Notes

Context:
JLB 596, 4/12/1888: "As for going to visit Aix, Marseille, Tangier, no fear; if I were to go there, though, it would be in search of cheaper lodgings, &c."

Kôdera digs deeper into this possible exposure, citing a special issue of the Courrier Français dedicated to "les inondes du Midi" (the drowning victims of the Midi) which detailed the extensive damage caused by the floods and solicited contributions (Kôdera, p. 57). According to Kôdera, "this publication was just one in a series of manifestations held in late 1886 in aid of the sufferers of the Midi," one of which was the aforementioned Fête du soleil in December 1886 and January 1887. Kôdera's description of this event is even more elaborate: "In the large space of the Palais picturesque cottages, a windmill and a tower were built. A gigantic electric light with a circumference of 8 meters, imitating the sun of the Midi, was hung from the ceiling, and under this artificial sunlight Parisiens could enjoy the Tambourin, the Farandole, the Tarasque, the theater of the Midi and the dance of the Arlésiennes." (Kôdera, p. 58.) According to Kôdera, it is "quite unlikely" that the Fête du soleil and the publicity surrounding it "could have escaped van Gogh's attention" (ibid.). The timing is off, however, for a claim that the Fête prompted Vincent's move to Arles. The letter Vincent wrote to Horace Mann Livens in October 1886, in which he invites his former classmate to join him on a trip to the south the following spring, comes months before the Fête du soleil (JLB 569, September or October 1886). While it is possible that the flooding in the Midi put Vincent's ambitions to take a trip to the south on hold that winter, it is unlikely that they spurred those ambitions. Although we do not accept Kôdera's larger claims for the influence of the Fêtes on Vincent's art, we agree that the publicity around the flood and the Fêtes probably influenced where in the south, specifically, he stepped off the train (Kôdera, p. 58).

Context:
BVG 465, 2/26/1888-2/28/1888: "On the contrary, I ask nothing better than that the business you began in the shop on the boulevard should go on and increase in importance."
JLB 580, 2/27/1888: "On the contrary, I ask no more than this, that what you've started in the shop on the boulevard should last and become more important."

Context:
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "I'd drop him a line if I were you, very short and very calm, ... you must insist on getting a reply. If you don't, you'll lose your self-confidence ... I don't believe we should press the point in a new letter ... We have to be careful with him."

Context:
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "And has he calculated, like us, the effect of a fall on paintings that are highly priced at present, a fall which, it seems to me, will probably come about as soon as the Impressionists rise. Look at the way those who sell highly priced paintings are harming themselves by opposing, for political reasons, the advent of a school that for years has shown an energy and a perseverance worthy of Millet, Daubigny and others."

Context:
JLB 595, 4/11/1888: "And it's because of this victory that's almost guaranteed in advance that for our part we have to have good manners and do everything calmly."

Context:
JLB 591, 4/1/1888: "I don't at all like Reid's way of behaving towards us, it seems funny to me that you and Guillaumin haven't already arranged to cancel the sale of the painting in question."

Context:
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "What do you say to the news that Kaiser Wilhelm [Kaiser Wilhelm I, 1797-1888; German Emperor] is dead? Will that speed up events in France, and will Paris stay calm? It seems doubtful. And what effect will all this have on the trade in paintings?"

Context:
BVG 470, 3/18/1888: "It wasn't a bad idea, that journalist advising General Boulanger to wear rose-colored spectacles, so as to put the secret police on the wrong scent: according to him they'd match his beard better. It might have a favorable influence on the picture trade -- it's been wanted for long enough."
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888 "However, it's not a bad idea for a journalist to advise General Boulanger to put the secret police off the scent by henceforth wearing rose-tinted spectacles, which in his opinion would go better with the General's beard. Perhaps this will have the favourable influence we've been wanting for so long -- on the picture trade."

Context:
BVG 468, 3/10/1888: "You realise that if Tersteeg joins you in this affair, between you, you could easily persuade Boussod Valadon to grant a regular credit for the necessary purchases. But it is urgent, since failing that, the dealers will steal a march on you."
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "You're well aware that if Tersteeg joins you in this venture, the two of you will easily be able to persuade Boussod Valadon to extend substantial credit for the purchases needed. But it's urgent, because without that other dealers will cut the ground from under your feet."

Context:
BVG 473, 4/2/1888: "Here is a plan of attack which will cost us several of the best pictures you and I have made between us, and certainly worth at least several 1000 franc notes."
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "So here's a plan of attack that will cost us some of the best paintings we've made together, definitely worth let's say a pundle off tousand-vrenc pills."

Context:
BVG 492, 5/28/1888: "Today I bought some paints here, and some canvases, for with the weather we are having I must return to the charge."
JLB 615, 5/28/1888: "I bought some colours here today, and canvases, because depending on the weather I'll have to go onto the attack."

Context:
BVG 476, 4/11/1888: "And because of the victory already almost assured, we must have good manners, and do everything quietly."
JLB 595, 4/11/1888: "And it's because of this victory that's almost guaranteed in advance that for our part we have to have good manners and do everything calmly."

Context:
JLB 578, 2/24/1888: "For us to say we'd never have benefited from knowing him would be relatively unfair since, 1, he made us a gift of a very fine painting (which painting, let it be said by the way, we intended to acquire), 2, Reid made Monticellis go up in value, and since we own 5 of them the result for us is that these paintings have increased in value -- 3, he was good and pleasant company in the first months."

Context:
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "That -- I'm referring to the painting at the Delarebeyrettes' -- we currently know of another bouquet of very good quality and at a reasonable price, and that in any case we think it's much finer than the Monticellis with figures, which are all over the place these days and belong to a period of decline in Monticelli's talent."

Context:
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "That Monticelli would sometimes take a bouquet of flowers in order to put on a single panel the whole range of his richest and most perfectly balanced tones. And that you have to go straight to Delacroix to find such an orchestration of colours."

Context:
BVG 477a, 4/21/1888: "But gives us something passionate and eternal -- the rich colour and rich sun of the glorious South in a true colourist way parrallel with Delacroix' conception of the South viz."
JLB 598, 4/19/1888: "But gives us something passionate and eternal -- the rich coulour and rich sun of the glorious south in a true colourists way parallel with Delacroix' conception of the south."

Another letter filled with Italophile pleasantries is JLB 627, 6/17/1888: "For instance at the present occasion I was writing to you and going to say something about Arles as it is -- and as it was in the old days of Boccaccio. ... This dirty 'mudlark' I thought yet had a vague florentine sort of figure like the heads in the Monticelli pictures, and reasoning and drawing this wise I worked on the letter I was writing to you. I enclose the slip of scribbling, that you may judge of my abstractions and forgive my not writing before as such. Do not however imagine I am painting old florentine scenery -- no, I may dream of such -- but I spend my time in painting and drawing landscapes or rather studies of colour. ... I have been to the seaside for a week and very likely am going thither again soon. Flat shore sands -- fine figures there like Cimabue -- straight, stylish."

Context:
JLB 598, 4/19/1888: "You know I thought and think such a deal of those of yours. I don't gainsay that your portraits are more serious and higher art but I think it meritory in you and a rare quality that together with a perfection as appeared to me the Fabian and [Dodge] MacKnight portraits, you are at the same time able to give a Scherzo, the adagio con espressione, the gay note in one word, together with more manly conceptions of a higher order." According to JLB 598, n. 7: "Nothing is known about Fabian, the subject of the first work, except that he, like Russell and Van Gogh, had studied in Cormon's studio in Paris, and that he and Van Gogh may have exchanged work (see letter 569, n. 13). It seems unlikely that he was the Spanish artist Fabian de Castro, as was suggested earlier."

Context:
BVG 463, 2/21/1888: "With a handshake for you and the comrades."
JLB 577, 2/21/1888: "With a good handshake to you and the pals."

Context:
JLB 591, 4/1/1888: "It seems funny to me that you and Guillaumin haven't already arranged to cancel the sale of the painting in question. You can tell Guillaumin boldly from me that that's my firm opinion, and as much in the interests of G. himself as in the interests of business in general. The price was already derisory." (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "Here's a short note for Bernard and Lautrec, to whom I'd solemnly promised to write. I'm sending it to you so that you can give it to them sometime, it's not in the least urgent and it will be a reason for you to see what they're doing and to hear what they're saying, if you want."

Context:
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "Here's a short note for Bernard and Toulouse-Lautrec, to whom I'd solemnly promised to write. I'm sending it to you so that you can give it to them sometime, it's not in the least urgent and it will be a reason for you to see what they're doing and to hear what they're saying, if you want."

Context:
BVG 498a, 5/29/1888: "You'll have quite a lot to tell those fellows in Holland about what you've seen in Paris."
JLB 618, 5/29/1888-5/30/1888: "You'll have a great deal to tell the fellows in Holland about what you saw in Paris."

Context:
BVG W4, 6/22/1888: " Theo is doing his best for all the impressionists; he has done something, or sold something, for every one of them, and he will certainly go on doing so. But the few things I wrote you about this question will show you that he is quite different from the other dealers, who do not care the least bit about the painters."
JLB 626, 6/16/1888-6/20/1888: " Theo works for all the Impressionists, he's done something for and sold for all of them, and will certainly go on doing so. But just these few things that I write to you about the matter will show you how he's something very different from the run of dealers, who care nothing for the painters."

Context:
BVG 470, 3/18/1888: "If we consider it desirable to hold a permanent exhibition of the impressionists in London and Marseilles, it naturally follows that we'll try to set them up. And if not, what are [Tersteeg's] intentions with regard to the offensive, do they exist or not?"
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "If we think it's a good idea to create a permanent exhibition of the Impressionists in London and Marseille, it goes without saying that we'll try to establish them. So it remains to be seen, will Tersteeg be part of it?"

Context:
BVG 465, 2/26/1888-2/28/1888: "The association of the artists will come about all the more easily since Tersteeg will have no objection to our having the artist's interests at heart, especially not to our wanting to raise the net price of the picture; after all, there would be no market for it if it costs nothing."
JLB 580, 2/27/1888: "The artists' association is all the more likely to come about since Tersteeg won't be against our having the artists' interests at heart, nor that above all we want to increase the cost price of a painting, which in fact wouldn't be saleable if it cost nothing."

Context:
JLB 580, 2/27/1888: "This way Tersteeg and the London manager would organize the permanent exhibition of the Impressionists in London -- you would have the one in Paris and I would start it up in Marseille."

Context:
BVG 479, 4/24/1888: "At Marseilles I'd make it more especially my business to get hold of a window to show the Impressionists if you on your side could promise that you would provide me with Impressionist pictures for it; supposing you were asked to show any -- that will be easy enough."
JLB 601, 4/25/1888: "In Marseille I would be more willing to try to obtain a showcase for the Impressionists, if you for your part would give me an assurance that you'd supply it, this showcase, with Impressionist paintings if people ask you to exhibit them. Which will be easy."

Context:
BVG 468, 3/10/1888: "If they were to make the proposal, the Petit Boulevard, in my opinion, would be morally obliged to join."
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "It seems to me that the Petit Boulevard would be morally obliged to join in response to a proposal from that side."

