31/1879: "Have rented a small house where I'd really like to live entirely on my own, but which now serves only as a workplace or study, because Pa thinks it better that I board with Denis, and I do too."

Context:
BVG 128, 3/1/1879: "Father also attended two Bible classes, so we did a great deal in those few days. I think that Father has been impressed with the Borinage and that he will not easily forget it; no one who visits this curious, remarkable and picturesque region can."
JLB 150, 3/4/1879-3/31/1879: "I believe that Pa received an impression of the Borinage that he won't easily forget, as it would be with anyone who visited this singular, remarkable and picturesque region of the country."

Context:
JLB 175, 10/12/1881-10/15/1881: "[I] am swamped with all kinds of work here, so that the days pass by, but often one doesn't even have time to think or do things that would otherwise appeal to one."

When Theo visited Vincent a week after the trip to Brussels, Vincent apparently spent most of their lengthy discussions defensively justifying his religious "calling". The only mention of a career in art appears to have been Theo's somewhat flippant suggestion that Vincent find work in an engraving studio. We believe that Vincent's sketching at this point (of which Hulsker and others make so much, and which will be discussed in detail later in the chapter), was still more closely related to the pastime drawing that he had done since childhood as a way of sharing his experiences than to a focused artistic project that arose out of an artistic self-awareness. Thus we disagree strongly with Hulsker's proposal that "it was in this period -- and not in the summer of 1880 as has mostly been assumed -- that the thought of completely turning to art as a profession must have ripened in Vincent's mind" (ibid.). In fact, almost all of the pieces of Vincent's artistic ambitions were already in place before he arrived in the Borinage (See Chapter 11), but he was not yet ready to let go of his religious ambitions, and could not do so without suffering the wrenching psychological adjustments of the coming winter.

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "Not permissible, aye, just as Frank the Evangelist thought it reprehensible of me to assert that the sermons of the Reverend Mr. [Jean Baptiste] John Andry are only a little more evangelical than those of a Roman Catholic priest."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "Unacceptable, yes, just as, for example, Francq the Evangelist finds it unacceptable that I declared the sermons given by the Rev. Jean Andry to be only slightly more evangelical than the sermons of a priest."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "Like everyone else, I need friendly or affectionate relationships or intimate companionship, and am not made of stone or iron like a pump or a lamppost, and like any man of culture or decency I cannot do without these things and not feel a void, a lack of something -- and I tell you all this to let you know how much good your visit has done me."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "Like everyone else, I have need of relationships of friendship or affection or trusting companionship, and am not like a street pump or lamp-post, whether of stone or iron, so that I can't do without them without perceiving an emptiness and feeling their lack, like any other generally civilized and highly respectable man -- and I tell you these things to let you know what a salutary effect your visit had on me."

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "A prisoner who's kept in isolation, who's prevented from working &c., would in the long run, especially if this were to last too long, suffer the consequences just as surely as one who went hungry for too long."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "When one lives with others and is bound by feelings of affection, then one realizes that one has a reason for living, then one may not be utterly worthless and expendable, but is perhaps good for something, since we need one another and are journeying together as compagnons de voyage."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "When one lives with others and is bound by a feeling of affection one is aware that one has a reason for being, that one might not be entirely worthless and superfluous but perhaps good for one thing or another, considering that we need one another and are making the same journey as travelling [sic] companions."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "When one lives with others and is bound by feelings of affection, then one realizes that one has a reason for living, ..."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "When one lives with others and is bound by a feeling of affection one is aware that one has a reason for being, ..."

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "When one lives with others and is bound by a feeling of affection one is aware that one has a reason for being, that one might not be entirely worthless and superfluous but perhaps good for one thing or another, considering that we need one another and are making the same journey as travelling companions."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "When one lives with others and is bound by feelings of affection, then one realizes that one has a reason for living, then one may not be utterly worthless and expendable, but is perhaps good for something, ..."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "When one lives with others and is bound by a feeling of affection one is aware that one has a reason for being, that one might not be entirely worthless and superfluous but perhaps good for one thing or another, ..."

