To Theo Van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888

To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888.

Tuesday, 4 September 1888

Metadata Source status: Original manuscript

Location: Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. nos. b574 a-b V/1962 and b584 b V/1962

Date: Since Van Gogh says in letter 673 of Monday, 3 September that he will be seeing Boch again tomorrow, and he writes in the present letter that he expects him this morning, we have dated this letter Tuesday, 4 September 1888.

Additional: Original [1r:1] mon cher Theo Je tcris en attendant Bock le belge qui va partir ce matin de bonne heure.1 il a dj 33 ans dont 10 ans de Paris et de voyage. Sa soeur est plus age que lui encore. 3 Quoique jusquici il naie pas encore t grand chse comme peintre, si par son retour au pays il peut secouer enﬁn son fainantisme produit par lnervement Parisien et la frquentation des fainants, alors il se trouve lentre tout juste dune carrire de vrai peintre. Il est bien de son pays6 car dans son parler et dans ses manires moi je reconnais fort bien laccent de son pays, la timidit de ces charbonniers auquels je pense encore si souvent. Tu verras probablement ses deux tableaux quil apporte, le dessin en est faible mais la couleur commence dj tre vivante.7 Sa soeur va peuttre faire un tour

1 See letter 669, n. 16, for Boch2s departure from Arles. 3 Boch4 turned 33 on 1 September 1888. His sister Anna5 was seven years older. Boch had lived in Paris since 1879 and travelled widely: In 1881 he went to Italy, and between 1885 and 1910 he visited, among other places, Corsica, Spain, the south of France, the Balearics and Algeria. See exhib. cat. Saarbrcken 1971, pp. 44, 47-48. 6 tre bien de son pays is a French expression that means to know nothing of the world, to be simple, naive, but Van Gogh uses it literally. 7 We do not know which two paintings Boch8 took to Paris. For his work from this period see letter 650, n. 17.

1 2 To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888. en Hollande9 et vaguement jy ai pens que je voudrais bien que notre soeur nous et elle se rencontrent. Jai toujours esprance que Wil trouvera par notre intermdiaire se marier avec un artiste. Or pour arriver cela il faudrait quelle soit un peu dans le mouvement. Si la soeur Bock va eﬀectivement en Hollande il ny aurait qu dire Bock que si elle veut faire des tudes Breda elle peut loger chez la mre et la soeur.[1v:2] Ils y seront la maison pour les quelques frais bien peu importants (ils logent assez de gens inutiles) mais enﬁn ce serait une occasion de faire connaissance. Mais ninsistons pas trop. Seulement cest chez les Bock une maison de peintre, les deux enfants tant dans le mtier, avec cela ils ne sont pas sans le sou.11 Maintenant il y a juste une semaine que je tai envoy une commande de couleurs. et une lettre pour Tasset pour lui demander sil pourrait fournir de la couleur broye gros grain meilleur march. Actuellement je me trouve presque bout de toute ma provision de couleur en tout il me reste une douzaine & demie de tubes divers. Il est donc ncessaire que je remplace la commande en question par une autre. que tu trouveras ci jointe. 13 Si Tasset ne pourrait pas faire de la couleur meilleur march il faudrait envoyer les tubes doubles comme dhabitude mais il men faudrait dans ce format de tubes 2 fois davantage. Tant que je ne les aurai pas il me faudra dessiner car je suis puis en tant que quant la couleur.[1v:3] Ni Gauguin ni Bernard ne mont crit de nouveau. Je crois que Gauguin sen fout compltement voyant que cela ne se fait pas tout de suite et moi de mon ct voyant que 6 mois durant Gauguin se dbrouille tout de mme, cesse de croire lurgence de venir son aide. Or soyons prudents l-dedans. Si cela ne lui va pas ici il pourrait me faire des reproches: pourquoi mas tu fait venir dans ce sale pays. Et je ne veux pas de a. Naturellement nous pouvons rester amis avec

9 Nothing is known about a visit to the Netherlands by Anna Boch10 in this period. She stayed there on several occasions in the early part of the twentieth century. See exhib. cat. Saarbrcken 1971, pp. 14, 30. 11 Victor Boch12, Eugne and Annas father, was managing director of the china factory Villeroy & Boch in La Louvire. In 1881 he had spent two months travelling through Italy with his children, going to museums. See exhib. cat. Saarbrcken 1971, p. 47. 13 Van Gogh had enclosed this paint order and letter for Tasset14 with letter 668, sent on 23 or 24 August, in other words rather more than a week ago. On 8 September (letter 676) he conﬁrmed that Tassets consignment had arrived. In view of the short intervening period, this cannot possibly have been the new order sent with the present letter, so it must be the order that went with letter 668. See also Arrangement above. To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888. 3