Context:
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "Shouldn't be surprised if Tersteeg took the view that we can't do without the Grand Boulevard artists -- and if he advised you to persuade them to take the initiative in an association by giving paintings that would become common property and cease to belong to them individually. It seems to me that the Petit Boulevard would be morally obliged to join in response to a proposal from that side."

Context:
BVG 468, 3/10/1888: "And these great ones of the Grand Boulevard will keep their present reputation only if they can forestall the not unfounded criticisms of the lesser Impressionists, who will say, 'Everything goes into your pockets.'"
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "And those Grand Boulevard gentlemen will only retain their current prestige by forestalling the partly justified criticism of the minor Impressionists, who'll say: 'you're putting everything in your pocket.'"

Context:
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "If Tersteeg was willing -- -- -- . If we do the 3 permanent exhibitions, we'd need a large Seurat for Paris, one for London and one for Marseille."

Context:
BVG 468, 3/10/1888: "I am continually thinking about the association of artists, and the plan has developed further in my mind; but Tersteeg must be in it, a lot depends on that."
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "I think about this association of artists every day, and the plan has developed further in my mind, but Tersteeg would have to be involved, and a lot depends on that."

Context:
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "Nowadays, the artists would probably allow themselves to be persuaded by us, but we can't go ahead before we have Tersteeg's help. Without that we'd be on our own, listening to everybody moaning from morning till night, and each of them individually would be constantly coming to ask for explanations -- axioms -- &c. Shouldn't be surprised if Tersteeg took the view that we can't do without the Grand Boulevard artists -- and if he advised you to persuade them to take the initiative in an association by giving paintings that would become common property and cease to belong to them individually. It seems to me that the Petit Boulevard would be morally obliged to join in response to a proposal from that side."

Context:
JLB 580, 2/27/1888: "So you'll have to talk to Tersteeg about it first, and to save you the trouble of writing a long letter it is I who have written it this time."

Context:
JLB 580, 2/27/1888: "I thought we had to make an effort from this end, because we'll have Reid through [Elbert Jan] Van Wisselingh and Van Wisselingh through Tersteeg. ... You know that Van W. has married the daughter of the Glasgow picture dealer who's in competition with Reid. If Reid takes the Impressionists, if he finds a way of starting up there, and if he tries to do that against the rest of us, from that moment we're entitled to let his opponent over there know what's going on. But if Wisselingh ever gets involved, and especially if today or tomorrow you have a chat with W., Tersteeg could immediately complain: why did you, esteemed employee of our firm, who handles the Impressionists, not tell me what was going on?" (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
BVG 465, 2/26/1888-2/28/1888: "I have said in the postscript that in view of the low prices compared with the interest the pictures offer, Tersteeg could easily dispose of fifty or so for us in Holland."
JLB 580, 2/27/1888: "I've said in a postscript, namely that in view of the low prices compared with the interest the paintings present, Tersteeg should easily be able to sell about fifty in Holland."

Of course, this may have been just a more subtle argument for approaching Tersteeg first, in case Theo was hesitant to do so. Vincent presents Theo with a variety of options for action, each representing a different level of commitment to the project: he can send Vincent's letter, add his own thoughts, or just talk to Tersteeg about the idea. In a dramatic touch, he offers his brother this unusual license: "If, though, you think the letter is badly timed you have my full permission to burn it" (ibid.).

Context:
JLB 580, 2/27/1888: "Would you read the letter I've written to Mr. Tersteeg -- and would you send it to him with a letter from you if you judge the move is right."

Context:
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "I very much hope that Tersteeg will come to Paris soon."

Context:
BVG 465, 2/26/1888-2/28/1888: "Tersteeg must see plenty of them for himself first, and that is why it is desirable that you should take him on a grand tour of the studios, and explain to him the whole importance of the business as you go."
JLB 580, 2/27/1888: "Tersteeg will have to see a lot for himself first, and that's why a grand tour of the studios is a good idea at this point; you'll explain to him the whole importance of the matter as you go round."

Context:
BVG 467, 3/9/1888: " Has that confounded Tersteeg written you yet? All to the good if he has."
JLB 583, 3/9/1888: " Has that bloody man Tersteeg written to you? That'll do us good anyway -- don't worry."

Context:
BVG 467, 3/9/1888: " If he doesn't answer, he will hear of us all the same, and we shall see to it that he can find no fault with our actions."
JLB 583, 3/9/1888: " If he doesn't reply, he'll hear people talking about us all the same, and we'll make sure he has nothing to fault in what we do."

Context:
JLB 583, 3/9/1888: "For example, we'll send Mrs Mauve a painting in memory of Mauve with a letter as well from us both in which, if Tersteeg doesn't reply, we won't say a word against him but we'll make it understood that we don't deserve to be treated as though we were dead."

Context:
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "Tersteeg was a personal friend of Mauve and many others."

Context:
BVG 467, 3/9/1888: "For instance, we will send a picture to Mrs. Mauve in memory of Mauve, with a letter from both of us, in which, supposing Tersteeg does not reply, we shall not say a word against him, but we will manage to convey that we do not deserve to be treated as if we were dead."
JLB 583, 3/9/1888: "For example, we'll send Mrs. Mauve a painting in memory of Mauve with a letter as well from us both in which, if Tersteeg doesn't reply, we won't say a word against him but we'll make it understood that we don't deserve to be treated as though we were dead."

Context:
BVG 471, 3/24/1888: "Then too, it is much simpler for him to have only you to write to, and as far as I am concerned, unless he thinks my stuff hopelessly bad, you'll see that he'll write me a line as soon as he has seen what I've done …"
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "And it's much more practical for him having only to write to you, and as far as I'm concerned, if he doesn't think what I'm doing is utterly bad, you'll see, he'll write me a line as soon as he's seen my work."

Context:
JLB 590, 5/30/1888: "To begin with, it gave me an enormous amount of pleasure here that relations have begun between Theo and Mr. Tersteeg in order to make the work of the painters from here whom they call Impressionists known in Holland too."

Context:
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "I wouldn't think it a bad idea if you sent Tersteeg one of my studies -- do you mean the Clichy bridge with the yellow sky and two houses reflected in the water? That one, or the butterflies or the field of poppies might do. However, I hope to do better things here."

Context:
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "I wouldn't think it a bad idea if you sent Tersteeg one of my studies -- do you mean the Clichy bridge with the yellow sky and two houses reflected in the water? That one, or the butterflies or the field of poppies might do. However, I hope to do better things here."

Context:
BVG 550, 10/10/1888: "Anyway, we must get our place in the sun without upsetting anyone. And I keep thinking that you haven't the place in the sun that you ought to have, because the Paris work at Goupil's is too exhausting. Then, when I think of that, I get into a mercenary frenzy. Then I want to earn money so that you will be freer to go where you like and do what you like."
JLB 702, 10/10/1888 or 10/11/1888: "Anyway, we'd have to get our share of sunshine without vexing anyone. And I always figure to myself that you don't have your whole share of sunshine, since your work in Paris with the Goupils is too exhausting. So when I think about that, I have a dealer's rage; then I want to earn money so that you can be freer to go and do what you want."

The first sign of Vincent's real excitement at this opportunity comes when he suggests renaming the still life, giving it the kind of pretentious French title that always signaled commercial ambition in the ascendant: "This study should be given the title: 'Parisian novels'" (ibid.). In the next letter, he puts his feigned indifference entirely aside: "All in all I'm very pleased that the paintings are at the Independents" (JLB 585, 3/16/1888). At the end of March, he thanks his brother "very much for all the steps you have taken toward the exhibition of the Independents," and concedes, "all in all I'm really pleased that [my paintings] put them with the other Impressionists" (JLB 589, 3/25/1888). In the end, three of Vincent's paintings were shown: the two Montmartre landscapes (Vegetable Gardens at Montmartre [F 316 JH 1246] and Vegetable Gardens in Montmartre: La Butte Montmartre [F 350 JH 1245]) and the still life (Still Life with French Novels and a Rose [F 359 JH 1332]).

Context:
JLB 554, 1/22/1886: "About the Independents' exhibition, do whatever you see fit. What would you say to showing the two large landscapes of the Butte Montmartre there? It's all much the same to me, I'm inclined to place slightly more hopes in this year's work."

Jansen, Luijten, and Pabst speculate that Geffroy, a writer and critic, "intended to pen an article on Vincent," although that seems unlikely at this early date (Jansen, Luijten, and Pabst, pp. 27-28). Geffroy's planned return visit to Tanguy's shop to "finish looking at your brother-in-law's work and taking my notes," could refer to a report or letter he planned to write in his capacity as Gallimard's art advisor. If there had been more to this interest, Theo surely would have written Vincent about it and Vincent, in turn, would have trumpeted it back to Theo and others, especially Bernard, since Bernard was obviously involved in making the connection to either Geffroy or Gallimard in the first place. If, as Jansen, Luijten, and Pabst claim, this is an early example of Theo "regard[ing] the letters as an instrument in generating sympathy for his brother's way of thinking," then Theo would more likely have sent excerpts from Vincent's correspondence with him, not from Vincent's letters to Bernard (ibid.). The depth and seriousness of this expression of interest in Vincent's work are probably best gauged by (1) Geffroy's ignorance about the fraternity of Vincent and Theo, (2) the fact that nothing ever came of it, and (3) it did not, apparently, merit a mention in Theo's letters to Vincent, although Vincent did read a review by Geffroy of the Monet show on the entresol, which he then sent to Russell (JLB 650, 7/29/1888).

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "You'll do well to go and see Signac at his place. I was very pleased at what you wrote in today's letter, that he made a better impression on you than the first time."

Context:
BVG 468, 3/10/1888: " I congratulate you on purchasing the Seurat; with what I shall send you, you must try to arrange another exchange with Seurat as well."
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: " Congratulations on buying the Seurat -- with what I send you you'll have to try to make an exchange with Seurat as well."

Context:
JLB 605, 5/7/1888: "You'll see beautiful things at Claude Monet's. And you'll think what I send you is pretty poor, in comparison."

Context:
JLB 610, 5/14/1888: "You know that we saw a magnificent rose garden by Renoir. I imagined I would find similar subjects here, ... To find more of Renoir's gardens you'd probably have to go towards Nice. I've seen very few roses here, although there are some, among others the big red roses they call Roses de Provence."

Context:
JLB 609, 5/12/1888: "A meadow full of very yellow buttercups, a ditch with iris plants with green leaves, with purple flowers, the town in the background, some grey willow trees -- a strip of blue sky."

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "The weather's changeable, often windy and cloudy skies."

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "Lastly an avenue of plane trees near the station. 12 studies altogether since I've been here."

Context:
JLB 596, 4/12/1888: "At present I'm busy with the fruit trees in blossom: pink peach trees, yellow-white pear trees."

Context:
JLB 598, 4/19/1888: "As for me I remain enraptured with the scenery here, am working at a series of blooming orchards. And unvoluntarily thought often of you because you did the same in Sicily. I wished you would one day or another, when I shall send over some work to Paris, exchange a Sicilian study with me -- in case you should have one to spare."

