To Albert Aurier. Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890.

Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890

Metadata Source status: Original manuscript

Location: Private Collection / Muse des Lettres et Manuscrits, Brussels

Date: Additional: Enclosed with letter 854 to Theo. The annotations written in another hand on the manuscript can be explained in part by preparations for the publication of G.-Albert Aurier, Oeuvres posthumes. 1893, pp. 265-268.

Original [1r:1] Cher Monsieur Aurier, Merci beaucoup de votre article dans le Mercure de France,1 lequel ma beaucoup surpris. Je laime beaucoup comme oeuvre dart en soi, je trouve que vous faites de la couleur avec vos paroles; enfin dans votre article je retrouve mes toiles mais meilleures quelles ne le sont en ralit, plus riches, plus significatives. Pourtant je me sens mal laise lorsque jy songe que plutt qu moi ce que vous dites reviendrait dautres. Par exemple Monticelli surtout. Parlant de il est que je sache le seul peintre qui peroive le chromatisme des chses avec cette intensit, avec cette qualit mtallique, gemmique3 sil vous plait daller voir, chez mon frre, certain bouquet de Monticelli bouquet en blanc, bleu myosotys & orang5 alors vous sentirez ce que je veux dire. Mais depuis longtemps les meilleurs, les plus tonnants Monticelli sont en Ecosse, en Angleterre.7 Dans

1 For Aurier2, Les isols: , see letter 845, n. 2.

3 Here Van Gogh quotes verbatim from the end of Aurier4s article (p. 29). 5 For Monticelli6s Vase of flowers , see letter 578, n. 4.

7 Monticelli8 did not receive recognition in France until well after his death in 1886, but in England and Scotland his work had been sought after by collectors for some time. Van Gogh had undoubtedly heard this from Reid9, one of the Scottish dealers in Monticellis work. See Fowle 2000 and letter 578, n. 3.

1 2 To Albert Aurier. Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890. un muse du nord celui de Lille je crois il doit cependant encore y avoir une merveille de lui,10 autrement riche et certes non moins Franais que le dpart pour Cythre de Watteau.14 Actuellement M. Lauzet est en train de reproduire une trentaine de Monticelli.16 Voici , ce que je sache, il ny a pas de coloriste venant aussi droit et directement de Delacroix; et pourtant est-il probable, mon avis, que Monticelli ne tenait que de seconde main les thories de la couleur de Delacroix; notamment il les tenait de Diaz et de Ziem.18 Son temprament dartiste lui, Monticelli, cela me semble tre juste celui de lauteur du Decamerone Boccace Un mlancolique, un malheureux assez rsign, voyant passer la noce du beau monde, les amoureux de son temps, les peignant, les analysant, lui le mis de ct.22 Oh! il nimite pas Boccace, pas davantage que Henri Leys nimita les primitifs.25 Eh bien, ctait donc pour dire que sur mon nom paraissent sgarer des chses que vous feriez mieux de dire de Monticelli, auquel je dois beaucoup. Ensuite je dois beaucoup Paul Gauguin avec lequel jai travaill durant quelques mois Arles et que dailleurs je connaissais dj Paris. Gauguin, cet artiste curieux, cet tranger duquel lallure et le regard rappellent vaguement le portrait dhomme de Rembrandt la galerie Lacaze,28 cet ami qui aime faire sentir quun bon tableau doit tre lquivalent dune bonne action, non pas quil le dise, mais enfin il est difficile de le frquenter sans songer une certaine responsabilit morale. Quelques jours avant de nous sparer, alors que31 la maladie ma force dentrer dans une maison de Sant, jai essay de peindre sa place vide. Cest une tude de son fauteuil en bois brun rouge sombre, le sige en paille verdtre et la place de labsent un flambeau allum et des romans modernes.32 Veuillez

10 In 1869 the Muse des Beaux-Arts in Lille had acquired two paintings by Monticelli11: Landscape with fence and Scene from the Decameron. The comparison with Watteau12 and the reference to Boccaccio13 indicate that Van Gogh is referring to the second painting, a landscape with female figures. Ill. 2312. 14 Jean-Antoine Watteau15, Embarkation for Cythera, 1717 (Paris, Muse du Louvre). Ill. 1417. 16 Lauzet17 eventually made twenty lithographs for the publication Adolphe Monticelli ; see letter 825, n. 7.