Context:
JLB 152, 6/19/1879: "Wouldn't you consider spending a day here, or longer if possible? I'd so much like you to know this country, because there's so very much that's unique to be noticed by those who look at things closely."

Context:
BVG 130, April 1879: "I wanted you to consider spending a day, or more if possible, here. I should so much like to have you know this country, too, because it has so many peculiarities for one who knows how to look at things attentively."
JLB 152, 6/19/1879: "I'd so much like you to know this country, because there's so very much that's unique to be noticed by those who look at things closely."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "A couple of nights ago a foal was born in the stable here, a nice small creature that was quick to stand firmly on its feet. The workers keep a lot of goats here, and there are young ones in the houses everywhere, just like the rabbits commonly to be found in the workers' houses."

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "In some, water leaks in everywhere and the light of the miner's lamp creates a peculiar effect and reflects as in a cave full of stalactites."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "Why am I telling you all this? -- not to grumble, not to apologize for things in which I may be more or less wrong, but quite simply to tell you this: on your last visit, last summer, ... we walked together near the disused mine they call La Sorcière, you reminded me that there was a time when we also walked together near the old canal and mill of Rijswijk, and then, you said, we were in agreement on many things, but, you added -- you've really changed since then, you're not the same any more."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "You will say, ever since such and such a time you have been going downhill, you have been feeble, you have done nothing."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "Now you say, from such and such a time you've been going downhill, you've faded away, you've done nothing."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "To improve my life -- don't you think I'm eager to, or shouldn't I need to?"
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: " Improvement in my life -- should I not desire it or should I not be in need of improvement?"

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "If, on the other hand, you think that I thought I would do well to take your advice literally and become a lithographer of invoice headings and visiting cards, or a bookkeeper or a carpenter's apprentice ... "

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "If, on the other hand, you think that I thought I would do well to take your advice literally and become a lithographer of invoice headings and visiting cards, or a bookkeeper or a carpenter's apprentice ... "

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "That would really be a sufficient answer (supposing it were possible for us to assume the guise of a baker or hair-cutter or librarian with lightning speed) and yet actually a foolish response, rather like the way the man acted who, when accused of heartlessness because he was sitting on a donkey, immediately dismounted and continued on his way with the donkey on his shoulders."

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "That would really be a sufficient answer (supposing it were possible for us to assume the guise of a baker or hair-cutter or librarian with lightning speed) and yet actually a foolish response, ... "

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "If, on the other hand, you think that I thought I would do well to take your advice literally and become a lithographer of invoice headings and visiting cards, or a bookkeeper or a carpenter's apprentice -- likewise that of my very dear sister Anna to devote myself to the baker's trade or many other things of that kind (quite remarkably diverse and mutually exclusive) -- which it was suggested I pursue, you would also be mistaken."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "If, on the other hand, you believe that I would do well to follow your advice literally to become an engraver of invoice headings and visiting cards, ... you would be making another mistake."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "If, on the other hand, you think that I thought I would do well to take your advice literally and become a lithographer of invoice headings and visiting cards, ... you would also be mistaken."

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "But, you say, I'm not giving you this advice for you to follow to the letter, but because I thought you had a taste for idling and because I was of the opinion that you should put an end to it."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: " … you could be right about my not seeing things straight."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: " … you could be right in thinking that I don't see things straight."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "During your final visit last summer [August 1879] ... you reminded me of another walk we once took at another time near the old canal and the mill at Rijswijk, and, you said, we used to agree about many things, but, you added, 'You have changed since then, you are no longer the same.'"
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "On your last visit, last summer [August 1879], ... you reminded me that there was a time when we also walked together near the old canal and mill of Rijswijk, and then, you said, we were in agreement on many things, but, you added -- you've really changed since then, you're not the same any more."

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "When I saw you again and took a walk with you, I had the same feeling I used to have more than I do now, as though life were something good and precious that one should cherish, and I felt more cheerful and alive than I had been for a long time, because in spite of myself life has gradually become or has seemed much less precious to me, much more unimportant and indifferent."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "Yet it may well all have been my own fault and you could be right about my not seeing things straight."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: " It could, however, be my fault, and you could be right in thinking that I don't see things straight, which is why it may be that, despite my great reluctance and notwithstanding that it's a hard journey, I'm going to Etten for at least a few days."