Context:
JLB 598, 4/19/1888: "I am working at a series of blooming orchards. And unvoluntarily thought often of you because you did the same in Sicily. I wished you would one day or another, when I shall send over some work to Paris, exchange a Sicilian study with me … "

Context:
JLB 599, 4/19/1888: "Here's a new orchard, quite simple in composition; a white tree, a small green tree, a square corner of greenery -- a lilac field, an orange roof, a big blue sky."

Context:
JLB 596, 4/12/1888: "I follow no system of brushwork at all; I hit the canvas with irregular strokes which I leave as they are, impastos, uncovered spots of canvas -- corners here and there left inevitably unfinished -- reworkings, roughnesses; well, I'm inclined to think that the result is sufficiently worrying and annoying not to please people with preconceived ideas about technique."

Context:
BVG 475, 4/4/1888: "The flowering time is over so soon, and you know this kind of subject delights everybody."
JLB 593, 4/3/1888: "The season of orchards in blossom is so short, and you know these subjects are among the ones that cheer everyone up."

Context:
BVG 474, 4/9/1888: "It seems to me that this may really break the ice in Holland."
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "Because I believe that could perhaps melt the ice in Holland once and for all."

Context:
BVG 473, 4/2/1888: "I'm in a fever of work because the trees are in blossom and I want to do a Provençal orchard full of enormous gaiety."
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "I'm in a fury of work as the trees are in blossom and I wanted to do a Provence orchard of tremendous gaiety."

Context:
JLB 610, 5/14/1888: "The other day I saw a subject just like Monticelli's beautiful landscape with the poplars that we saw at Reid's."

Context:
JLB 610, 5/14/1888: "You know that we saw a magnificent rose garden by Renoir. I imagined I would find similar subjects here, and that was indeed the case when the orchards were in blossom."

Context:
BVG 492, 5/28/1888: "The study of the orchard you speak of -- where there is a lot of stippling -- is half of the principal subject for the scheme of decoration. The other half is the study of the same size, without stretchers."
JLB 615, 5/28/1888: "The orchard study you mention -- where there's a lot of stippling -- is half of the main subject of the decoration. The other half is the study in the same format, without a stretching frame."

Context:
JLB 704, 10/15/1888: "But tell me what Seurat's doing. If you see him, tell him on my behalf that I have in progress a decoration which at present amounts to 15 square no. 30 canvases, and which, to make an ensemble, will take at least 15 more, and that in this work on a broader scale it's often the memory of his personality and of the visit that we made to his studio to see his beautiful big canvases that gives me courage in this task."

Context:
JLB 597, 4/13/1888: "You can see from the four squares on the other side that the three orchards go together, more or less. I now also have a small pear tree, vertical, also flanked by two other horizontal canvases. That will make 6 canvases of orchards in blossom. At the moment I'm trying to finish them a little every day, and to make them go together. I dare hope for 3 more, also going together, but those are still only in the state of embryos or fetuses." (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
BVG 477, 4/13/1888: "I dare hope for three more, matching in the same way, but so far they have got no further than embryos or fetuses."
JLB 597, 4/13/1888: "I dare hope for 3 more, also going together, but those are still only in the state of embryos or fetuses."

Context:
BVG 477, 4/13/1888: "I am now trying every day to touch them up and give them a certain unity."
JLB 597, 4/13/1888: "At the moment I'm trying to finish them a little every day, and to make them go together."

Context:
BVG 477, 4/13/1888: "I am now trying every day to touch them up and give them a certain unity."
JLB 597, 4/13/1888: "At the moment I'm trying to finish them a little every day, and to make them go together."

Context:
BVG 477, 4/13/1888: "You see, we may consider this year's nine canvases as the first design for a final scheme of decoration a great deal bigger (it would consist of size 25 and 12 canvases), which would be carried out along just the same lines next year at the same season."
JLB 597, 4/13/1888: "You understand that we're free to consider the 9 canvases as the initial idea for a much larger, definitive decoration (this one consists of no. 25 and no. 12 canvases), which would be done after exactly the same subjects, at the same time next year."

Context:
JLB 597, 4/13/1888: "I'd really like to do this group of 9 canvases."

Context:
JLB 607, 5/10/1888: "So take these three for your collection at home and don't sell them because later on they'll be worth 500 each."

Context:
JLB 607, 5/10/1888: "If we had 50 like that put aside, then I'd breathe a bit more easily."

Context:
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "But I've had a terribly weak stomach since I've been here, well, that's probably a matter of a lot of patience."

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "Is your health good? As far as mine goes, it's better, but eating's a real chore as I have a fever and no appetite, but it's just a passing thing and a question of patience."

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "Here I'm seeing new things, I'm learning, and being treated with a bit of gentleness, my body isn't refusing me its services."

Context:
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "It's not in black that I see the future, but I see it bristling with many difficulties, and at times I wonder if these won't be stronger than I am. This is especially so at times of physical weakness, and last week I suffered from a toothache that was so agonizing that it made me waste time quite in spite of myself."

Context:
BVG 469, 3/14/1888: "I am better myself, except that eating is a real ordeal, as I have a touch of fever and no appetite, but it's only a question of time and patience."
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "As far as mine goes, it's better, but eating's a real chore as I have a fever and no appetite, but it's just a passing thing and a question of patience."

Context:
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "Anyway, it seems you don't exactly need a vast amount of food here, and on this occasion I also really wanted to tell you that I'm increasingly doubtful about the truth of the legend of Monticelli's absorbing huge quantities of absinthe."

Context:
JLB 601, 4/25/1888: "I'll start by telling you that the letter you didn't receive was wrongly addressed by me and as such came back to me. I had -- in a moment of distraction -- a classic case -- addressed it rue de Laval instead of rue Lepic."

Context:
BVG 483, 5/7/1888: "That fellow who came to Paris from the Vingtistes, you remember, Los Rios de Guadalquivir [Dario de Regoyos y Valdés], or something even more sonorous, declared that De Braekeleer had been reduced to utter helplessness by a disease of the brain that had left him a hopeless wreck. I should like to think it isn't true. Have you heard of it?"
JLB 605, 5/7/1888: "The chap who came to Paris on behalf of Les Vingt, you know, Los Rios de Guadalquivir or an even more sonorous name than that, made out that De Braekeleer was reduced to helplessness by a brain disease that had completely stupefied him. I like to think it's not true. Have you heard about it?

Context:
BVG 483, 5/7/1888: "That fellow who came to Paris from the Vingtistes, you remember, Los Rios de Guadalquivir, or something even more sonorous, declared that De Braekeleer had been reduced to utter helplessness by a disease of the brain that had left him a hopeless wreck. I should like to think it isn't true. Have you heard of it?"
JLB 605, 5/7/1888: "The chap who came to Paris on behalf of Les Vingt, you know, Los Rios de Guadalquivir or an even more sonorous name than that, made out that De Braekeleer was reduced to helplessness by a brain disease that had completely stupefied him. I like to think it's not true. Have you heard about it?

The more detailed phrase Vincent uses here, "a disease of the marrow, not to mention neurosis," is a complete expression of the era's understanding of tertiary syphilis, which was known largely by its symptoms, not its causes. The reference to Degas "succeeding" at warding off or curing syphilis by healthy pre-emptive measures (i.e., "liv[ing] in anticipation just as though one already had a brain disease") could be invoking the well-known fact that despite frequenting brothels both for art and leisure, Degas did not contract syphilis, while his frequent companion in this demimonde, Édouard Manet, famously died of the disease. Vincent's advice to Theo on his treatment for syphilis is vague and contradictory: one minute urging him to obey his doctors, the next minute suborning him to defy them. His advice veers from advocating, as here, a form of denial ("doesn't it do us a tremendous amount of good to listen to the wise advice of [Dr. Louis] Rivet and Pangloss" [ibid.]), to supporting Gruby's elaborate regimens ("I'm inclined to believe [Gruby] exaggerates your heart condition a bit, to the detriment of the need to treat you rigorously for your nervous system" [JLB 613, 5/26/1888]). Pangloss, of couse, was the caricature of an overly optimistic philosopher in Voltaire's Candide.

Context:
BVG 480, 5/1/1888: "I should he afraid of nothing if it wasn't for my cursed health."
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "I wouldn't be afraid of anything unless it was this bloody health."

Context:
BVG B4, 4/21/1888: "This was the case with me, and although I am recovering, I am recovering slowly, and I regret not having been a bit more careful beforehand. But not such a damnable winter as the past one -- what was there to be done? -- for it was a superhuman winter."
JLB 599, 4/19/1888: "That was the case with me, and although I'm recovering, I'm recovering slowly, and I regret not having been a little more prudent beforehand. But who can do anything in a bloody winter like this one, because it was a preternatural winter."

Context:
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "And yet I'm better than in Paris, and if my stomach has become terribly weak that's a problem I picked up there, probably due mainly to the bad wine, of which I drank too much."

Context:
BVG 474, 4/9/1888: "The air here certainly does me good. I wish you could fill your lungs with it; one effect it has on me is comical enough -- one small glass of brandy makes me tipsy here, so that as I don't have to fall back on stimulants to make my blood circulate, there will be less strain on my constitution."
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "The air here is definitely doing me good, I could wish you deep lungfuls of it. One of its effects is quite funny, one small glass of cognac goes to my head down here, so without having recourse to stimulants to get my blood circulating, my constitution won't be taxed so much all the same."

Context:
BVG 481, 5/3/1888: " When I stopped drinking when I stopped smoking so much, when I began to think again instead of trying not to think -- Good Lord, the depression and the prostration of it!"
JLB 603, 5/4/1888: " When I stopped drinking, when I stopped smoking so much, when I started reflecting on things again instead of trying not to think -- my God, what melancholias and what dejection."

Context:
JLB 608, 5/10/1888: "For their present bill they're basing themselves on a period when I was paying them more (when I was ill and had asked them for better wine)."

Context:
BVG 486, 5/10/1888: "First I had a period of absolutely absorbing work, then I was so exhausted and so ill that I did not feel strong enough to live alone, and I let things slide too much. They have calculated yesterday's bill from the time when I was paying them more because I was sick, and had asked them for better wine."
JLB 608, 5/10/1888: "First I had an absolutely consuming period of work and then I was so worn out and ill that I didn't feel I had the strength to go and live on my own -- and I've put up with things too much, for their present bill they're basing themselves on a period when I was paying them more (when I was ill and had asked them for better wine)."

Context:
JLB 577, 2/21/1888: "During the journey I thought at least as much about you as about the new country I was seeing. But I tell myself that you'll perhaps come here often yourself later on."

Context:
BVG 464, 2/25/1888: ""It seems to me almost impossible to work in Paris unless one has some place of retreat where one can recuperate and get one's tranquillity and poise back. Without that, one would get hopelessly stultified."
JLB 577, 2/21/1888: "It seems to me almost impossible to be able to work in Paris, unless you have a refuge in which to recover and regain your peace of mind and self-composure. Without that, you'd be bound to get utterly numbed."