18 Diaz19 and Ziem20 were Monticelli21s teachers. He received lessons from Ziem as an incipient artist in Marseille, and he painted a lot with Diaz in 1855-1856 in the latters Paris studio and in the woods of Fontainebleau. During the last fifteen years of his life, Monticelli worked frequently in Ziems studio in Martigues, to the west of Marseille. 22 Van Gogh could have derived his ideas about Boccaccio23s temperament from the article Boccace daprs ses oeuvres et les tmoignages contemporains by Henry Cochin24, which he had read in August 1888 (see letter 665, n. 12). Cochin writes that Boccaccio had a jovial complexion (complexion joviale), but at the same time that anxious inclination to grumble, which always made his fits of sadness alternate with the wildest bursts of gaiety (cette inquite disposition se plaindre, qui fit toujours alterner ses accs de tristesse avec ses plus folles boutades de gat) (p. 374). He was proud, suspicious and quick-tempered, but his anger is brief and infrequent. As long as his sensitive pride has not been wounded, he is the most peaceable of men. With a smile, he lets everything go by, with the result that people have been able to accuse him of indifference (sa colre est courte et rare. Tant que son sensible orgueil na pas t atteint, il est le plus pacifique des hommes. Il laisse tout passer en souriant, si bien quon a pu lui reprocher de lindiffrence) (p. 381). Boccaccios Decameron (1349-1353) is a frame story in which a company consisting of three men and seven women withdraw to the countryside to escape plague-ridden Florence. In ten days they tell one another 100 stories, alternating with songs sung by the women. 25 An allusion to something Thophile Gautier26 said about Henri Leys27; see letter 28, n. 7.

28 For the portrait Young man with a walking stick , now no longer considered a Rembrandt29, see letter 536, n. 9. Van Gogh had previously compared the man in the portrait with Gauguin30; see letter 726. 31 Read: quand. 32 Gauguins chair (F 499 / JH 1636). Van Gogh painted it around 19 November, at which time he described it as a rather funny study (see letter 721). That he painted it several days before Gauguin33s departure as a symbol of his To Albert Aurier. Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890. 3 loccasion, en souvenir de lui, un peu revoir cette tude laquelle est toute entire dans des tons rompus verts et rouges. Vous vous apercevez donc peut-tre que votre article et t plus juste et il me semblerait en consquence plus puissant si traitant la question davenir peinture des tropiques et la question de couleur, 34 vous y eussiez avant de parler de moi fait justice pour Gauguin et pour Monticelli. Car la part qui men revient ou reviendra demeurera, je vous lassure, fort secondaire. Et puis, jaurais encore autre chse vous demander. Mettons que les deux toiles de tournesols qui actuellement sont aux vingtistes39 ayent de certaines qualits de couleur et puis aussi que a exprime une ide symbolisant la gratitude 40 Est-ce autre chse que tant de tableaux de fleurs plus habilement peints et quon naprcie pas encore assez, les Roses trmires, les Iris Jaunes du pre Quost? Les magnifiques bouquets de pivoines dont est prodigue Jeannin?41 Voyez-vous , il me semble si difficile de faire la sparation entre impressionisme et [1v:2] autre chse, je ne vois pas lutilit dautant desprit sectaire que nous avons vu ces dernires annes, mais jen redoute le ridicule. Et en terminant je dclare ne pas comprendre que vous parliez dinfamies de Meissonnier.44 Cest peuttre de cet excellent Mauve que jai hrit pour Meissonnier une admiration sans bornes aucunes; Mauve tait intarissable sur lloge de Troyon et de Meissonnier combinaison trange. Ceci pour y attirer votre attention jusqu quel point ltranger on admire sans faire le moindre cas de ce qui divise si souvent malencontreusement les artistes en France. Ce que Mauve rptait souvent tait peu prs ceci, si lon veut faire de la couleur il faut aussi savoir dessiner un coin de chemine ou dintrieur comme Meissonnier. Au prochain envoi que je ferai mon frre jajouterai une tude de cyprs pour vous si vous voulez bien me faire le plaisir de laccepter en souvenir de votre article. Jy travaille encore dans ce moment, dsirant y mettre une figurine.47 Le cyprs est si carac- tristique au paysage de Provence et vous le sentiez en disant: mme la couleur noire. 49 Jusqu prsent je nai pas pu les faire comme je le sens; les motions qui me prennent devant la nature vont chez moi jusqu lvanouissement et alors il en rsulte une quinzaine de jours pendant lesquels je suis empty seat is an interpretation given here with hindsight. 34 Van Gogh is referring here to the following passage from Aurier35s article: For a long time, he delighted in imagining a renovation of art, made possible by displacing the centre of civilization: an art of the tropical regions ... Wouldnt he, the intense and fantastic colourist, grinder of golds and precious stones, in fact have been the worthiest painter of these lands of radiance, of dazzling suns and blinding colours, rather than the Guillaumet36s, the insipid Fromentin37s and the muddy Grme38s? (Longtemps, il sest complu imaginer une rnovation dart, possible par un dplacement de civilisation: un art des rgions tropicales ... Net-il pas t, en effet, lui, lintense et fantatisque [read: fantastique] coloriste broyeur dors et de pierreries, le trs digne peintre, plutt que les Guillaumet, que les fadasses Fromentin et que les boueux Grme, de ces pays des resplendissances, des fulgurants soleils et des couleurs qui aveuglent?) (p. 28). 39 Sunflowers in a vase (F 454 / JH 1562) and Sunflowers in a vase (F 456 / JH 1561). 40 This remark about the sunflowers as a symbol of gratitude must be seen in the context of Van Goghs idea to have his Berceuse flanked by two canvases of sunflowers, just as Icelandic fishermen had in their cabins images of the Virgin Mary flanked by bouquets of flowers. See letters 739 and 776. 41 With regard to Quost42 and Jeannin43, cf. letter 850, nn. 7 and 8.