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "I really dread going there and am strongly inclined to stay here. ... [But], despite my great reluctance and notwithstanding that it's a hard journey, I'm going …"

Context:
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "I wished that we not drift apart, this is also the case with regard to those at home."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "You were there yourself, so you know how things were planned and discussed, argued and considered, talked over with wisdom, with the best intentions, and yet how miserable the result was, how ridiculous the whole undertaking, how utterly foolish. ... I fear a similar result if I follow wise advice given with the best intentions."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: " You were there yourself, and so you know how the pros and cons were weighed, considered and deliberated upon, reasoned with wisdom, how it was well meant -- and yet how pitiful the result, how daft the whole business, how grossly stupid. ... Something similar, I fear, will be the result of following wise counsel given with the best of intentions."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: " If ever I came to believe seriously that I was being a nuisance or a burden to you or those at home, of no use to anyone, and were obliged to look upon myself as an intruder or to feel superfluous so far as you are concerned, so that it would be better if I were not there at all, and if I should have to try all the time to keep out of other people's way -- were I really to think that, then I should be overwhelmed by a feeling of sadness and should have to wrestle with despair. ... Should that indeed be the case, then I might wish it were granted me not to have much longer to live."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: " If I must seriously feel that I'm annoying or burdensome to you or those at home, useful for neither one thing nor another, and were to go on being forced to feel like an intruder or a fifth wheel in your presence, so that it would be better I weren't there, and if I should have to continue trying to keep further and further out of other people's way -- if I think that indeed it would be so and cannot be otherwise, then I'm overcome by a feeling of sorrow and I must struggle against despair. ... If it were indeed so, then I'd truly wish that it be granted me not to have to go on living too long. "

Vincent adds to the confusion by describing his rooming situation in conflicting ways. In the same later letter, he suggests that the room he was occupying in the fall of 1880 was the same room he occupied in August 1879 when Theo visited him -- presumably in the annex that he shared with Frank. Yet elsewhere, Vincent says he shared his room in the house with some of the Decrucq children, which suggests a second-floor bedroom in the main house (especially since Vincent says that the Decrucq children shared the other bed in the room, indicating that they must have been young) (JLB 158, 9/24/1880). Further confusing the picture is a letter from Dorus to Theo in August 1879 that suggests Vincent may have lived in at least two places in Cuesmes: "[Vincent] is now back in Cuesmes where he found a place to stay, and he hopes to find a small room for the future" (b2488 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 8/7/1879). Vincent does not directly place himself in the Decrucq house until July 1880, after the winter blackout, when he writes Theo: "if you'd like to write me one of these days, my address is care of C. Decrucq, rue du Pavillon 8, Cuesmes, near Mons" (JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880). One possible explanation is that, after his initial stay (when Theo visited), Vincent rejected the comforts of the Decrucq house (as he did in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Petit Wasmes) in favor of humbler circumstances. Tralbaut quotes Decrucq's daughter to the effect that Vincent often slept in the barn, which would be consistent with this reading (Tralbaut, p. 64).

As for Vincent's conflicting characterizations of his room, we think it is highly doubtful that, during his winter of aimlessness, he shared a bedroom with Decrucq's children, given his strange habits and obvious mental instability. We also suspect that his story about why he had to leave the house ("if I could have had another room in the house I could have stayed, but the people of the house needed it") was either partially or entirely concocted to convince Theo of the necessity of leaving the Borinage (JLB 159, 10/15/1880). This would be consistent with the hypothesis that he began his stay in the adjacent wing of the house with Frank, moved into the upstairs bedroom with the children when he had recovered his bearings after the winter of 1879–80 (during which his residency was probably erratic), then moved out when he decided it was time to leave the area altogether. The option of moving back to his original room in the annex (where he began and where Theo visited him) may have been genuinely foreclosed by the family's plans to use it for "cooking and washing," but this seems unlikely (ibid.). The decision to leave the Borinage clearly arose from deeper, less pragmatic considerations.