Context:
JLB 595, 4/11/1888: "Ah, it seems to me more and more that people are the root of everything, …"

Context:
BVG 488, 5/15/1888: "I was expecting to find subjects like that here, and indeed, it was that way while the orchards were in bloom. Now the appearance of things has changed and become much harsher."
JLB 610, 5/14/1888: "I imagined I would find similar subjects here, and that was indeed the case when the orchards were in blossom. Now the appearance of things has changed and nature has become much harsher."

Context:
JLB 574, October 1887: "Like me, for instance, who can count so many years in my life when I completely lost all inclination to laugh, leaving aside whether or not this was my own fault, I for one need above all just to have a good laugh. I found that in Guy de Maupassant." (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "Am reading Pierre et Jean by Guy de Maupassant. It's beautiful …"

Context:
BVG 482, 5/4/1888: "I should be heartily glad, I say, if a kind of Guy de Maupassant in painting came along to paint the beautiful people and things here lightheartedly."
JLB 604, 5/4/1888: "I'd be, I tell you -- mightily pleased if in painting a man like Guy de Maupassant came along and cheerfully painted the beautiful people and things in these parts."

Context:
BVG 476, 4/11/1888: "Oh! It seems to me more and more that people are the root of everything, and though it will always be a melancholy thought that you yourself are not in real life, I mean, that it's more worth while to work in flesh and blood itself than in paint or plaster, more worth while to make children than pictures or carry on business, all the same you feel that you're alive when you remember that you have friends who are outside real life as much as you."
JLB 595, 4/11/1888: "Ah, it seems to me more and more that people are the root of everything, and although it remains for ever a melancholy feeling not to find oneself in real life, in the sense that it would be better to work in flesh itself than colour or plaster, in the sense that it would be better to make children than to make paintings or to do business, at the same time you feel you're living when you consider that you have friends among those who themselves aren't in real life either."

Context:
BVG 470, 3/18/1888: "That doesn't mean that I'd feel at home in an artistic world, but that I would rather fool myself than feel alone. And I think I should feel depressed if I did not fool myself about everything."
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "This doesn't mean I'd feel at home in an artistic world, but it means I prefer to make fun of myself than to feel lonely. And I think I'd feel sad if I didn't see the funny side of everything."

Context:
JLB 635, 7/1/1888: "The difficulty is to eat at home alone. Restaurants here are expensive because everyone eats at home." (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "A toreador crushed one of his balls jumping over the barrier."

Context:
BVG 474, 4/9/1888: "He was dressed in sky blue and gold, just like the little horseman in our Monticelli, the three figures in a wood."
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "He was dressed in sky-blue and gold, just like the little horseman in our Monticelli with the 3 figures in a wood."

Context:
BVG 474, 4/9/1888: "He was dressed in sky blue and gold, just like the little horseman in our Monticelli, the three figures in a wood."
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "He was dressed in sky-blue and gold, just like the little horseman in our Monticelli with the 3 figures in a wood."

Context:
JLB 599, 4/19/1888: "… a good fifty or so red soldiers and black civilians, with faces of a magnificent yellow or orange (what tones in the faces down here), the women in sky-blue, in vermilion, everything that's of the purest and gaudiest. All of it in yellow light."

Context:
BVG B3, 4/9/1888: "However, the crowd was magnificent, those great colourful multitudes piled up one above the other on two or three galleries, with the effect of sun and shade and the shadow cast by the enormous ring."
JLB 596, 4/12/1888: "But the crowd was magnificent, great multicoloured crowds. One on top of the other on 2, 3 tiers, with the effect of sun and shade and the shadow cast by the immense circle."

Context:
BVG 482, 5/4/1888: " It is a filthy town this, with the old streets."
JLB 604, 5/4/1888: " It's dirty, this town, with its old streets!"

Context:
BVG 542, 9/24/1888: " Everything has a blighted, faded quality about it now. Still, if you look at it for a long time, the old charm re-emerges."
JLB 686, 9/23/1888 or 9/24/1888: " Now it all looks sickly and faded as far as character goes. But if you look at it for a long time, the old charm reveals itself."

Context:
BVG 470, 3/18/1888: "Must I tell the truth and add that the Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlésiennes going to their first Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinoceros, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me to be creatures from another world?"
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "Must I tell the truth and add that the Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlésiennes going off to make their first communion, the priest in his surplice who looks like a dangerous rhinoceros, the absinthe drinkers, also seem to me like creatures from another world?"

Context:
JLB 672, 9/1/1888: "It makes enormous trouble for me that I don't speak the Provençal patois."

Context:
JLB 583, 3/9/1888: "I've just read Tartarin sur les Alpes, which I greatly enjoyed."

Context:
BVG 514, 7/25/1888: "They contaminate the village; but for that, I'd go there to work often. What one ought to do there is not to talk to the civilized people; now they know the station master and a score of bores, and that is partly why they get nowhere. Naturally these simple and artless country folk laugh at them and despise them."
JLB 650, 7/29/1888: "So they contaminate the village; if it weren't for that, I'd go there often to work there. What one ought to do there is not talk to civilized people; but they know the stationmaster and a score of bloody nuisances, and that's largely why they don't do a damned thing. ... Naturally, these simple and naive people of the fields make fun of them, and despise them."

Context:
BVG 464, 2/25/1888: "The women here are beautiful, no humbug about that; but on the other hand the museum in Arles is a horror and a humbug, and ought to be in Tarascon. There is also a museum of antiquities, but these are genuine."
JLB 578, 2/24/1888: "The women really are beautiful here, it's no joke -- on the other hand, the Arles museum is dreadful and a joke, and fit to be in Tarascon -- there's also a museum of antiquities, they're genuine."

Context:
BVG 508, 7/5/1888: "When I came here I hoped it would be possible to make some connection with art lovers here, but up to the present I haven't made the least progress in people's affection. Often whole days pass without my speaking to anyone, except to ask for dinner or coffee. And it has been like that from the beginning."
JLB 636, 7/5/1888: "When I came here I had hoped it would be possible to create art lovers here -- so far, I haven't made a centimetre's progress into people's hearts. So, many days pass without my saying a word to anyone except to order supper or a coffee. And it's been like that from the start."

Context:
BVG 469, 3/14/1888: "I have company in the evening, for the young Danish painter [Mourier-Peterson] who is here is a decent soul: his work is dry, correct and timid, but I do not object to that when the painter is young and intelligent."
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "I have company in the evening, because the young Danish painter who's here is very nice; his work is dry, correct and timid, but I'm not averse to that when the person is young and intelligent."

Context:
BVG 488, 5/15/1888: " I talked to him a lot about the Impressionists; he knew them all by name or from having seen their pictures, and he is very much interested."
JLB 610, 5/14/1888: " I've talked to him a lot about the Impressionists, all of whom he knew by name or from having seen their paintings, and he's very interested in the subject."

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "I have company in the evening, because the young Danish painter who's here [Mourier-Peterson] is very nice."

Context:
JLB 595, 4/11/1888: "It was so beautiful! My friend the Dane came to join me, and at risk and peril every moment of seeing the whole lot of it on the ground I carried on painting."

Context:
JLB 611, 5/20/1888: "Would you do me a great favour: my friend the Dane, who leaves for Paris on Tuesday, will give you 2 small paintings -- nothing much -- that I'd like to give to Mme the Countess De la Boissière at Asnières."

Context:
BVG B10, 7/15/1888: "I didn't say anything, but I thought it so astounding that I didn't even have the strength to give that idiot a piece of my mind."
JLB 641, 7/15/1888: "I said nothing myself, but I found that so astonishing that I didn't even have the strength to give that idiot a piece of my mind."

Hulsker reads the record in a diametrically opposite way, contending that Vincent's recommendation of Mourier-Petersen was "warm" and that Theo's belated revelation of the Dane's "nervous trouble" represents Vincent "taking his side" (Hulsker, p. 268). But why did Vincent not inform his nervous brother of Mourier-Petersen's condition before recommending that the two live together? Given all the evidence, the answer appears to be that Vincent calculated that the value of the fraternal bond created by his and Theo's serial friendship with Mourier-Petersen outweighed the obvious pitfalls and risks. That would also explain why Vincent repeatedly sent his "regards" to Mourier-Petersen in letters to Theo.

Context:
BVG 477a, 4/21/1888: "I feel sure I shall prefer him as an artist to what he is as an art critic, his views as such being so narrow that they make me smile."
JLB 598, 4/19/1888: "I feel sure I'll prefer him as an artist to what he is as an art critic, his views as such being so narrow that they make me smile."

Context:
JLB 631, 6/25/1888: "If I'm alone, my word, I can't do anything about that -- then I have less need for company than for frantic work, and that's why I'm boldly ordering canvas and paints. And so I only feel life when I'm working at full stretch. And in company I'd feel a bit less need to do that, or rather, I'd work on more complicated things."

Context:
BVG 564, 12/15/1888-12/31/1888: "When I came here myself last winter, tired out and almost stunned in mind, before ever being able to begin to recover I had a strain of inward suffering too."
JLB 726, 12/17/1888 or 12/18/1888: "As for me, coming here last winter, tired and almost fainting mentally, I too suffered a little inside before I was able to begin to remake myself."

Context:
BVG 488, 5/15/1888: " I must go and look for a new subject, so, thanking you again very heartily for writing so soon, with a handshake for you and Koning."
JLB 610, 5/14/1888: " I need to go and look for a new subject, so thanking you very warmly for writing to me so soon, handshake to you and to Koning."

Context:
JLB 623, 6/12/1888: "If you saw the Camargue -- and many other places -- like me, you'd be very surprised to see that it has a character absolutely 208. Philips Koninck BVG 496, 6/12/1888. Vincent does not mention the Golden-Age panoramist Philips Koninck by name until June 1888, and then he gets the name wrong (Salomon Koninck, perhaps Philips's cousin, was a proto-Orientalist, not a landscapist; and neither Salomon nor Philips was a documented student of Rembrandt). However, as the passage clearly indicates, Vincent knew Philips Koninck's signature images ("vast flat landscapes") well (see also, JLB 392, 10/3/1883).

Context:
JLB 623, 6/12/1888: "I have a new subject on the go, green and yellow fields as far as the eye can see, ... just like a Salomon Koninck, you know, Rembrandt's pupil who made the vast flat landscapes."

Context:
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "You'll probably be in Holland then, and over there you'll perhaps see the same trees in blossom on that day."

Context:
JLB 644, 7/17/1888-7/20/1888: "I keep thinking of Holland, and across the twofold remoteness of distance and time gone by these memories have a kind of heartbreak in them."

Context:
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "I've just sent you a roll of small pen drawings, a dozen I think. That way you'll see that even though I'd stopped painting I haven't stopped working."