44 Aurier45 says that it is unlikely that Van Goghs paintings will ever be sold at the price fetched by the little infamies made by Mr Meissonier46 (p. 29). 47 The work intended for Aurier48 is Cypresses (F 620 / JH 1748), which Van Gogh painted in June 1889 (see letter 783) and worked on again later after deciding to give it to Aurier. 49 Van Gogh is referring to a line from a poem quoted by Aurier50 at the beginning of his article. See letter 850, n. 19. 4 To Albert Aurier. Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890.

incapable de travailler. Pourtant, avant de partir dici, je compte encore une fois revenir la charge pour attaquer les cyprs. Ltude que je vous ai destine en reprsente un groupe au coin dun champ de bl par une journe de mistral dt. Cest donc la note dun certain noir enveloppe dans du bleu mouvant par le grand air qui circule, et opposition fait la note noire le vermillon des coquelicots. Vous verrez que cela constitue peu prs lassemblage de tons de ces jolis tissages cossais carrels: vert, bleu, rouge, jaune, noir, 51 qui vous comme moi dans le temps ont paru si charmants et quhlas aujourdhui on ne voit plus gure. Recevez en attendant, cher monsieur, lexpression de ma gratitude pour votre article. Si je venais Paris au printemps je ne manquerais certes pas de venir vous remercier en personne. Vincent v. Gogh lorsque ltude que je vous enverrai sera sche fond, aussi dans les emptements, ce ne sera pas le cas avant un an je croirais que vous feriez bien dy donner un fort vernis. Et entretemps il faudra plusieurs fois la laver grande eau pour faire vacuer compltement lhuile.53 Cette tude est peinte en plein bleu de Prusse, cette couleur de laquelle on dit tant de mal et de laquelle namoins Delacroix sest tant servi.54 Je crois quune fois les tons du bleu de Prusse bien secs, en vernissant vous obtiendrez les tons noirs trs noirs ncessaires pour faire valoir les differents verts sombres. Je ne sais trop comment il faudrait encadrer cette tude mais y tenant que cela fasse penser ces chres toffes cossaises, jai remarqu quun cadre plat trs simple, mine orange vif , fait leffet voulu avec les bleus du fond et les verts noirs des arbres. Sans cela il ny aurait peuttre pas assez de rouge dans la toile et la partie suprieure paraitrait un peu froide.