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "Now anyone who becomes absorbed in all this is sometimes considered outrageous, "shocking," sinning more or less unwillingly against certain forms and customs and proprieties."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "Now the man who is absorbed in all that is sometimes shocking, to others, and without wishing to, offends to a greater or lesser degree against certain forms and customs and social conventions." (In JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880, "outrageous" [or an equivalent word] is eliminated from the sentence.)

Context:
BVG 136, 9/24/1880: "I shall set to work again with my pencil, which I had cast aside in my deep dejection, and I shall draw again quot;
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: " I'll pick up my pencil that I put down in my great discouragement and I'll get back to drawing."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "When I was in different surroundings, in surroundings of paintings and works of art, you well know that I then took a violent passion for those surroundings that went as far as enthusiasm. And I don't repent it, and now, far from the country again, I often feel homesick for the country of paintings."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "So I studied the books I had to hand rather seriously, such as the Bible and Michelet's La révolution Française, and then last winter, Shakespeare and a little Victor Hugo and Dickens and Beecher Stowe, and then recently Aeschylus, and then several other less classic authors, several good minor masters."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "So I studied the books I had to hand rather seriously, such as the Bible and Michelet's La révolution Française, and then last winter, Shakespeare and a little Victor Hugo and Dickens and Beecher Stowe, and then recently Aeschylus, and then several other less classic authors, several good minor masters."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "So I studied the books I had to hand rather seriously, such as the Bible and Michelet's La révolution Française, and then last winter, Shakespeare and a little Victor Hugo and Dickens and Beecher Stowe, and then recently Aeschylus, and then several other less classic authors, several good minor masters."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "Let me stop there, but my God, how beautiful Shakespeare is, who else is as mysterious as he is; his language and method are like a brush trembling with excitement and ecstasy."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: " To put it no higher, my God, how beautiful that is. Shakespeare -- who is as mysterious as he? -- his language and his way of doing things are surely the equal of any brush trembling with fever and emotion."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "And I think that Kent, a character in Shakespeare's "King Lear," is as noble and distinguished a man as that figure by Th. de Keyser, though Kent and King Lear are reputed to have lived much earlier."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "And I think that Kent, a man in Shakespeare's King Lear, is just as noble and distinguished a character as any figure of Th. de Keyser, although Kent and King Lear are supposed to have lived a long time earlier."

             Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the foul
           fiend hath led through fire and through flame, and
           through ford and whirlipool e'er bog and quagmire;
             that hath laid knives under his pillow, and halters
             in his pew; set ratsbane by his porridge; made film
           proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting-horse over
           four-inched bridges, to course his own shadow for a traitor.

Context
BVG 142, 4/2/1881: "A peasant who sees me draw an old tree trunk, and sees me sitting there for an hour, thinks that I have gone mad and, of course, laughs at me."
JLB 164, 4/2/1881: "A peasant who sees me drawing an old tree-trunk and sees me sitting there in front of it for an hour thinks I'm mad, and naturally laughs at me."

Context:
BVG 132, August 1879: "When I saw you again and walked with you, I had a feeling I used to have more often than I do now, namely that life is something good and precious which one should value, and I felt more cheerful and alive than I have been feeling for a long time, because in spite of myself my life has gradually become less precious, much less important and more a matter of indifference to me, or so it seemed."
JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879: "When I saw you again and took a walk with you, I had the same feeling I used to have more than I do now, as though life were something good and precious that one should cherish, and I felt more cheerful and alive than I had been for a long time, because in spite of myself life has gradually become or has seemed much less precious to me, much more unimportant and indifferent."

Context:
JLB 391, 9/28/1883: "See for yourself on the map how far it is from Mons to Courrières, I covered that road there on foot from Valenciennes, and back to Mons with less than 2 francs in my pocket -- three days and three nights at the beginning of March, in rain and wind, without a roof over my head."