But lack of funds had never deterred him in the past from pursuing his art and métier of choice. In similar previous situations, he had responded to Theo's pleas of tight times or job troubles with intensified demands for more money -- or irrational demands for Theo to quit his job. Ultimately, the question of why Vincent turned to drawing at this time is bound up with the question of why, this time, he did not fight Theo over funding. And the answer is the same: a resurgence of fraternal feeling brought on by their separation and his subsequent loneliness. Vincent concurrently tested an argument that his drawings would be more saleable because they were done "in the style of Japanese prints" (JLB 594, 4/9/1888). But the issue of salability, like the issue of Theo's finances, had never been determinative in the past. Only the surge of brotherly longing made them so this time.

Context:
BVG 478, 4/21/1888: "It is a method that I had already tried in Holland some time ago, but I hadn't such good reeds there as here."
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "It's a process I already tried in Holland in the past, but I didn't have as good reeds there as here."

Context:
JLB 613, 5/26/1888: "They're views taken from a rocky hill from which you can see in the direction of the Crau ... [They] will give you an idea of the ruin that crowns the rocks."

Context:
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "It's a process I already tried in Holland in the past, but I didn't have as good reeds there as here."

Context:
BVG 478, 4/21/1888: "These drawings were made with a reed sharpened the way you would a goose quill …"
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "These drawings are done with a reed cut the same way as you'd cut a goose quill."

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "As far as work goes, I brought home a no.15 canvas today, it's a drawbridge, with a little carriage going across it, outlined against a blue sky -- the river blue as well, the banks orange with greenery, a group of washerwomen wearing blouses and multicoloured bonnets. And another landscape with a little rustic bridge and washerwomen as well."

Silverman lists "nine images of this same bridge over a six week period, including four oil paintings (The Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing [F 397 JH 1368], The Langlois Bridge at Arles with Road alongside the Canal [F 400 JH 1371], The Langlois Bridge at Arles [F 570 JH 1421]) one watercolor (The Langlois Bridge at Arles [F 1480 JH 1382]), three drawings (The Langlois Bridge at Arles Seen from the Road [F 1470 JH 1377], Drawbridge with Lady with Parasol [F 1471 JH 1420], Field with Flowers [F 1416r JH 1415 (v) ]), and one letter sketch (Drawbridge with Walking Couple [F B2 JH 1370]) (JLB 587, 3/18/1888)" (Silverman, pp. 51-53).

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "As far as work goes, I brought home a no.15 canvas today, it's a drawbridge, with a little carriage going across it, outlined against a blue sky -- the river blue as well, the banks orange with greenery, a group of washerwomen wearing blouses and multicoloured bonnets. And another landscape with a little rustic bridge and washerwomen as well."

Context:
JLB 585, 3/16/1888: "I made my last three studies with the help of the perspective frame you know about. I attach importance to the use of the frame, because it doesn't seem unlikely to me that several artists will use it in the not too distant future, just as the old German and Italian painters, certainly, and, I'm inclined to believe, the Flemish artists too, used it. The modern use of this tool may differ from the use people made of it in the past -- but -- isn't it also true that with the process of painting in oils we nowadays achieve very different effects from those of the inventors of the process, J.[Jan] and Hubert van Eyck? This is to say that I still hope not to work for myself alone. I believe in the absolute necessity of a new art of colour, of drawing and -- of the artistic life. And if we work in that faith, it seems to me that there's a chance that our hopes won't be in vain."

Context:
JLB 587, 3/18/1888: "At the top of this letter I'm sending you a little croquis of a study that's preoccupying me as to how to make something of it -- sailors coming back with their sweethearts towards the town, which projects the strange silhouette of its drawbridge against a huge yellow sun."

Context:
BVG B2, 3/18/1888: "At the top of this letter I sent a small sketch of a study that am preoccupied with to make something of -- sailors with their sweethearts going up to the town which is profiled by the strange silhouette of its drawbridge on a huge yellow sun."
JLB 587, 3/18/1888: "At the top of this letter I'm sending you a little croquis of a study that's preoccupying me as to how to make something of it -- sailors coming back with their sweethearts towards the town, which projects the strange silhouette of its drawbridge against a huge yellow sun."

Context:
JLB 591, 4/1/1888: "I received from our sister a piece in Dutch dedicated to Mauve's memory, with his portrait (really good, the portrait), the text poor and saying nothing -- pretty etching. But something or other grabbed hold of me and made my throat tight with emotion, and I wrote on my painting Souvenir de Mauve Vincent & Theo."

Context:
BVG 472, 3/30/1888: " Something -- I don't know what -- took hold of me and brought a lump to my throat, and I wrote on my picture Souvenir de Mauve Vincent Theo."
JLB 591, 4/1/1888: "But something or other grabbed hold of me and made my throat tight with emotion, and I wrote on my painting Souvenir de Mauve Vincent & Theo."

The only reactions to Mauve's death in Vincent's letters (which supports the inference that he heard about it soon after Mauve died on February 5, 1888; that is, while Vincent was still living with Theo in Paris) come in late March and early April after he received a letter from Wil enclosing the Dutch obituary and a portrait of his former teacher. He responds to Wil with this tortured "tribute": "I can't really write about Mauve, I think about him every day, and that's all there is to it. It has affected me very badly but personally, as a human being, he was perhaps very different from what people sometimes said, that's to say deeper in life itself than in art perhaps, and I loved him as a human being -- now I find it so hard to imagine that those who penetrate to the heart of life, who by the way judge themselves as if it were another, and deal with others with as little embarrassment as if they were dealing with themselves, I find it so hard to imagine that such people cease to exist." (JLB 579, 2/24/1888.)

It is hard to imagine a more convoluted or non-committal eulogy. At its core it appears to be yet another complaint about the way Mauve treated him in The Hague: how he held Vincent to an unfairly demanding standard and treated him "unceremoniously." The opening comment ("I think about him every day, and that's all there is to it") sounds, at best, dismissive; at worst, hostile. And even the most seemingly forthright sentiment -- "I loved him as a human being" -- is designed primarily to disguise the more important, implied qualification: "... but not as an artist" (ibid.). On the same day he wrote Wil, Vincent wrote Theo in the same ambivalent spirit: "I received from our sister a piece in Dutch dedicated to Mauve's memory, with his portrait (really good, the portrait), the text poor and saying nothing -- pretty etching" (JLB 591, 4/1/1888). He informs Theo that he has dedicated a painting to his former mentor (Pink Peach Tree in Blossom (Reminiscence of Mauve), F 394 JH 1379, March 1888, oil on canvas, 28.7 by 23.4 inches, 73 by 59.5 cm., Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) but adds coolly: "I don't know what they'll say about it back home, but that's neither here nor there to us. It seemed to me that in memory of Mauve we needed something that was both tender and very cheerful and not a study in a more serious key than that." (ibid.) Finally, he adds a fragment of poetry that suggests his feelings for Mauve have not been thawed by death: " 'Don't believe that the dead are dead. / While there are people still alive / The dead will live, the dead will live.'" (ibid.) To underscore the point, he closes with this tart note: "That's how I feel the thing, no sadder than that" (ibid.).

Over the course of the subsequent week, however, Vincent's tone seems to change. "Mauve's death was a rude shock for me," he wrote on April 9 (JLB 594, 4/9/1888), making a new, contrary claim that the painting he designated as a "souvenir" (JLB 591, 4/1/1888) for Mauve was, in fact, "painted with a certain passion" (JLB 594, 4/9/1888). But this is hardly heartfelt. It comes only as Vincent begins to wage his new campaign to win over Tersteeg and, with him, the Dutch market, to the brothers' enterprise. Vincent says as much in the intervening letter, as he discusses his grand plan (see Ch. 30, n. 59) to distribute his paintings to various recipients in Holland: "Thinking of Mauve, J.H. [Jan Hendrik], Weissenbruch Tersteeg, our mother and Wil, in the past few days, I've felt more emotion than perhaps reasonable, and it calms me down to say to myself that we'll do some paintings for there" (JLB 592, 4/3/1888).

The primary sentiments here are the ones that Vincent refused to deal with directly because they always threatened to overwhelm him: guilt and regret. Thus, Mauve's death was, in fact, "a rude shock" in the same way his father's death was: because it denied Vincent of any chance of reconciliation. As long as Mauve was alive, Vincent could still imagine that someday he might be of use to his cousins Vincent and Theo in their new endeavor on behalf of the Petit Boulevard. Inevitably, Mauve's death only added fuel to Vincent's impossible determination to reconcile with another old enemy and father-surrogate, H.G. Tersteeg.

Context:
JLB 583, 3/9/1888: "If he doesn't reply, he'll hear people talking about us all the same, and we'll make sure he has nothing to fault in what we do. For example, we'll send Mrs. Mauve a painting in memory of Mauve with a letter as well from us both in which, if Tersteeg doesn't reply, we won't say a word against him but we'll make it understood that we don't deserve to be treated as though we were dead."

There is a dispute as to which painting Vincent intended for Theo's birthday present. Pickvance believes it was Orchard in Blossom (F 406 JH 1399) (Pickvance, p. 53). Tralbaut proposes Blossoming Pear Tree (F 405 JH 1394), making an elaborate argument from the symbology of the image: "In this canvas, which is entitled pear-tree in blossom, one is at once struck by a stump on the right of the tree, a trunk that has been cut off some three feet above the ground so that it is shorn of all the branches that would carry its leaves and blossom. There is thus a painful contrast between the two trees, one of which is at the height of its fertility and beauty, while the other is mutilated and will never come into flower or leaf. … when one recalls that this picture was intended for Theo, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that it is a symbolic portrait of the two brothers." (Tralbaut, pp. 225-226.) It is not necessary to accept all of Tralbaut's conjecture about the "psychology of creation" to acknowledge that Vincent, who was always acutely sensitive to metaphor, saw the parallel between these side-by-side trees, with their very different destinies, and the brothers' own disparate fortunes (ibid.).

Context:
BVG 478, 4/21/1888: "It's absolutely clear, and done all at once. A frenzy of impastos of the faintest yellow and lilac on the original white mass."
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "It's entirely bright and done entirely in one go, a riot of impastos barely tinged with yellow and lilac in the first white clump."

Context:
BVG 478, 4/21/1888: "You will probably be in Holland by then, and perhaps you will be seeing the same trees in flower there on that very day."
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "You'll probably be in Holland then, and over there you'll perhaps see the same trees in blossom on that day."

Context:
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "I've worked at home on the study of which I've made a croquis in Bernard's letter [JLB 587, 3/18/1888]."

Context:
BVG 474, 4/9/1888: "I am in a continual fever of work."
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "I have a constant fever for work."

Context:
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "My aim was to give it colours like stained glass, and a design of solid outlines."

Context:
JLB 587, 3/18/1888: "At the top of this letter I'm sending you a little croquis of a study that's preoccupying me as to how to make something of it -- sailors coming back with their sweethearts towards the town, which projects the strange silhouette of its drawbridge against a huge yellow sun."

Context:
JLB 588, 3/21/1888 or 3/22/1888: "Rain and wind these past few days, I've worked at home on the study of which I've made a croquis in Bernard's letter."

