Vincent Van Gogh Read online

  About the Editors:

  Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker are the editors of Vincent van Gogh – The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition (Thames & Hudson, 2009) and the website of Van Gogh’s complete correspondence, www.vangoghletters.org. These publications are part of the Van Gogh Letters Project, a collaboration between the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and Huygens ING, Amsterdam.

  Nienke Bakker is senior curator of paintings at the Van Gogh Museum. Her publications and exhibitions include Van Gogh at Work (2013), On the Verge of Insanity: Van Gogh’s Illness (2016) and Van Gogh & Japan (2018).

  Leo Jansen, formerly curator of paintings at the Van Gogh Museum, is editor of the Mondrian Edition Project. He is the co-editor of Brief Happiness (1999) and author of Van Gogh and His Letters (2007).

  Hans Luijten is a senior researcher at the Van Gogh Museum. He is the author of Van Gogh and Love (2007), and the biography of Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Alles voor Vincent. Het leven van Jo van Gogh-Bonger (2019).

  Other titles of interest published by

  Thames & Hudson include:

  Vincent’s Trees

  Ralph Skea

  Vincent’s Portraits

  Ralph Skea

  Vincent’s Books: Van Gogh and the Writers Who Inspired Him

  Mariella Guzzoni

  Be the first to know about our new releases, exclusive content and author events by visiting

  www.thamesandhudson.com

  www.thamesandhudsonusa.com

  www.thamesandhudson.com.au

  Contents

  Note to the Reader

  Introduction: ‘A Man of Passions’

  Cuesmes, June 1880

  Beginning as an Artist

  Brussels, Etten, The Hague, November 1880–September 1883

  Peasant Painter

  Drenthe and Nuenen, September 1883–October 1885

  Becoming a Modern Artist

  Antwerp and Paris, November 1885–October 1887

  His Best Days

  Arles, February 1888–December 1888

  Seeking New Balance

  Arles and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, January 1889–April 1890

  Deceptive Peace and Quiet

  Auvers-sur-Oise, May 1890–July 1890

  Postscript

  Notes on the text

  Vincent van Gogh’s addresses

  Map

  The letters, family and friends

  History of the publication of the letters

  Further reading

  Acknowledgments

  Picture credits

  Index

  Note to the Reader

  This anthology contains 76 of Vincent van Gogh’s letters, selected unabridged from 820 surviving letters penned by the artist. They are presented as Van Gogh wrote them, translated into English while staying true to the original composition and style. Roughly two thirds of the letters are in Dutch and one third in French; six letters were written in English, of which one appears in this selection.

  The text is drawn from transcriptions and fresh translations of the entire existing collection of both letters and related manuscripts undertaken for the Van Gogh Letters Project (1994–2009) in a collaboration by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Huygens Institute (now Huygens ING) in Amsterdam. Absolute fidelity to Van Gogh’s original words is the fundamental principle underlying this English language translation, reproducing them as closely as possible, consistent with readability, without interpretation. Van Gogh’s distinctive manner of accentuating text by underlining words (sometimes several times), making them larger or loading his pen with extra ink has been rendered in this anthology through the use of italics, small capitals and regular capitals.

  The letters are presented chronologically. The letter numbers that appear in each heading (given in parentheses in the introductory texts) refer to the online edition at www.vangoghletters.org. Notes on the letters are given at the end, with a list indicating the original source language of each letter.

  Van Gogh’s drawings have been reproduced here with the letters that they accompanied. A selection of paintings to which Van Gogh referred in his letters is also shown.

  Life dates are included in the index. Readers requiring additional details about specific people, the places where Van Gogh stayed, the family history, quotes he uses, references to his own work and works by others, the grounds for dating the letters and other information, are directed to the online edition, which also features facsimiles and the complete texts of all of Van Gogh’s letters in the original language.