The literature uniformly assumes that the objective of Vincent's trip in March 1880, from the first, was to visit the studio of the painter-poet Jules Breton in Courrières. The trip is routinely referred to as "the trip to Courrières," which only assumes the conclusion. In fact, not even Vincent presented it as simply as that. On the subject of his motivation, he says only: "I made that trip hoping perhaps to find work there (any sort, if possible; I would have accepted anything)" (ibid.). His description of the trip seven months later, however, was clearly intended to give Theo the impression that the visit to Breton's studio was crucial to his undertaking the trip (which makes his last-minute reluctance to knock at Breton's door even more puzzling, not to say incredible). As discussed later in this chapter, we think this is another instance of Vincent recasting the past to meet his current emotional needs. That Vincent was exercising a heavy editorial-persuasive hand in his retelling is also indicated by his omission of any mention of the coalmines in Courrières -- an aspect of the trip that does not emerge until three years later when it becomes helpful to a different agenda of persuasion.

Context:
BVG 130, April 1879: "A few days ago I received a letter from the Reverend Mr. Jones of Isleworth in which he writes about building little wooden churches here in the Borinage. Is that practicable, is it desirable? He is ready to work for that end, that is, for the erection of the first of such little buildings. He even speaks of coming here in the autumn to talk it over; I certainly hope it happens."
JLB 152, 6/19/1879: "Received a letter a few days ago from the Rev. Jones of Isleworth in which he writes about the building of wooden churches here in the Borinage. Is it feasible? Is it desirable? He has a mind to work towards that goal, i.e. erecting the first of such buildings. Even talks about coming over here sometime in the autumn to discuss the matter."

Context:
BVG 329, 9/27/1883: "I did not see any good at the time, nor do I now, in reaching such a point of destitution, in literally having no roof over my head, in having to wander and wander forever like a tramp, without finding either rest or food or covering anywhere -- besides, without any possibility of working."
JLB 391, 9/28/1883: "I take no pleasure in it, I saw no good in it then and see even less now in reaching a point of destitution such that one doesn't even have a roof over one's head and must tramp on and tramp on like a vagabond into infinity without finding either rest or food or shelter anywhere, moreover without the possibility of doing any work."

Context:
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: "But when my ten francs were gone, I had to bivouac out in the open for the last 3 nights, once in an abandoned carriage, all white with frost in the morning, a rather poor shelter, once in a wood-pile and once, and it was a little better, in a haystack that had been broached, where I managed to make a slightly more comfortable nest, only a fine rain didn't exactly add to my well-being."

Context:
BVG 136, 9/24/1880: "I had gone on this trip in the hope of perhaps finding some sort of work there, if possible -- I would have accepted anything."
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: "I made that trip hoping perhaps to find work there (any sort, if possible; I would have accepted anything)."

Context:
BVG 191, April 1882: "... in those years when I was abroad without friends or help, suffering great misery (so that in London I often had to sleep in the open air, and did so three nights in succession in the Borinage) ..."
JLB 221, 4/26/1882: "... in those years, when I was abroad without friends or assistance, in great misery (so that I often had to sleep in the streets in London, and in the Borinage 3 nights in a row) ..."

Context:
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: "Even there, at Courrières [near Lens], there was a coal-mine or pit; I saw the day-shift coming up at dusk."

Context:
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: "Even there, at Courrières [near Lens], there was a coal-mine or pit; I saw the day-shift coming up at dusk."

Context:
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: "I saw Courrières and the outside of Mr. Jules Breton's studio."

Context:
JLB 61, 12/10/1875: "You'll like the book by Jules Breton. There's one poem of his that I found especially moving: 'Illusions'."

Context:
JLB 34, 5/31/1875: "He has a beautiful painting at the Salon, 'The feast of St John', peasant girls dancing on a summer evening round the St John's bonfire, in the background the village with its church and the moon above it."

Context:
JLB 34, 5/31/1875: "I recently saw Jules Breton with his wife and two daughters."

Context:
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: "I returned [from Courrières] worn out, with bruised feet and in a rather melancholy state."