Context:
BVG 471, 3/24/1888: "The bad weather prevented my working on the spot, and I've completely ruined it by trying to finish it at home."
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "As the bad weather prevented me from working on the spot, I completely worked this study to death trying to finish it at home."

Context:
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "However, I started the same subject again immediately afterwards on another canvas, but as the weather was quite different, in a grey palette and without figures."

Context:
JLB 591, 4/1/1888: "Only the days are all good now, not in terms of the weather, on the contrary, there are 3 windy days for one still one, but as for the subjects of orchards in blossom."

Context:
JLB 595, 4/11/1888: "So, after supper I started on the same painting I intend for Tersteeg, 'The Langlois bridge', for you. And I'd really like to make a repetition of that one for Jet Mauve too."

Context:
BVG 473, 4/2/1888: "Oh well, he will have a picture of mine in his own collection. I have been turning it over in my mind these days and I have found an odd thing, not like what I generally do."
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "Ah well, he'll have one of my paintings in his own collection -- I've been thinking about it these past few days and I've found a funny thing of a kind I'm not going to do every day."

Context:
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "Let's suppose we also gave our sister some study or other."

Context:
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "Let's suppose I dedicate a study to Breitner (I have one exactly like the study I exchanged with L. Pissarro and Reid's one, oranges, foreground white, background blue)."

Context:
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "Let's suppose we gave the modern museum in The Hague, since we have so many memories in The Hague, the 2 Montmartre landscapes exhibited at the Independents' (Vegetable Gardens in Montmartre: La Butte Montmartre [F 350 JH 1245]; Vegetable Gardens at Montmartre [F 316 JH 1246])."

Context:
BVG 473, 4/2/1888: "Oh well, he will have a picture of mine in his own collection. I have been turning it over in my mind these days and I have found an odd thing, not like what I generally do."
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "Ah well, he'll have one of my paintings in his own collection -- I've been thinking about it these past few days and I've found a funny thing of a kind I'm not going to do every day."

Context:
JLB 595, 4/11/1888: "So, after supper I started on the same painting I intend for Tersteeg, 'The Langlois bridge,' for you."

Context:
BVG 473, 4/2/1888: "Believe me, Tersteeg will not refuse the picture; I have made up my mind that this one, and the one for Jet Mauve, must go to Holland."
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "Rest assured that Tersteeg won't refuse the painting, and that it's a firm decision that that one and the one for Jet Mauve will go to Holland."

Context:
BVG 473, 4/2/1888: "But it would be a clear response to certain clumsy insinuations, treating us as though we were already dead, and a revenge for your trip last year, when there was so little warmth and all that in the welcome you got. Enough."
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "But it would be a loud and clear reply to certain muffled insinuations treating us more or less as if we were already dead, and a revenge for your trip last year when the welcome they gave you was lacking in warmth &c. Enough." (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
BVG 473, 4/2/1888: " It only needs a frame specially designed for it in royal blue and gold, in this fashion the mount blue, the outside moulding gold; if necessary the frame could be in blue plush, but it would be better painted."
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: " It just needs a frame designed specially for it, in royal blue and gold like this, the flat part blue, the outer strip gold. If necessary, the frame can be of blue plush, but it would be better to paint it."

Context:
BVG 476, 4/11/1888: "More especially since, as far as the Impressionists' cause is concerned, there is little fear now that we shall not win."
JLB 595, 4/11/1888: "All the more so since, as far as the cause of Impressionism goes, we have little to fear at the moment of not winning through."

The news that Russell did buy a Guillaumin and "2 or 3 Bernards" frustrated and emboldened Vincent (JLB 602, 5/1/1888; emphasis in original). After putting off a letter to Gauguin in hopes that Russell would come through, he finally informs him in late May, urging patience: "The deal with Russell hasn't come off yet, but Russell has bought some Impressionists all the same, Guillaumin and Bernard and -- wait for your moment -- he'll come of his own accord, but I couldn't press the point further, having had two refusals, but always with a promise for the future" (JLB 616, 5/28/1888-5/29/1888). Russell finally writes in July, apologizing for not having had the time to go and look at the Gauguins at Theo's gallery: "In short, he's not refusing to buy one, but is making it understood that he wouldn't want poorer quality than ours. You see that this is in any case better than nothing at all." (JLB 650, 7/29/1888.) He concludes by suggesting that they "give up on R[ussell] for the time being, ... And the same for Guillaumin." (ibid.) (This last refers to an earlier effort to pressure Russell into buying another Guillaumin, which was similarly aborted [JLB 604, 5/4/1888].)

But only a week or so after "giving up," Vincent is again turning over in his mind strategies for approaching Russell to buy a Gauguin from Theo in a passage that gives a good sense of how Vincent brought his full obsessiveness to the project of selling: "If we were to push Russell, perhaps he'd purchase the Gauguin that you bought, and if there was no other way of coming to Gauguin's aid, what would have to be done? When I write to him at the same time as I send the drawings, naturally it will be to get him to make up his mind. I'll say to him, look, you like our painting so much, but I believe that we'll see even better by the artist; why don't you act like us, who have faith in the whole man just as he is, and who find everything he does good. I then want to add, of course it would be all the same to us to let you have the large painting, if necessary, but as Gauguin in his interests should we not keep it until his prices have tripled or quadrupled -- which will happen -- we believe?" (JLB 652, 7/31/1888; emphasis in original.) Note how the argument combines lofty artistic imperatives and promises of commercial success -- exactly the same hybrid claims he has been making on behalf of his own art for so long.

Context:
JLB 582, 3/2/1888: "I can do nothing about this business from my end except write to Russell, which I'll do this very day."

Context:
BVG 473, 4/2/1888: "Since Tersteeg has written you, 'Send me some Impressionists, but only those pictures that you yourself think the best,' and on your part you sent a picture of mine in that batch, I find myself in the not very easy position of having to convince Tersteeg that really I am a true Impressionist of the Petit Boulevard, and that I intend to keep this position."
JLB 592, 4/3/1888: "With Tersteeg having written to you 'send me some Impressionists, but only paintings you yourself think are among the best,' and you having for your part included one of my paintings in this consignment, I'm in the uncomfortable position of convincing Tersteeg I really am an Impressionist of the Petit Boulevard and that I expect to retain that position."

Context:
JLB 589, 3/25/1888: "If you included the little head of a Breton woman by our friend Bernard in your consignment, that wouldn't be a bad idea."

Context:
JLB 584, 3/10/1888: "Congratulations on buying the Seurat -- with what I send you you'll have to try to make an exchange with Seurat as well."

Context:
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "Bravo for Pissarro, he's right, I think. I hope he'll do an exchange with us one day."

The months of pleading and plotting take their toll on Vincent's opinion of Russell. In June, he writes to Theo criticizing Mourier-Petersen's dependence on the Australian painter: "He's placing huge hopes in Russell (I believe), he's looking for an adviser and a teacher -- now -- no need to tell you that Russell will perhaps not be everything he needs" (JLB 625, 6/15/1888-6/16/1888; emphasis in original). In July, revealing for the first time a wounded rancor, Vincent digresses caustically on the subject of Christian charity: "we probably know, don't we, that the English, the Yankees &c. have this in common with the Dutch, that their charity -- is very Christian" (JLB 638, 7/10/1888 or 7/10/1888). At the same time, he gripes that Russell has not yet responded to his offer, forcing Vincent to write again "while at the same time thinking I'd do better to wait for his reply" (JLB 637, 7/8/1888 or 7/9/1888). He plans an expedition to see two friends of Russell's in nearby Fontveilles, confiding to Theo that "just why I'll go and see his friends MacKnight and Boch, to be able to talk about them and have an opportunity to say something to him before he replies to me" (ibid.). But he waits only a week before trying again to ratchet up the pressure on Bernard, this time by doing some drawings specifically for exchange: "I'm working on some drawings for Bernard so that he'll send me some of his" (JLB 640, 7/15/1888). Vincent also mentions his work for his friend Russell: "I'm working hard for Russell. I thought I'd do a series of drawings after my painted studies for him; I have a conviction that he'll look favourably on them, and that, I hope at least, will further prompt him to do a deal." (JLB 652, 7/31/1888; emphasis in original.)

This is the last time Vincent refers to the exchange with Russell. It may have happened, or Vincent may have just given up. (See Stolwijk and Thomson, p. 161.) The failure to consummate this exchange with Russell had to be especially galling since Russell had bought works by both Guillaumin and Bernard (JLB 602, 5/1/1888).

Context:
JLB 613, 5/26/1888: "I prefer to believe that Bernard or Gauguin will exchange drawings with us."

Context:
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "Have had a letter from Koning for which please thank him -- I'll be very glad to exchange the two drawings with him for a study of his that you will choose and keep in the collection."

Context:
JLB 615, 5/28/1888: "And I blame myself for wearing you out like this -- me -- with my constant needs for money."

Context:
BVG 467, 3/9/1888: " Worse luck, I can hardly manage to live any cheaper than in Paris, I must figure it at 5 francs a day."
JLB 583, 3/9/1888: " Unfortunately I'm hardly managing to live more cheaply than in Paris, I need to allow 5 francs a day."

Context:
JLB 593, 4/3/1888: "… if you place it with Tasset & Lhote, rue Fontaine, you'll do well -- since they know me -- to tell them that I expect a discount at least equivalent to the cost of carriage, which I'll be glad to pay myself -- they don't have to cover carriage, we'll pay it, but in that case the discount should be 20%. If they're willing to give you it -- as I'm inclined to believe -- they can supply me until further notice, and so this is a big order for them." (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
BVG 475, 4/4/1888: " Haven't a cent at the moment, as I told you before."
JLB 593, 4/3/1888: "Am without a sou for the moment, as I was telling you before."

Just as that passage shows the frantic elaboration typical of Vincent's promises of success, the following passage shows Vincent's tendency to escalate promises the longer they go unfulfilled: "If you put aside what's best in the consignment -- and if you were to think of these paintings as a payment on my part to be deducted from what I owe you -- Then the day when, from my side, I would have contributed something like 10 thousand francs in this way, I would feel more at ease" (JLB 607, 5/10/1888). Here again, he feels required to temper any expectations he has raised by adding, "I am still far from that."

Context:
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "We must reach the point where my paintings are worth what I spend and even exceed that, seeing that so much has been spent already. Ah well, we'll get there. Not everything I do is a success, of course, but the work's getting along."

Context:
BVG 479, 4/24/1888: " Not being so keen as all that on my pictures, I could leave them alone without repining overmuch."
JLB 601, 4/25/1888: " Not being so very attached to my paintings I'd leave them there without grumbling too much."

Context:
JLB 601, 4/25/1888: "Being forced, determined anyway, to move, do you want or rather do you think it more suitable, to go to Marseille now? ... I've also bought 3 strong cloth shirts and two pairs of sturdy shoes, with the idea of moving."

Context:
JLB 601, 4/25/1888: "In Marseille I would be more willing to try to obtain a showcase for the Impressionists, if you for your part would give me an assurance that you'd supply it, this showcase, with Impressionist paintings if people ask you to exhibit them. Which will be easy."