Gauguin tout de mme mais je ne vois que trop que son attention est ailleurs. Je me dis, agissons comme sil ntait pas l, alors sil vient tant mieux, sil ne vient pas tant pis. Que je voudrais mtablir de faon avoir un chez moi. Je ne cesse de me dire que si dans le commencement nous [1r:4] eussions dpens pour nous meubler mme 500 francs nous aurions deja regagn le tout et jaurais les meubles et je serais dlivr dj des logeurs. Je ninsiste pas mais ce nest pas sage ce que nous faisons actuellement. Il y aura toujours des artistes de passage ici, dsireux dchapper aux rigueurs du nord. Et je sens moi que je serai toujours de ce nombre. Vrai que mieux vaudrait probablement daller un peu plus bas o lon serait plus abrit. Vrai que cela ne sera pas absolument commode trouver mais raison de plus, en setablissant ici les frais de dmnagement ne sauraient tre normes. dici par ex. Bordighera ou ailleurs la hauteur de Nice. Une fois installs nous y resterions toute notre vie. Attendre quon soit bien riche cest un triste systeme et voila ce que je naime pas dans les de Goncourt quoique ce soit la verit ils ﬁnissent par acheter leur chez eux et leur tranquilit cent mille francs. 15 Or nous laurions moins de mille en tant que davoir un atelier dans le midi o nous pourrions loger quelquun. [2r:5] Mais sil faut faire fortune avant...... on sera compltement nvros au moment dentrer dans ce repos et cela est pire que letat actuel o nous pouvons encore supporter tous les bruits. Mais soyons sages pour savoir que nous nous abrutissons tout de mme. Il vaut mieux loger les autres que de ne pas tre log soi-mme ici, surtout en logeant chez le logeur

15 Van Gogh is referring here to what Jules and Edmond de Goncourt16 noted in their Journal on 12 September 1868: After buying this house for almost a hundred thousand francs, which bourgeois logic would view as totally unreasonable given our limited funds, we oﬀer two thousand francs, which is more than the Emperor or de Rothschild would pay for a passing fancy, for a Japanese monstrosity, a fascinating bronze, which something told us we just had to have. (Aprs lachat de cette maison de prs de cent mille francs, cette maison si draisonnable au point de vue de la raison bourgeoise devant notre petite fortune, nous oﬀrons deux mille francs, un prix dpassant le prix dun caprice de lEmpereur ou de Rothschild, pour un monstre japonais, un bronze fascinatoire, que je ne sais quoi nous dit que nous devons possder.) See Goncourt 1887-1906, vol. 3, p. 234. In the months of August and September 1868 they are full of their house, and write more than once about how expensive it is; cf. e.g. 4 August 1868 and 16 April 1869 (pp. 223, 289). In La maison dun artiste (1881) Edmond de Goncourt gave a detailed description of his house at 53 boulevard Montmorency. All the works of art in it are listed as if it were a museum guide. The descriptions serve in part to rehabilitate eighteenth-century art and the artistic treasures of French culture. See La maison dun artiste. With a postscript by Pol Neveux. 2 vols. Paris n.d. Various authors have regarded this passage as an allusion to La maison dun artiste , see Van Uitert 1993, pp. 139-140 and Dorn 1990, pp. 40, 233 (n. 36), however nowhere is there an explicit indication that Van Gogh had read this book; in letter 677 he did, though, refer to une maison dun artiste (an artists house). Cf. also letter 681, n. 6. 4 To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888.