Context:
BVG 136, 9/24/1880: "Although this trip nearly killed me and I came back spent with fatigue, with crippled feet and in more or less depressed state of mind, I do not regret it ... "
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: "Although this stage was almost unbearable to me, and I returned from it worn out, with bruised feet and in a rather melancholy state, I don't regret it ... "

Context:
BVG 136, 9/24/1880: "Although this trip nearly killed me and I came back spent with fatigue, with crippled feet and in more or less depressed state of mind, I do not regret it ... "
JLB 158, 9/24/1880: "Although this stage was almost unbearable to me, and I returned from it worn out, with bruised feet and in a rather melancholy state, I don't regret it ... "

Context:
JLB 185, 11/18/1881: "It causes me much sorrow and grief but I refuse to accept that a father is right who curses his son and (think of last year) wants to send him to a madhouse (which I naturally opposed with all my might) and calls his son's love 'untimely and indelicate'!!!" (emphasis in original).

The unique nature of the town would have been betrayed only if Dorus happened to meet a patient on the street claiming to be "some great personage" (ibid., p. 124) -- the most common "maniacal delusion" (ibid.) among citizens of the Commune; or if he noticed the halting gait of patients wearing the ceinture à bracelets mobiles, an apparatus that chained the arms to the waist "at a sufficient length to allow the use but not the abuse of the hands" (ibid., p. 103); or by the sight of the occasional "helpless, purposeless wandering imbecile … fettered like the hedge-side vagrant donkey" (quoted in Parry-Jones, p. 206). It is interesting to note that, according to Byrne (ibid., p. 102), the overwhelming majority of the patients at Gheel were Catholic -- about ninety-seven percent -- and the remainder were split between Jews and Protestants. This apparently did not present a bar to Dorus van Gogh.

Perhaps the best, if most circumstantial, evidence of a long drawn-out process is the huge gap in the family letters, starting in September of the previous year. There is a hint that discussions about Vincent's "competence" were family currency as early as that August (1879). Vincent may be referring obliquely to the issue of guardianship when he writes Theo: "All the same, it's better that we feel something for each other rather than behave like corpses towards one another, the more so because as long as one has no real right to be called a corpse by being legally dead, it smacks of hypocrisy or at least childishness to pose as such" (JLB 154, 8/11/1879-8/14/1879).

Context:
BVG 158, 11/18/1881: "Now while I am very distressed and sorry about it all, I simply cannot agree that a father who curses his son and (remember last year) proposes to send him to a lunatic asylum (which naturally I resisted with all my might) and who calls his son's love 'inappropriate and indelicate' (!!!), is in the right."
JLB 185, 11/18/1881: "It causes me much sorrow and grief but I refuse to accept that a father is right who curses his son and (think of last year) wants to send him to a madhouse (which I naturally opposed with all my might) and calls his son's love 'untimely and indelicate'!!!" (emphasis in original).

Context:
JLB 227, 5/15/1882: "Of course it mustn't be some kind of wardship, I made my feelings about that clear enough at the time of the Geel affair."

Context
JLB 234, 6/1/1882-6/2/1882: "You must first think and see if there's indeed anything unlawful in the child's behaviour before resorting to the law."

Context:
BVG 206, 6/8/1882-6/9/1882: "I feel obliged to tell you again that in case they want to attempt something like putting me under guardianship on physical grounds, the precedent of the Gheel affair would make it awkward for the family suddenly to take a different stand, and base their action no longer on physical but on financial grounds."
JLB 237, 6/8/1882: "I must tell you again that the precedent of Geel, at which time they were minded to make me a ward of court on physical grounds, makes it difficult for the family suddenly to change their story now and look for financial rather than physical reasons" (emphasis in original).

Context:
BVG 216, 7/19/1882: "That I was not able to think or that my mind was deranged."
JLB 247, 7/18/1882: "That I couldn't think or that I wasn't right in the head."