Translation [1r:1] Dear Mr Aurier56, Thank you very much for your article in the Mercure de France,57 which greatly surprised me. I like it very much as a work of art in itself, I feel that you create colours with your words; anyway I rediscover my canvases in your article, but better than they really are richer, more significant. However, I feel ill at ease when I reflect that what you say should be applied to others rather than to me. For example, to Monticelli59 above all. Speaking of he is as far as I know the only painter who perceives the coloration of things with such intensity, with such a metallic, gem-like quality60 if you will please go and see a particular bouquet by Monticelli at my brothers place bouquet in white, forget-me-not blue and orange62 then you will feel what I mean. But for a long time

51 Van Gogh had made the same comparison with Scottish tartans in letter 497, in connection with his Potato Eaters and Blanc52s colour theory. 53 For this technique of washing with lots of water, see letter 662, n. 8.

54 On Delacroix55s use of Prussian blue, see letter 595, n. 14.

56 Gabriel-Albert Aurier (1865-1892) French writer and art critic 57 For Aurier58, Les isols: Vincent van Gogh, see letter 845, n. 2.

59 Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli (1824-1886) French artist 60 Here Van Gogh quotes verbatim from the end of Aurier61s article (p. 29). 62 For Monticelli63s Vase of flowers , see letter 578, n. 4. To Albert Aurier. Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890. 5 the best, the most astonishing Monticellis, have been in Scotland, in England.64 In a museum in the north however the one in Lille I think, there must still be a marvel by him,67 far richer and certainly no less French than Watteau71s Departure for Cythera.72 At present Mr Lauzet74 is in the process of reproducing around thirty Monticellis.75 Here you have it, as far as I know there is no colourist who comes so straight and directly from Delacroix77; and yet it is likely, in my opinion, that Monticelli only had Delacroixs colour theories at second hand; in particular he had them from Diaz78 and Ziem79.80 It seems to me that his, Monticellis, artistic temperament is exactly that of the author of the Decameron Boccaccio84 a melancholy man, an unhappy, rather resigned man, seeing high societys party pass by, the lovers of his day, painting them, analyzing them, he the outcast.85 Oh! He does not imitate Boccaccio any more than Henri Leys88 imitated the primitives.89 Well, this was to say that things seem to have strayed onto my name that you would do better to say of Monticelli, to whom I owe a great deal. Next I owe a great deal to Paul Gauguin92, with whom I worked for a few months in Arles, and whom, besides, I already knew in Paris. Gauguin93, that curious artist, that stranger whose bearing and gaze vaguely recall Rem-

64 Monticelli65 did not receive recognition in France until well after his death in 1886, but in England and Scotland his work had been sought after by collectors for some time. Van Gogh had undoubtedly heard this from Reid66, one of the Scottish dealers in Monticellis work. See Fowle 2000 and letter 578, n. 3.

67 In 1869 the Muse des Beaux-Arts in Lille had acquired two paintings by Monticelli68: Landscape with fence and Scene from the Decameron. The comparison with Watteau69 and the reference to Boccaccio70 indicate that Van Gogh is referring to the second painting, a landscape with female figures. Ill. 2312. 71 Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) French artist 72 Jean-Antoine Watteau73, Embarkation for Cythera, 1717 (Paris, Muse du Louvre). Ill. 1417. 74 Auguste Marie Lauzet (1865-1898) French artist 75 Lauzet76 eventually made twenty lithographs for the publication Adolphe Monticelli ; see letter 825, n. 7.