Context:
JLB 601, 4/25/1888: "I've also bought 3 strong cloth shirts and two pairs of sturdy shoes, with the idea of moving."

Context:
BVG 480, 5/1/1888: "But in view of the business I count on doing at Marseilles, I want to be well turned out, and I mean to buy nothing but good stuff."
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "But in view of the fact that I plan to do business in Marseille, I definitely want to be well turned out, and I don't intend to buy anything but good quality."

Context:
BVG 485, 5/10/1888: "Foreigners are exploited here, and from their point of view the natives are in the right; they consider it a duty to get whatever they can."
JLB 607, 5/10/1888: "Foreigners are exploited here and -- for their part, the people around here aren't wrong -- it's considered a duty to get all you can out of them."

Context:
JLB 630, 6/23/1888: "The negligence, the lazy carelessness of people here is indescribable and one is really put out by the least things. That's the reason I'll have to go to Marseille one of these days, to be able to get what I need from over there."

Context:
JLB 683, 9/18/1888: "He's sometimes crazy and mean, but I'm certainly not the one who has the right to blame him for that, because I know the same neurosis too much myself, and I know that he wouldn't blame me either."

Context:
JLB 630, 6/23/1888: "The negligence, the lazy carelessness of people here is indescribable and one is really put out by the least things. That's the reason I'll have to go to Marseille one of these days, to be able to get what I need from over there."

Context:
JLB 628, 6/19/1888: "I beg a thousand pardons for not having put enough stamps on the letter; and yet I did stamp it at the post office and this isn't the first time that it's happened here, that when in doubt, and asking at the post office itself, I've been misled about the postage" (emphasis in original).

Context:
BVG 486, 5/10/1888: "I consider that I am after all a workman, and not a coddled foreigner travelling for pleasure, and it would be feeble of me to let myself be exploited as such."
JLB 608, 5/10/1888: "In short, I believe I'm a worker and not a soft foreign tourist here to enjoy himself, and it would be lack of energy on my part to let myself be exploited like that."

Context:
JLB 660, 8/13/1888: "… you don't get very far with the people."

Context:
BVG 502, 6/23/1888: " The carelessness, the lazy happy-go-lucky ways of the people here are beyond belief; you have trouble getting the most trifling things."
JLB 630, 6/23/1888: " The negligence, the lazy carelessness of people here is indescribable and one is really put out by the least things."

Context:
JLB 604, 5/4/1888: "I'm very keen to see something of that for myself, but for the very reason that I don't want to get all worked up I'll do it when my nerves are settled."

Context:
BVG 539, 9/17/1888: "Bernard has so much temperament! He is sometimes foolish and vicious, but I certainly have no right to reproach him with that, because I myself know the same disorder of the nerves only too well, and I know that he will not reproach me either."
JLB 683, 9/18/1888: "Bernard is actually so temperamental!! He's sometimes crazy and mean, but I'm certainly not the one who has the right to blame him for that, because I know the same neurosis too much myself, and I know that he wouldn't blame me either."

Context:
BVG 514, 7/25/1888: "What one ought to do there [in the village of Fontvielles, where MacKnight had a studio] is not to talk to the civilized people; now they know the station master and a score of bores, and that is partly why they get nowhere. Naturally these simple and artless country folk laugh at them and despise them. But if they did their work without taking up with these village loungers with their starched collars, then they could go into the peasants' homes and let them earn a few pence."
JLB 650, 7/29/1888: "What one ought to do there [in the village of Fontvielles, where MacKnight had a studio] is not talk to civilized people; but they know the stationmaster and a score of bloody nuisances, and that's largely why they don't do a damned thing. I've already said that to Mourier, who once used to believe that MacKnight got on highly intelligently with the 'man of the fields.' Naturally, these simple and naive people of the fields make fun of them, and despise them. On the contrary, if you do your work there without worrying about the village idlers with their stiff collars, then you can go into the homes of the peasants, enabling them to earn a few sous."

Context:
BVG 514, 7/25/1888: "But if they did their work without taking up with these village loungers with their starched collars, then they could go into the peasants' homes and let them earn a few pence."
JLB 650, 7/29/1888: "On the contrary, if you do your work there without worrying about the village idlers with their stiff collars, then you can go into the homes of the peasants, enabling them to earn a few sous."

Context:
BVG 539, 9/17/1888: ""I mean to laugh at ambition and fame, as I do at those street arabs, and at the loafers on the banks of the Rhône and in the Rue du Pont d'Arles."
JLB 683, 9/18/1888: "I have the firm intention of thumbing my nose at ambition and fame, like these kids and these ruffians from the banks of the Rhône and rue du Bout d'Arles."

Context:
BVG 514, 7/25/1888: "I think that McKnight [sic] has civilized and converted to civilized Christianity his brute of a landlord. Anyway the swine and his worthy spouse, when you go there, shake hands with you -- it is in a café, of course -- when you ask for drinks, they have a way of refusing money -- 'Oh! I could not take money from an artiss' -- with two ses."
JLB 650, 7/29/1888: "I believe that MacKnight has civilized and converted to civilized Christianity his lout of a landlord. At least, when you go there that scoundrel and his worthy spouse shake your hand -- it's in a café, of course -- when you ask for a drink they have ways of refusing the money, 'Oh, I couldn't take money from an artiss' (with two s's)."

In what could be an admission, he favorably cites the brothers' friend Félix Ziem for the startling proposition that "man becomes ambitious the moment he can't get a hard-on. Now, while it's more or less the same to me whether or not I can get a hard-on, I protest when it must inevitably lead me to ambition." (JLB 638, 7/10/1888 or 7/10/1888; emphasis in original.) He repeats the same sexually defensive sentiment in a different formulation only two weeks later: "If a painter ruins his character by working hard at painting, which makes him sterile for many things, for family life, &c. &c." (JLB 650, 7/29/1888). At one point, perhaps in response to an admission by Theo, he may have opened up about his own impotence -- albeit by implication: "True what you say about De Braekeleer. Have you heard that he was suffering from a brain disease that's supposed to have reduced him to helplessness??? I've heard that, but wasn't it temporary?" (JLB 604, 5/4/1888.)

Even in his letters to Bernard, which are filled with exaggerated brothel braggadocio, there are indications of waning activity, if not interest. "At present I'm still keeping very quiet and very calm, because first I have to get over a stomach ailment" (JLB 599, 4/19/1888). In defense of noble savages, Vincent denounces the "frightful white man" for "his hypocrisy, his greed and his sterility" (JLB 612, 5/22/1888). And he complains explicitly that "[p]ainting and fucking a lot aren't compatible; it weakens the brain, and that's what's really damned annoying" (JLB 628, 6/19/1888). By August, he offers this contrary wisdom on the subject: "If we want, ourselves, to get a hard-on for our work, we must sometimes resign ourselves to fucking only a little, and for the rest to be, according as our temperament demands, soldiers or monks" (JLB 655, 8/5/1888; emphasis in original). There is also a hint of fretful hyposexuality in one of Vincent's letters to his sister Wil around the same time: "You see what I've found, my work, and you also see what I haven't found, everything else that's part of life. And the future? Either become wholly abstracted from whatever isn't the work or ... I dare not elaborate on that 'or' because becoming nothing but a work machine, unfit for and indifferent to all the rest ... I sometimes regret getting older and uglier than is in my interest." (JLB 626, 6/16/1888-6/20/1888.)

Context:
JLB 604, 5/4/1888: "This painter of the future, I can't imagine him living in small restaurants, working with several false teeth and going into Zouave brothels like me."

Context:
JLB 594, 4/9/1888: "The air here is definitely doing me good, I could wish you deep lungfuls of it. One of its effects is quite funny, one small glass of cognac goes to my head down here, so without having recourse to stimulants to get my blood circulating, my constitution won't be taxed so much all the same."

Context:
BVG B5, 5/20/1888: "The worn-out stupefied woman usually goes to bed alone and sleeps a leaden sleep."
JLB 612, 5/22/1888: "The worn-out and haggard woman usually goes to bed alone, and sleeps a leaden sleep."

Context:
BVG B5, 5/20/1888: "The worn-out stupefied woman usually goes to bed alone and sleeps a leaden sleep."
JLB 612, 5/22/1888: "The worn-out and haggard woman usually goes to bed alone, and sleeps a leaden sleep."

Context:
BVG 482, 5/4/1888: "As for the women of Arles that there's so much talk about -- there is, isn't there? -- do you want to know my real opinion of them? They are, no question about it, really charming, but no longer what they must have been. As things are now, they are more often like a [Pierre] Mignard [I (Le Romain)] than a Mantegna, for they are in their decadence. That doesn't prevent them from being beautiful -- very beautiful, and I am talking now only of the type in the Roman style -- rather boring and commonplace. But what exceptions there are!"
JLB 604, 5/4/1888: "As for the Arlésiennes they talk about so much, don't they, do you know what I think of them, in short? Certainly, they're truly charming, but it's not what it must have been once. And there you are, it's often more Mignard than Mantegna, since they're in decline, but be that as it may, it's beautiful, really beautiful, and here I'm only talking about the Roman type -- a bit boring and ordinary. But what exceptions!"

Context:
BVG 485, 5/10/1888: "Only it is discouraging to work hard and to see one's subsidy going into the hands of people whom one loathes."
JLB 607, 5/10/1888: "But it's discouraging to work hard and see your profit going into the hands of people you detest."

Context:
JLB 630, 6/23/1888: "I'll need a book, A B C D du dessin by A.[ Armand] Cassagne. I requested it at the bookshop here, and after waiting a fortnight they tell me they need the name of the publisher, which I don't know. If you could send me it I'd be very pleased. The negligence, the lazy carelessness of people here is indescribable and one is really put out by the least things."

Context:
JLB 656, 8/6/1888: "This way the 'night prowlers' can find a refuge when they don't have the price of a lodging, or if they're too drunk to be admitted. All these things, family, native country, are perhaps more appealing in the imagination of such as us -- who do fairly well without a native country, as well as a family -- than in any reality. It always seems to me that I'm a traveller who's going somewhere and to a destination. If I say to myself, the somewhere, the destination don't exist at all, that seems well argued and truthful to me. When he kicks somebody out, the brothel-keeper has a logic of the same kind, argues well, too, and is always right." (Emphasis added.)

Context:
JLB 593, 4/3/1888: "The colourman here made absorbent canvas for me, but he's so lazy about doing it that I've decided to have everything sent from Paris or Marseille, and give up -- having lost all patience -- the idea of getting him to do it."

Context:
JLB 637, 7/8/1888 or 7/9/1888: "They quibbled with me at the post office, saying that the drawings I was sending you were too big to be sent that way."

Context:
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "So, if I had some very strong broth, that would get me going right away, it's dreadful, I've never been able to get even any of the very simple things I've asked those people for. And it's the same everywhere in these little restaurants." (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
BVG 539, 9/17/1888: "This afternoon I had a select public -- four or five hooligans and a dozen street arabs, who were especially interested in seeing the paint come out of the tubes."
JLB 683, 9/18/1888: "This afternoon I had a select audience ... of 4 or 5 pimps and a dozen kids who found it particularly interesting to watch the colours come out of the tubes."