Context:
BVG 133, 7/1/1880: "Should I consider myself a dangerous person, unfit for anything? I think not. Rather, every means should be tried to put these very passions to good effect."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "… must one consider oneself a dangerous man, incapable of anything at all? I don't think so. But it's a matter of trying by every means to turn even these passions to good account."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "As you may perhaps know, I'm back in the Borinage; my father spoke to me of staying in the vicinity of Etten instead; I said no, and I believe I acted thus for the best."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "To the family, I have, willy-nilly, become a more or less objectionable and shady sort of character, at any rate a bad lot."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "Without wishing to, I've more or less become some sort of impossible and suspect character in the family, in any event, somebody who isn't trusted …"

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "A kind of ne'er-do-well of a person resembles that kind of ne'er-do-well of a bird."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "An idle man like that resembles an idle bird like that."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "As a result one cannot rid oneself of melancholy, one feels emptiness where there might have been friendship and sublime and genuine affection, and one feels dreadful disappointment gnawing at one's spiritual energy, fate seems to stand in the way of affection or one feels a wave of disgust welling up inside."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "Because of that, you're not without melancholy, and you feel emptiness where there could be friendship and high and serious affections, and you feel a terrible discouragement gnawing at your psychic energy itself, and fate seems able to put a barrier against the instincts for affection, or a tide of revulsion that overcomes you."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "... so how, then, could I be useful to anybody in any way?"

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "And so I am inclined to think the best and most sensible solution all round would be for me to go away and to keep my distance, to cease to be, as it were."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "That's why, first of all, so I'm inclined to believe, it is beneficial and the best and most reasonable position to take, for me to go away and to remain at a proper distance, as if I didn't exist."

Context:
JLB 1, 9/26/1872: " My dear Theo … I missed you the first few days, and it was strange for me not to find you when I came home in the afternoon."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "I am writing to you rather reluctantly because, for a good many reasons, I have kept silent for such a long time."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "It's with some reluctance that I write to you, not having done so for so long, and that for many a reason."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "With reluctance, of course, with a feeling of some despondency, of course, but I have reached a sort of impasse, am in trouble, what else can I do?"
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "Certainly reluctantly, certainly with a rather melancholy feeling, but I'm in some sort of impasse or mess; what else can one do?"

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "It may be a thing of rather demoralizing difficulty to regain the trust of an entire family perhaps not entirely devoid of prejudices and other similarly honourable and fashionable qualities."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: " I am a man of passions, capable of and subject to doing more or less foolish things, which I happen to repent, more or less, afterward."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "I, for one, am a man of passions, capable of and liable to do rather foolish things for which I sometimes feel rather sorry."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "Someone who has seemed to be good for nothing, unable to fill any job, any appointment, will find one in the end and, energetic and capable, will prove himself quite different from what he seemed at first."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "One who has been rolling along for ages as if tossed on a stormy sea arrives at his destination at last; one who has seemed good for nothing and incapable of filling any position, any role, finds one in the end, and, active and capable of action, shows himself entirely different from what he had seemed at first sight."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "Then there is the other kind of ne'er-do-well, the ne'er-do-well despite himself, who is inwardly consumed by a great longing for action who does nothing because his hands are tied, because he is, so to speak, imprisoned somewhere, because he lacks what he needs to be productive, because disastrous circumstances have brought him forcibly to this end."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "Then there's the other idler, the idler truly despite himself, who is gnawed inwardly by a great desire for action, who does nothing because he finds it impossible to do anything since he's imprisoned in something, so to speak, because he doesn't have what he would need to be productive, because the inevitability of circumstances is reducing him to this point."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "But the cage does not give way and the bird is maddened by pain."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "And then the cage stays there and the bird is mad with suffering."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "An idle man like that resembles an idle bird like that."

Context:
BVG 133, July 1880: "'The others are building their nests and hatching their young and bringing them up,' and then he bangs his head against the bars of the cage."
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "'... the others are building their nests and making their little ones and raising the brood', and he bangs his head against the bars of his cage."

Context:
JLB 155, 6/22/1880-6/24/1880: "Such a person doesn't always know himself what he could do, but he feels by instinct, I'm good for something, even so! I feel I have a raison d'être! ... For what then could I be of use, for what could I serve! There's something within me, so what is it!"

Context:
BVG 134, 8/20/1880: "I write to you while I am busy drawing, and I am in a hurry to go back to it, so good night, and send me the prints as soon as possible, and believe me ..."
JLB 156, 8/20/1880: " I'm writing to you while drawing and I'm in a hurry to get back to it, so good-night, and send the sheets as soon as possible, and believe me ..."