  Introduction

  ‘A Man of Passions’

  Vincent van Gogh’s letters are without any doubt the most impressive artist’s correspondence we know. Providing an inexhaustible source of information about the artist’s dramatic life and exceptional work, these documents have been studied by generations of art historians and biographers. From their first publication, Van Gogh’s letters have also been valued for the intrinsic qualities of his writing, his evocative style and vivid, unadorned language. They convey the artist’s personal ideas and emotions in such a compelling way that they attain the universality of all great literature.

  Van Gogh was passionate to the point of fanaticism and expressed himself without reservation. He showed his vulnerability by asserting ideals, by getting into arguments, and by sharing with the reader his outrage, his melancholy, and later his mental illness. The letters tell the story of his eventful life, detailing his close ties with his brother Theo, and the evolution of his artistic skills. It is the insight they give us into the development of a ground-breaking artist – a man who did not hesitate to show his most human side – that make these letters so fascinating.

  With hindsight it can be said that he developed as an artist with amazing speed: it took him only ten years to draw and paint the extensive oeuvre that would make him world-famous. Recognition was a long time in coming, however. Only after his self-inflicted death in 1890 did his work finally begin to receive the attention it deserved and his reputation as a pioneering artist become firmly established – a development in which his letters played a vital role.

  The letters in this publication have been carefully selected to give both the first-time reader and the connoisseur an immersive and enlightening account of Van Gogh’s life and ideas during his years as an artist, from 1880 to 1890, living in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. The letters have not been abridged but have been set out in their entirety, to respect the composition and tone of Van Gogh’s letters.

  Vincent van Gogh at the age of nineteen, January 1873

  Vincent van Gogh: a Complex Character

  Van Gogh cut a striking figure. Theo’s wife Jo van Gogh-Bonger, who became acquainted with Vincent in 1890, described him in her introduction to the 1914 letters edition as ‘a robust, broad-shouldered man with a healthy complexion, a cheerful expression and something very determined in his appearance’. Small in stature, Vincent had green eyes, a red beard and freckles; his hair was ginger-coloured like that of his brother Theo, his junior by four years. He had a facial tic, and his hands seemed to be in constant motion. He was rather unsociable, which made him difficult to live with. People were often afraid of him, because of his wild and unkempt appearance and his intense manner of speaking. The way he looked and acted alienated people, which did not make life easy for him.

  Van Gogh was almost always convinced that he was right, and this made him quite tiresome. He was a passionate, driven man, whose tendency to act like an egocentric bully made many people dislike him. Van Gogh refused to let this upset him: ‘[B]elieve me that I sometimes laugh heartily at how people suspect me (who am really just a friend of nature, of study, of work – and of people chiefly) of various acts
of malice and absurdities which I never dream of’ (252). He did not avoid confrontations, nor did he spare himself. Theo described him in a letter of March 1887 to their sister Willemien as ‘his own enemy’.

  Van Gogh was strongly inclined towards introspection: he never hesitated to explore and record his mood swings, or to redefine his moral position. He did this mainly because he had few people to talk to. Examining his own state of mind, he saw a ‘highly strung’ individual. At the age of twenty-nine, he sketched a merciless picture of himself:

  Don’t imagine that I think myself perfect – or that I believe it isn’t my fault that many people find me a disagreeable character. I’m often terribly and cantankerously melancholic, irritable – yearning for sympathy as if with a kind of hunger and thirst – I become indifferent, sharp, and sometimes even pour oil on the flames if I don’t get sympathy. I don’t enjoy company, and dealing with people, talking to them, is often painful and difficult for me. But do you know where a great deal if not all of this comes from? Simply from nervousness – I who am terribly sensitive, both physically and morally, only really acquired it in the years when I was deeply miserable. (244)

  These last words refer to the years immediately before he embarked on his artistic career.

  However impulsive Van Gogh was, he generally set to work only after much deliberation: ‘For the great doesn’t happen through impulse alone, and is a succession of little things that are brought together’ (274). Time and again, it was willpower and hard work that enabled Van Gogh to raise his low spirits.