Context:
JLB 599, 4/19/1888: "So see that your blood's good beforehand; with the bad food here it's difficult to regain that."

Context:
BVG 488, 5/15/1888: "It was mainly their bad food which kept me down, and their wine, which was regular poison."
JLB 610, 5/14/1888: "It was their bad food more than anything that made it drag on, and their wine, which was real poison."

Context:
JLB 583, 3/9/1888: "But that doesn't count, as I haven't yet been able to work in comfort and in the warm."

Context:
BVG 480, 5/1/1888: "In a southern town I feel I have no right to complain of it, since these offices are few and dirty, and one cannot help thinking of them as nests of microbes."
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "In a southern town I think you'd be wrong to complain about it, because these facilities are few and far between, and dirty, and you can't help thinking of them as nests of germs."

Context:
BVG 480, 5/1/1888: "This will remain the studio and the storehouse for the whole campaign, as long as it lasts in the South, and now I am free of all the innkeepers' tricks: they're ruinous and they make me wretched."
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "The studio, the store, will remain here for the whole of the campaign here in the south, and that way I have my independence from petty squabbles over guest-houses, which are ruinous and depress me."

Context:
BVG 480, 5/1/1888: "This will remain the studio and the storehouse for the whole campaign, as long as it lasts in the South, and now I am free of all the innkeepers' tricks: they're ruinous and they make me wretched."
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "The studio, the store, will remain here for the whole of the campaign here in the south, and that way I have my independence from petty squabbles over guest-houses, which are ruinous and depress me."

Context:
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "If you prefer them to continue to dry here, that's not bad perhaps. At the moment they're on a covered terrace to dry."

Context:
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "If you prefer them to continue to dry here, that's not bad perhaps. At the moment they're on a covered terrace to dry."

Context:
JLB 599, 4/19/1888: "You'll find that you'll enjoy seeing the blue down here, and feeling the sun. I now have a terrace for a studio."

Context:
JLB 606, 5/7/1888: "I say to myself you've still received none of my work and I've already spent so much money."

Context:
BVG 480, 5/1/1888: "I don't see the whole future black, but I do see it bristling with difficulties and sometimes I ask myself if they won't be too much for me."
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "It's not in black that I see the future, but I see it bristling with many difficulties, and at times I wonder if these won't be stronger than I am."

Context:
BVG W4, 6/22/1888: "A pinkish-gray face with green eyes, ash-coloured hair, wrinkles on the forehead and around the mouth, stiff, wooden, a very red beard, considerably neglected and mournful …"
JLB 626, 6/16/1888-6/20/1888: "… a pink-grey face with green eyes, ash-coloured hair, wrinkles in forehead and around the mouth, stiffly wooden, a very red beard, quite unkempt and sad …"

Context:
BVG W4, 6/22/1888: "A pinkish-gray face with green eyes, ash-coloured hair, wrinkles on the forehead and around the mouth, stiff, wooden, a very red beard, considerably neglected and mournful …"
JLB 626, 6/16/1888-6/20/1888: "… a pink-grey face with green eyes, ash-coloured hair, wrinkles in forehead and around the mouth, stiffly wooden, a very red beard, quite unkempt and sad …"

Context:
JLB 599, 4/19/1888: "Twisted on his cross in a spiral is a very, very good rendering of the exaggerated thinness of the mystical Christs; why not add to it that the anguished expression of the martyr is like the eye of a broken-hearted cab horse?" (emphasis in original).

By mid-May, Theo's condition had obviously worsened and he had consulted Gruby: "What you write about your visit to Gruby has upset me, but at the same time it reassures me that you went there. Have you considered that your lethargy -- a feeling of extreme lassitude -- could have been caused by this heart condition, and that in that case potassium iodide couldn't be blamed for these periods of stupefied exhaustion?" (JLB 611, 5/20/1888.) With inevitable fraternal solidarity, Vincent compares Theo's problems to his own and assumes that his brother should follow the same therapeutic regimen, regardless of what his doctors say: "If you remember how stupefied I was myself this winter, to the point of being quite incapable of doing anything whatsoever, apart from a little painting, although I wasn't taking potassium iodide at all. So if I were you, I'd have it out with Rivet if Gruby tells you not to take it. And it will in any case -- I have no doubt about it -- be your intention to be friends with both the one and the other. ... I think potassium iodide purifies the blood and the whole system, doesn't it -- will you be able to do without it? Anyway, you'll have to have a straight talk about it with Rivet, who shouldn't be jealous." (ibid.)

Partly because he believed in the connectedness of mind and body, and partly because of his own existential crisis, Vincent strains to see Theo's problems as metaphysical as well as physical. "And perhaps in the final account your heart condition comes partly from there; it wouldn't greatly surprise me. We no longer rebel against things, we're not resigned either -- we're ill and it's not going to get any better -- and we can't do anything specific about it. I don't know who called this condition being struck by death and immortality." (ibid.)

For the same reasons, Vincent prefers Gruby's behavioral cure to Rivet's medicinal cure: " Now you, your lungs are good -- but but but -- -- -- a year of Gruby first, and then you'll see the danger you're in now. At present you've had over 10 years of Paris, which is more than is good." (JLB 615, 5/28/1888.) Vincent acknowledges the progressive nature of Theo's disease (and his own) at this time: "with Gruby you'll last, but unfortunately for us père Gruby himself won't last, because he's getting old and when we need him the most he won't be there any more" (JLB 613, 5/26/1888). Over the next few letters, Vincent's anxiety about Theo's condition was exacerbated by various trips that his employers asked Theo to make, especially one to America (JLB 615, 5/28/1888). He warns that "travelling wears you out, and most of all, it unsettles the brain more than can be good for you" (JLB 617, 5/29/1888 or 5/30/1888). "The proposal by those gentlemen to have you make short trips overseas is wearing you out. ... It seems to me that what those gentlemen are demanding of you could, however, be reasonable if they first agreed to give you a year's leave (on full salary) to regain your health. ... After that you'd go off with your blood and your nerves more settled, and fit to do new business over there." (JLB 615, 5/28/1888.) In this sabbatical year, however, Vincent suggests that Theo continue to work on behalf of the brothers' joint enterprise: "You'd devote that year to going to see all the Impressionists and connoisseurs of the Impressionists at their homes again" (ibid.). Among the forces driving this flood of concern over Theo's illness is Vincent's horror that he, ultimately, is responsible for it (see Ch. 30, n. 290).

Context:
BVG 489, 5/20/1888: "I do not know who it was who called this condition -- being struck by death and immortality."
JLB 611, 5/20/1888: "I don't know who called this condition being struck by death and immortality."

Context:
JLB 628, 6/19/1888: "… dear God, I had come to a state in which my own blood was no longer working at all, but literally not at all, as they say. But after 4 weeks down here it got moving again, but, my dear pal, at that same time I had an attack of melancholy like yours, from which I would have suffered as much as you were it not that I welcomed it with great pleasure as a sign that I was going to recover -- which happened too."

Context:
JLB 611, 5/20/1888: "… loneliness, worries, vexations, the need for friendship and fellow-feeling not sufficiently met, that's what's very bad, the mental emotions of sadness or disappointments undermine us more than riotous living: us, that is, who find ourselves the happy owners of troubled hearts."

Vincent expressed his disdain for religion's promise of an afterlife in a strange parable about the "May bug," a large European scarab-like beetle. "Now I know that it's fairly impossible for the white potato or salad grubs that turn into May bugs later to be capable of forming credible ideas about their future overground existence. And that it would be rash of them to undertake overground studies to throw light on this question, since the gardener or others interested in salad and vegetables would immediately trample them underfoot as being harmful insects. But for parallel reasons I have little faith in the rightness of our human ideas concerning our future life." (JLB 579, 2/24/1888.) This image both echoes Hamlet's famous "bunghole" speech and eerily anticipates Metamorphosis (1915) by Franz Kafka (1883-1924; German writer), the story of a man who wakes up one morning transformed into a giant vermin (ungeziefer).

Context:
BVG B8, 6/23/1888: "But the consolation of that deeply saddening Bible, which arouses our despair and indignation, which seriously offends us and thoroughly confuses us with its pettiness and infectious foolishness -- the consolation it contains like a stone inside a hard rind and bitter pulp, is Christ."
JLB 632, 6/26/1888: "But the consolation of this so saddening Bible, which stirs up our despair and our indignation -- thoroughly upsets us, completely outraged by its pettiness and its contagious folly -- the consolation it contains, like a kernel inside a hard husk, a bitter pulp -- is Christ."

Context:
BVG B3, 4/9/1888: "The imagination is certainly a faculty which we must develop, one which alone can lead us to the creation of a more exalting and consoling nature than the single brief glance at reality -- which in our sight is ever changing, passing like a flash of lightning -- can let us perceive."
JLB 596, 4/12/1888: "Certainly -- imagination is a capacity that must be developed, and only that enables us to create a more exalting and consoling nature than what just a glance at reality (which we perceive changing, passing quickly like lightning) allows us to perceive."

Context:
BVG 542, 9/24/1888: "It seems that in the book, My Religion, Tolstoy implies that whatever happens in a violent revolution, there will also be an inner and hidden revolution in the people, out of which a new religion will be born, or rather, something completely new which will be nameless, but which will have the same effect of consoling, of making life possible, as the Christian religion used to."
JLB 686, 9/23/1888 or 9/24/1888: "It seems that in the book Ma religion, Tolstoy suggests that whatever may occur in the way of a violent revolution, there will also be a private, secret revolution in people, from which a new religion, or rather, something altogether new, will be reborn, which will have no name but which will have the same effect of consoling, of making life possible, that the Christian religion once had."

Context:
JLB 611, 5/20/1888: "But you see, if we believe in the new art, in the artists of the future, our presentiment doesn't deceive us. When good père Corot said a few days before he died: last night I saw in my dreams landscapes with entirely pink skies, well, didn't they come, those pink skies, and yellow and green into the bargain, in Impressionist landscapes? All this is to say there are things one senses in the future and that really come about."

Context:
JLB 626, 6/16/1888-6/20/1888: "But this doesn't concern us, we're neither founders of something new nor called upon to be preservers of something old."

Context:
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "In fact, Bernard writes me that he too has a whole house, but he has it for nothing. What luck." (Emphasis in original.)

Context:
JLB 601, 4/25/1888: "Being forced, determined anyway, to move, do you want or rather do you think it more suitable, to go to Marseille now? I can do a series of seascapes there like the orchards in blossom series here. And I've also bought 3 strong cloth shirts and two pairs of sturdy shoes, with the idea of moving."

Context:
JLB 738, 1/9/1889: "That worries me a little, for I'm not much inclined to have myself turned out of this house almost shamefully when it was I who had it repainted inside and out and had gas put in &c., in short who made habitable a house that had been locked up and uninhabited for quite a long time, and which I took on in very poor condition."

Context:
JLB 602, 5/1/1888: "It's painted yellow outside, whitewashed inside."