77 Ferdinand Victor Eugne Delacroix (1798-1863) French artist 78 Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Pea (1808-1876) French artist 79 Flix Ziem (1821-1911) French artist 80 Diaz81 and Ziem82 were Monticelli83s teachers. He received lessons from Ziem as an incipient artist in Marseille, and he painted a lot with Diaz in 1855-1856 in the latters Paris studio and in the woods of Fontainebleau. During the last fifteen years of his life, Monticelli worked frequently in Ziems studio in Martigues, to the west of Marseille. 84 Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) Italian writer 85 Van Gogh could have derived his ideas about Boccaccio86s temperament from the article Boccace daprs ses oeuvres et les tmoignages contemporains by Henry Cochin87, which he had read in August 1888 (see letter 665, n. 12). Cochin writes that Boccaccio had a jovial complexion (complexion joviale), but at the same time that anxious inclination to grumble, which always made his fits of sadness alternate with the wildest bursts of gaiety (cette inquite disposition se plaindre, qui fit toujours alterner ses accs de tristesse avec ses plus folles boutades de gat) (p. 374). He was proud, suspicious and quick-tempered, but his anger is brief and infrequent. As long as his sensitive pride has not been wounded, he is the most peaceable of men. With a smile, he lets everything go by, with the result that people have been able to accuse him of indifference (sa colre est courte et rare. Tant que son sensible orgueil na pas t atteint, il est le plus pacifique des hommes. Il laisse tout passer en souriant, si bien quon a pu lui reprocher de lindiffrence) (p. 381). Boccaccios Decameron (1349-1353) is a frame story in which a company consisting of three men and seven women withdraw to the countryside to escape plague-ridden Florence. In ten days they tell one another 100 stories, alternating with songs sung by the women. 88 (Jean Auguste) Henri (Hendrik) Leys (1815-1869) Belgian artist 89 An allusion to something Thophile Gautier90 said about Henri Leys91; see letter 28, n. 7.

92 Paul (Eugne Henri) Gauguin (1848-1903) French artist 93 Paul (Eugne Henri) Gauguin (1848-1903) French artist 6 To Albert Aurier. Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890.

brandt94s Portrait of a man in the La Caze95 gallery,96 that friend who likes to make one feel that a good painting should be the equivalent of a good deed, not that he says so, but anyway it is difficult to spend time with him without thinking of a certain moral responsibility. A few days before we parted, when illness forced me to enter an asylum, I tried to paint his empty place. It is a study of his armchair of dark, red-brown wood, the seat of greenish straw, and in the absent persons place a lighted candlestick and some modern novels.99 If you have the opportunity, as a memento of him, please go and look a little at this study again, which is entirely in broken tones of green and red. You may perhaps then realize that your article would have been more accurate and it would seem to me thus more powerful if in dealing with the question of the future painting of the tropics and the question of colour,101 you had done justice to Gauguin106 and Monticelli107 before talking about me. For the share that falls or will fall to me will remain, I assure you, very secondary. And then, I would also have something else to ask of you. Supposing that the two canvases of sunflowers that are presently at the Vingtistes108 have certain qualities of colour, and then also that they express an idea symbolizing gratitude.109 Is this any different from so many paintings of flowers that are more skilfully painted and which people do not yet sufficiently appreciate, pre Quost110s Hollyhocks, Yellow Irises? The magnificent bouquets of peonies which Jeannin111 produces in abundance?112 You see, it seems to me so difficult to separate from [1v:2] other things, I cannot see the point of so much sectarian thinking as we have seen these last few years, but I fear its absurdity. And, in closing, I declare that I do not understand that you spoke of Meissonier115s infamies.116 It is perhaps from that excellent fellow Mauve119 that I have inherited a boundless admiration for

94 Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) Dutch artist 95 Louis La Caze (1798-1869) French art collector 96 For the portrait Young man with a walking stick , now no longer considered a Rembrandt97, see letter 536, n. 9. Van Gogh had previously compared the man in the portrait with Gauguin98; see letter 726. 99 Gauguins chair (F 499 / JH 1636). Van Gogh painted it around 19 November, at which time he described it as a rather funny study (see letter 721). That he painted it several days before Gauguin100s departure as a symbol of his empty seat is an interpretation given here with hindsight. 101 Van Gogh is referring here to the following passage from Aurier102s article: For a long time, he delighted in imagining a renovation of art, made possible by displacing the centre of civilization: an art of the tropical regions ... Wouldnt he, the intense and fantastic colourist, grinder of golds and precious stones, in fact have been the worthiest painter of these lands of radiance, of dazzling suns and blinding colours, rather than the Guillaumet103s, the insipid Fromentin104s and the muddy Grme105s? (Longtemps, il sest complu imaginer une rnovation dart, possible par un dplacement de civilisation: un art des rgions tropicales ... Net-il pas t, en effet, lui, lintense et fantatisque [read: fantastique] coloriste broyeur dors et de pierreries, le trs digne peintre, plutt que les Guillaumet, que les fadasses Fromentin et que les boueux Grme, de ces pays des resplendissances, des fulgurants soleils et des couleurs qui aveuglent?) (p. 28). 106 Paul (Eugne Henri) Gauguin (1848-1903) French artist 107 Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli (1824-1886) French artist 108 Sunflowers in a vase (F 454 / JH 1562) and Sunflowers in a vase (F 456 / JH 1561). 109 This remark about the sunflowers as a symbol of gratitude must be seen in the context of Van Goghs idea to have his Berceuse flanked by two canvases of sunflowers, just as Icelandic fishermen had in their cabins images of the Virgin Mary flanked by bouquets of flowers. See letters 739 and 776. 110 Ernest Quost (1844-1931) French artist 111 Georges Jeannin (1841-1925) French artist 112 With regard to Quost113 and Jeannin114, cf. letter 850, nn. 7 and 8.