  A loving and protective family

  As is the case with all of us, Van Gogh’s character was to a certain degree imprinted by his upbringing and family circle. Vincent, born in 1853, was the son of a village parson in rural Brabant. His parents, Theodorus van Gogh (1822–85) and Anna van Gogh-Carbentus (1819–1907), raised their children with Christian values that formed the basis of a virtuous and hardworking life. As was usual among middle-class families in the nineteenth century, they all did their utmost to prevent any member of the family from drifting away from the fold, as it were. Together they strove to lead a respectable life, in strict observance of the proprieties and in the firm conviction that those who become well-regarded members of society will encounter much good in their lives. The modest livings occupied by the Reverend Theodorus van Gogh comprised the villages of Zundert, Helvoirt, Etten and Nuenen, all situated in the province of Noord-Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. As a preacher who attached great importance to morally acceptable behaviour, he could count on a good deal of sympathy from his parishioners.

  Vincent, the oldest of six children, was not the firstborn: exactly one year before his birth, his mother had been delivered of a stillborn child, likewise named Vincent. Vincent was followed by Anna (1855–1930), Theo (1857–91), Elisabeth (‘Lies’, 1859–1936), Willemien (‘Wil’, 1862–1941) and Cornelis (‘Cor’, 1867–1900). Their mother, a kind-hearted woman, shared the care of the family with her husband and a nursemaid.

  The love between the parents and their children and the respect they showed one another is evident from the family correspondence, of which hundreds of letters have survived. Fond memories of his early years were deeply rooted in Vincent, and they surfaced during the attacks of mental illness (considered in those days to be a form of epilepsy but now generally thought to have been psychoses) that disrupted the last year and a half of his life. At the end of 1888, after his first serious breakdown, he reported that during his illness he had seen ‘each room in the house at Zundert, each path, each plant in the garden, the views round about’ – every detail, in fact, of the surroundings of his parental home (741).

  The Van Goghs wanted to give all their children an education that would allow them to develop their talents to the full, but this was no easy task, financially speaking. Their main worry turned out to be finding a suitable position for Vincent. In the nineteenth century, association with the upper class was often a means of advancement for members of the middle class, and parents who were determined to help their children succeed stimulated and even engineered their climb up the social ladder. This is apparent from the advice the Van Goghs gave their children about moving in society, which books to read, and the courtesy calls they should make. By present-day standards the children were extremely obedient, but this can be explained by the prevailing standards of conduct, which were dictated by middle-class Christian morals. When things went wrong, however, and a person was unwilling or unable to comply with these high standards, it could easily lead, as it did in Van Gogh’s case, to a gnawing sense of guilt and a permanent feeling of failure in one’s duties towards those who had one’s best interests at heart.

  CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The Revd Theodorus van Gogh (Vincent’s father), date of photograph unknown; Anna van Gogh-Carbentus (Vincent’s mother), 1880–88; Theo van Gogh (Vincent’s brother), 1889; Willemien van Gogh (Vincent’s sister), c. 1887

  The duty of solidarity was characteristic of the Van Gogh family. Leading a pious life and lending one another support were in the general interest, and that was also true of other group activities that kept the family together, such as attending church, singing hymns and reading and reciting morally acceptable poetry and novels, all of which strengthened both heart and mind.

  For a long time harmony prevailed in the Van Gogh family, but in 1876 there was a flare-up of the tension between Vincent and his father, and the discord continued until the latter’s death in 1885. Their lifestyles became increasingly incompatible, and Vincent’s social maladjustment was a constant source of irritation to his father. Vincent, in turn, was annoyed at his father’s interference and narrow-mindedness; holding his ground, he showed complete disregard for the conventions his parents considered so important. His workman’s clothes, his unpredictable behaviour and his association with people from the lower classes were thorns in his parents’ sides. For Vincent, things became clear to him late in 1883: ‘In character I’m quite different from the various members of the family, and I’m actually not a “Van Gogh” ’ (411).