qui meme en payant ne procure pas un logement o lon est chez soi. Pour Gauguin il se laisse peut tre aller veau17 leau sans soccuper de lavenir cest probable. Et peuttre il dit que je serai toujours l et quil a notre parole. Mais il est encore temps de la retirer et vraiment je men sens bien tent car faute de lui naturellement je moccuperais dune autre combinaison. Tandis qu prsent on est tenu. Si Gauguin trouve de quoi vivre tout de mme, a-t-on le droit de le dranger. Jvite dcrire Gauguin de peur de dire trop carrment, voil bien des mois que nous trouvons de quoi vivre chez les logeurs mais que nous prtendons ne pas pouvoir nous rejoindre tout en nous epuisant meme pour lavenir.[2v:6] Si vous eussiez voulu, pourquoi ne mavez vous pas dit de venir dans le Nord, je laurais dj fait. Cela aurait cout un simple billet de cent francs alors quaujourdhui durant ces mois que cela trane jai dj pay ce mme billet mon logeur et vous chez le vtre avez d faire la mme chse ou vous avez fait 100 francs de dettes. Ce qui fait dj au moins 100 francs de pure perte pour absolument rien. Voila ce que jai sur le coeur et qui me fait dire que tant lui que moi agissons actuellement comme des fous. Est ce vrai ou non. Certes la vrit est mme encore plus grave. Si lui nest pas dans la ncessit de changer sa vie, il est ou bien plus riche que moi ou bien il a considerablement davantage de chance. Se ruiner cote plus cher que russir et certes cest de notre faute si nous navons pas davantage de paix. Poigne de main et bientt car jespre bien que tu trouveras encore le temps de me reparler du sejour chez toi de notre soeur. t. t. Vincent Bock sera chez toi probablement dans une semaine ou dix jours. En comptant les tournesols jai actuellement encore ici une quinzaine [3r:7] de nouvelles tudes. 19 17 Read: vau. Van Gogh mentioned the novel A vau-leau by J.K. Huysmans18 in letter 669. 19 Van Gogh had made four paintings of sunflowers: F 453 / JH 1559, F 459 / JH 1560, F 456 / JH 1561 and F 454 / JH 1562. The new studies in any event also included the following works, mentioned in letters 659-673: Patience Escalier (The peasant) (F 443 / JH 1548), Thistles (F 447 / JH 1550), Caravans with fairground travellers (F 445 / JH 1554), Railway carriages (F 446 / JH 1553), Quay with sand barges (F 449 / JH 1558), the unknown study of thistles and butterflies (letter 666), Patience Escalier (The peasant) (F 444 / JH 1563), a flower still life (letter 671), Shoes (F 461 / JH 1569) and Eugne Boch (The poet) (F 462 / JH 1574). This brings the number of studies to fourteen; two other flower still lifes (see letter 671, n. 3) and the two versions of Sand barges (F 437 / To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888. 5

Couleurs broyes plus gros grain en grands tubes comme les grands tubes de blanc dargent et de zinc. pour la dcoration. Cobalt..... grands tubes 6 Outremer 6 Vert vronese 6 Vert meraude 6 Vermillon 2 Chrome 1 citron 6 ,, 2 6 ,, 3 6 Mine orange 2 Ocre jaune 1 6 Blanc de zinc 6 6 Blanc dargent 6 [3v:8] Petits tubes 6 Bleu de Prusse 6 Laque Geranium 6 Carmin 6 Laque ordinaire

Translation [1r:1] My dear Theo I write to you while waiting for Boch20, the Belgian, whos leaving early this morning.21 Hes already 33 years old, including 10 years of Paris and travels. His sister23 is even older than he is.24 Although until now he hasnt been anything very much as a painter yet, if by returning to his country he can at last shake oﬀ his idleness, caused by the enervation in Paris, and by keeping company with idlers, then hell ﬁnd himself on the very threshold of a career as a true painter. He27s very much of his country, because in his speech and in his manners I recognized very clearly the accent of his country, the timidity of those miners, whom I still think about so often. Youll probably see his two paintings that hes bringing; the drawing in them is poor, but the colour is already beginning to be lively.28 His sister30 will perhaps make a tour in Holland,31 and Ive thought in a vague way that Id really like it if our own sister33 and she were to meet. I always have hopes that through us, Wil may be able to marry an artist. Now to bring that about shed have to be a little bit up to date. If Bochs sister actually goes to Holland, wed only have to say to Boch that if she wants to study in Breda, she can stay with our mother34 and our sister. [1v:2]

JH 1570 and F 438 / JH 1571) may also have been done in the second half of August (see letter 666, n. 10). 20 Eugne Guillaume Boch (1855-1941) Belgian artist 21 See letter 669, n. 16, for Boch22s departure from Arles. 23 Anna Boch (1848-1936) Belgian artist 24 Boch25 turned 33 on 1 September 1888. His sister Anna26 was seven years older. Boch had lived in Paris since 1879 and travelled widely: In 1881 he went to Italy, and between 1885 and 1910 he visited, among other places, Corsica, Spain, the south of France, the Balearics and Algeria. See exhib. cat. Saarbrcken 1971, pp. 44, 47-48. 27 Eugne Guillaume Boch (1855-1941) Belgian artist 28 We do not know which two paintings Boch29 took to Paris. For his work from this period see letter 650, n. 17.