115 Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) French artist 116 Aurier117 says that it is unlikely that Van Goghs paintings will ever be sold at the price fetched by the little infamies made by Mr Meissonier118 (p. 29). 119 Anton Mauve (1838-1888) Dutch artist To Albert Aurier. Saint-Rmy-de-Provence, Sunday, 9 or Monday, 10 February 1890. 7

Meissonier; Mauve was endless in his praise for Troyon120 and Meissonier a strange combination. This is to draw your attention to how much people abroad admire, without attaching the slightest importance to what unfortunately so often divides artists in France. What Mauve121 often repeated was something like this, if you want to do colour you must also know how to draw a fireside or an interior like Meissonier122. I shall add a study of cypresses for you to the next consignment I send to my brother, if you will do me the pleasure of accepting it as a memento of your article. I am still working on it at the moment, wanting to put in a small figure.123 The cypress is so characteristic of the landscape of Provence, and you sensed it when saying: even the colour black.125 Until now I have not been able to do them as I feel it; in my case the emotions that take hold of me in the face of nature go as far as fainting, and then the result is a fortnight during which I am incapable of working. However, before leaving here, I am planning to return to the fray to attack the cypresses. The study I have intended for you depicts a group of them in the corner of a wheatfield on a summers day when the mistral is blowing. It is therefore the note of a certain blackness enveloped in blue moving in great circulating currents of air, and the vermilion of the poppies contrasts with the black note. You will see that this constitutes more or less the combination of tones of those pretty Scottish checked cloths: green, blue, red, yellow, black,127 which once appeared so charming to you as they did to me, and which alas one scarcely sees any more these days. In the meantime, dear sir, please accept my grateful thanks for your article. If I were to come to Paris in the spring I shall certainly not fail to come and thank you in person. Vincent van Gogh When the study I send you is dry right through, also in the impasto, which will not be the case for a year I should think you would do well to give it a good coat of varnish. And between times it should be washed several times with plenty of water to get out the oil completely.129 This study is painted in full Prussian blue, that colour about which people say so many bad things and which nevertheless Delacroix130 used so much.131 I think that once the Prussian blue tones are really dry, by varnishing you will obtain the dark, the very dark tones needed to bring out the different dark greens. I do not quite know how this study should be framed, but as I really want it to make one think of those dear Scottish fabrics, I have noticed that a very simple flat frame, bright orange lead, creates the desired effect with the blues of the background and the dark greens of the trees. Without this there would perhaps not be enough red in the canvas, and the upper part would appear a little cold.

120 Constant Troyon (1810-1865) French artist 121 Anton Mauve (1838-1888) Dutch artist 122 Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) French artist 123 The work intended for Aurier124 is Cypresses (F 620 / JH 1748), which Van Gogh painted in June 1889 (see letter 783) and worked on again later after deciding to give it to Aurier. 125 Van Gogh is referring to a line from a poem quoted by Aurier126 at the beginning of his article. See letter 850, n. 19.

127 Van Gogh had made the same comparison with Scottish tartans in letter 497, in connection with his Potato Eaters and Blanc128s colour theory. 129 For this technique of washing with lots of water, see letter 662, n. 8.

130 Ferdinand Victor Eugne Delacroix (1798-1863) French artist 131 On Delacroix132s use of Prussian blue, see letter 595, n. 14.