  The bond with Theo

  Although he came to distance himself from his family, Vincent had a special bond with Theo. Theo was the apple of his parents’ eyes and the diplomat and linchpin in the family. Vincent’s late decision to become an artist, at the age of twenty-seven, was largely due to Theo’s encouragement. The fact that it was Theo who persuaded him to pursue an artistic career greatly influenced their relationship in the following years. Theo considered it his duty to lend Vincent both moral and financial support. Throughout the ten years of Vincent’s life as an artist, Theo remained an obliging benefactor, whose support was invaluable in furthering his brother’s artistic endeavours. At first Vincent viewed Theo’s financial support as a loan that he would one day be able to repay – an advance on what he would be earning as soon as buyers could be found for his work. When this failed to happen, however, the brothers agreed that Theo could deal freely with Vincent’s drawings and paintings. Theo thought that brotherliness was much more important than cashing in on his investment, although as time went on he also became convinced of the special quality and value of Vincent’s work.

  It may appear as though the relationship between the brothers was one-sided, with the calm, generous Theo always ready to help his stubborn impulsive brother and receiving little in return. But Theo, for his part, depended heavily on Vincent, describing him to his wife Jo as ‘adviser and brother to both of us, in every sense of the word’. Vincent and Theo’s mutual dependence continued to grow over the years, but not without many conflicts. At times Vincent was mean and nasty to Theo, and he always tried to get his way. This put a lot of strain on their relationship, so much so that at one point Theo was convinced that it would be better for them to part ways. Yet their fraternal friendship proved able to withstand such fierce clashes. Theo supported Vincent through life’s difficulties and acted as a buffer between him and the ‘hostile world’ (406). The kind-hearted T
heo, who felt responsible for Vincent his whole life and always remained loyal to him, protected his brother and saved him from many pitfalls.

  Vincent repressed his feelings of guilt towards Theo, his dearest friend and confidant, and the only one who could cope with his difficult character. Vincent was well aware that his brother was investing a great deal in him, and the knowledge that he would never be able to repay Theo occasionally made him despair.

  Searching for his Destiny

  Working in the art trade, 1869–1876

  Vincent attended the village school in Zundert and received lessons at home from a governess. He then spent several years at a boarding school for boys in Zevenbergen and went from there to a secondary school in Tilburg, the Hogere Burgerschool Willem II. After living at home for another year, at the end of July 1869 he finally found – at the age of sixteen – a position as the youngest employee of the international art dealer Goupil & Cie in The Hague.

  Goupil & Cie Gallery, The Hague, c. 1900

  It was one of his father’s brothers, also called Vincent (Uncle Cent), who introduced Vincent to the art world. For years Uncle Cent had been a partner in the firm of Goupil & Cie, and he now put in a good word for his nephew. Vincent was thus given a chance to become intimately acquainted with the art trade. The firm flourished, its success due in part to the publication and sale of reproductions of numerous artworks. Van Gogh’s work for an art dealer – spending his days surrounded by paintings, prints and photographs – and his visits to museums laid the basis for his impressive knowledge of art. His boss, Hermanus Tersteeg, showed him the ropes and taught him a great deal about art and literature.

  Goupil & Cie had a number of branches, and in May 1873 Van Gogh began working for the company’s London branch. The correspondence from these years reveals that he was seeking a place outside the protected world in which he had grown up. In his spare time he walked as much as he could and worked in the garden. Sometimes he was very homesick. On holidays such as Christmas and Easter, the family tended to gather at the Helvoirt parsonage, where the Van Goghs were now living. By this time Theo was also working for Goupil, starting at the Brussels branch and moving to the Hague branch at the end of 1873. In London Vincent changed address often: in August he moved to Brixton, and a year later to Kennington. His appreciation of the city grew, as did his interest in art and literature. His letters contain many quotations from books that had moved him; Theo, in turn, sent his brother poetry. Their tastes and preferences were perfectly in keeping with the fashions of the day: romantic poetry (Heinrich Heine, Alphonse de Lamartine) and Victorian novels (George Eliot, Charles Dickens). Literature was a comfort to the boys and helped them expand their horizons.