30 Anna Boch (1848-1936) Belgian artist 31 Nothing is known about a visit to the Netherlands by Anna Boch32 in this period. She stayed there on several occasions in the early part of the twentieth century. See exhib. cat. Saarbrcken 1971, pp. 14, 30. 33 Willemina (Wil or Willemien) Jacoba van Gogh (1862-1941) sister of Vincent 34 Anna Cornelia van Gogh-Carbentus 6 To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888.

Thatll put them to some very small expenses at home (they put up enough useless people), but after all, it would be an opportunity to become acquainted. But lets not press the point. But at the Bochs35 home, its a household of painters; the two children being in the profession, with that theyre not penniless.36 Now I sent you an order for colours exactly a week ago. And a letter for Tasset38, asking him if he could supply coarsely ground colours more cheaply. At this very moment Im almost at the end of my supply of colours altogether Ive about a dozen and a half different tubes left. So its necessary for me to replace the order in question with another. Which youll find attached.39 If Tasset41 couldnt do colours more cheaply, youd have to send double tubes as usual, but Id need twice as many tubes of that size. Until I have them Ill have to draw, because Ive run out as far as colours are concerned.[1v:3] Neither Gauguin42 nor Bernard43 has written to me again. I believe that Gauguin doesnt give a damn, seeing that it isnt happening right away, and for my part, seeing that Gauguin has been managing anyway for 6 months, Im ceasing to believe in the urgent need to come to his assistance. Now lets be careful about it. If it doesnt suit him, he could reproach me: why have you made me come to this filthy part of the country? And I dont want any of that. Of course, we can remain friends with Gauguin44 all the same, but I see all too clearly that his attention is elsewhere. I say to myself, lets behave as if he wasnt there, then if he comes, so much the better, if he doesnt come, too bad. How Id like to set myself up so that I could have a home of my own! I never stop telling myself [1r:4] that if at the start wed spent even 500 francs on furnishing, we would already have recouped all of it, and I would have furniture and I would be free of lodging-house keepers by now. Im not pressing the point, but what were doing now isnt wise. There will always be artists passing through here, wishing to escape the harshness of the north. And I feel myself that Ill always be among that number. True that it would probably be better to go a bit further down, where youd be more sheltered. True that it wont be entirely easy to find, but all the more reason; if we set ourselves up here, the costs of moving shouldnt be enormous. From here to Bordighera, for example, or somewhere near Nice. Once wed settled, wed stay there for the rest of our lives. Waiting until youre very rich is a sorry system, and thats what I dont like about the De Goncourt45s, although its the truth they end up paying a hundred thousand francs for their home and their peace of mind.46 Now wed have it for less than a thousand, in that wed have a studio in the south where

(1819-1907) wife of Theodorus van Gogh, mother of Vincent 35 Victor Boch (1817-1920) director of the china factory Villeroy & Boch, father of Eugne Guillaume Boch 36 Victor Boch37, Eugne and Annas father, was managing director of the china factory Villeroy & Boch in La Louvire. In 1881 he had spent two months travelling through Italy with his children, going to museums. See exhib. cat. Saarbrcken 1971, p. 47. 38 Guillaume Charles Tasset (1843-1925) seller of artists’ materials in Paris 39 Van Gogh had enclosed this paint order and letter for Tasset40 with letter 668, sent on 23 or 24 August, in other words rather more than a week ago. On 8 September (letter 676) he confirmed that Tassets consignment had arrived. In view of the short intervening period, this cannot possibly have been the new order sent with the present letter, so it must be the order that went with letter 668. See also Arrangement above. 41 Guillaume Charles Tasset (1843-1925) seller of artists’ materials in Paris 42 Paul (Eugne Henri) Gauguin (1848-1903) French artist 43 Emile Bernard (1868-1941) French artist and writer 44 Paul (Eugne Henri) Gauguin (1848-1903) French artist 45 Edmond de Goncourt (1822-1896) French writer 46 Van Gogh is referring here to what Jules and Edmond de Goncourt47 noted in their Journal on 12 September 1868: After buying this house for almost a hundred thousand francs, which bourgeois logic would view as totally unreasonable given our limited funds, we offer two thousand francs, which is more than the Emperor or de Rothschild would pay for a passing fancy, for a Japanese monstrosity, a fascinating bronze, which something told us we just had To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888. 7 we could put someone up. [2r:5] But if we have to make a fortune first...... well be totally neurotic by the time we reach that sort of tranquillity, and thats worse than our present state, in which we can still stand all sorts of noises. But lets be wise enough to know that were getting dull-witted all the same. Its better to lodge others than not to be lodged ourselves here, especially lodging with an innkeeper, which even when you pay doesnt provide you with a lodging where you feel at home. As for Gauguin48, hes perhaps letting himself drift with the current without thinking about the future, its likely. And perhaps hes saying that Ill always be there, and that he has our word. But theres still time to take it back, and truly I feel very tempted to do so, because failing him, I would of course think about another partnership. Whereas at present were held to it. If Gauguin49 finds enough to live on as it is, have we the right to bother him? Im avoiding writing to Gauguin for fear of saying too bluntly, look, for many months now weve been finding enough to live with lodging-house keepers, but claiming that we cant join together, while at the same time even wearing ourselves out for the future. If youd wished, why didnt you tell me to come to the [2v:6] north? Id have done it by now. It would have cost a mere hundred-franc note, whereas today, during these months that its been dragging on, Ive already paid that same note to my lodging-house keeper, and you must have done the same with yours, or youve gone into debt for 100 francs. Which by now makes at least 100 francs pure waste for absolutely nothing. Thats what rankles with me, and what makes me say that both he and I are behaving like madmen at the moment. Is that true or not? In fact, the truth is even more serious. If hes not in need of changing his way of life, hes either much richer than me or he has considerably better luck. Ruining oneself costs more than succeeding, and its certainly our fault if we havent more peace. Handshake and more soon, because I really hope that youll still find time to tell me more about our sister50s stay with you. Ever yours, Vincent Boch51 will probably be with you in a week or ten days. Including the sunflowers, I still have about fifteen new studies here at the moment.52 [3r:7] Colours, ground more coarsely, in large tubes like the large tubes of silver white and zinc. For the decoration. Cobalt.. large tubes 6 Ultramarine 6 to have. (Aprs lachat de cette maison de prs de cent mille francs, cette maison si draisonnable au point de vue de la raison bourgeoise devant notre petite fortune, nous offrons deux mille francs, un prix dpassant le prix dun caprice de lEmpereur ou de Rothschild, pour un monstre japonais, un bronze fascinatoire, que je ne sais quoi nous dit que nous devons possder.) See Goncourt 1887-1906, vol. 3, p. 234. In the months of August and September 1868 they are full of their house, and write more than once about how expensive it is; cf. e.g. 4 August 1868 and 16 April 1869 (pp. 223, 289). In La maison dun artiste (1881) Edmond de Goncourt gave a detailed description of his house at 53 boulevard Montmorency. All the works of art in it are listed as if it were a museum guide. The descriptions serve in part to rehabilitate eighteenth-century art and the artistic treasures of French culture. See La maison dun artiste. With a postscript by Pol Neveux. 2 vols. Paris n.d. Various authors have regarded this passage as an allusion to La maison dun artiste , see Van Uitert 1993, pp. 139-140 and Dorn 1990, pp. 40, 233 (n. 36), however nowhere is there an explicit indication that Van Gogh had read this book; in letter 677 he did, though, refer to une maison dun artiste (an artists house). Cf. also letter 681, n. 6. 48 Paul (Eugne Henri) Gauguin (1848-1903) French artist 49 Paul (Eugne Henri) Gauguin (1848-1903) French artist 50 Willemina (Wil or Willemien) Jacoba van Gogh (1862-1941) sister of Vincent 51 Eugne Guillaume Boch (1855-1941) Belgian artist 52 Van Gogh had made four paintings of sunflowers: F 453 / JH 1559, F 459 / JH 1560, F 456 / JH 1561 and F 454 / JH 1562. The new studies in any event also included the following works, mentioned in letters 659-673: Patience Escalier (The peasant) (F 443 / JH 1548), Thistles (F 447 / JH 1550), Caravans with fairground travellers (F 445 / JH 1554), Railway carriages (F 446 / JH 1553), Quay with sand barges (F 449 / JH 1558), the unknown study of thistles and butterflies (letter 666), Patience Escalier (The peasant) (F 444 / JH 1563), a flower still life (letter 671), Shoes (F 461 / JH 1569) and Eugne Boch (The poet) (F 462 / JH 1574). This brings the number of studies to fourteen; two other flower still lifes (see letter 671, n. 3) and the two versions of Sand barges (F 437 / JH 1570 and F 438 / JH 1571) may also have been done in the second half of August (see letter 666, n. 10). 8 To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 4 September 1888.

Veronese green 6 Emerald green 6 Vermilion 2 Chrome 1 lemon 6 Chrome 2 6 Chrome 3 6 Orange lead 2 Yellow ochre 1 6 Zinc white 6 6 Silver white 6[3v:8] Small tubes 6 Prussian blue 6 Geranium lake 6 Carmine 6 Ordinary lake