To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 1 May 1888. Tuesday, 1 May 1888 Metadata Source status: Original manuscript Location: Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. nos. b520 a-b V/1962 Date: Vincent reports that he has rented the Yellow House today (l. 21); we can assume that the tenancy started on the first day of the month. He wishes Theo a happy birthday, which was 1 May (ll. 167-168 and 231), and he thanks him for sending his allowance, so we have dated the letter Tuesday, 1 May 1888. Additional: Original [1r:1] Mon cher Theo merci beaucoup de ta lettre et du billet de 50 fr. quelle contenait. Ce nest pas en noir que je vois lavenir mais je le vois trs hriss de difficults et par moments je me demande si ces dernieres ne seront pas plus fortes que moi. Cela cest surtout dans les moments de faiblesse physique et la semaine dernire je souffrais dun mal de dents assez cruel pour quil maie bien malgr moi fait perdre du temps. Pourtant je viens de tenvoyer un rouleau de petits dessins la plume, une douzaine je crois. 1 Par o tu verras 1 The wording a dozen I think (une douzaine, je crois) means roughly twelve drawings. By small drawings Van Gogh must mean the ones measuring about 25 x 35 cm; in letter 601 he said he had finished four of them. Less than a week later Vincent sent Theo five more small drawings: see letter 605, n. 9. It is not possible to say for certain which drawings made up the respective consignments. The first batch must in any event have included Public garden and pond in front of the Yellow House (F 1513 / JH 1412) (see n. 2 below), as well as two others of the park (see n. 5 below). Other candidates are Landscape with a path and pollard willows (F 1499 / JH 1372), which Van Gogh dated Arles Mars 1888 (Arles, March 1888), the four drawings that Van Gogh said he had finished in letter 601, probably including Field with farmhouses (F 1474 / JH 1407) and Farmhouse in a wheatfield (F 1415 / JH 1408); and the drawings The public garden (F 1421 / JH 1414), Field with a factory (F 1500 / JH 1373) and Landscape with trees, a ploughman and houses (F 1517 / JH 1374), which are very similar to this first group in terms of composition and subject. Going by the subject, the following two drawings are also 1 2 To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 1 May 1888. que si javais cess de peindre jai pas cess de travailler. Tu y trouveras un croquis hatif sur papier jaune, une pelouse dans le square qui se trouve lentre de la ville.2 et au fond une batisse peu prs comme ceci. Eh bien jai aujourdhui lou laile droite de cette construction qui contient 4 pieces ou plutt deux avec deux cabinets. Cest peint en jaune dehors, blanchi la chaux linterieur en plein soleil. [1v:2] Je lai lou raison de 15 francs par mois. 3 Maintenant mon dsir serait de meubler une piece, celle du premier tage, pour pouvoir y coucher. Cela restera latelier, le magasin, pour tout le temps de la campagne ici dans le midi et alors jai mon indpendance des chicanes des htelleries qui sont ruineuses et mattristent. Justement Bernard mcrit quil a aussi une maison entire mais lui la pour rien. 4 Quelle chance. Je ten ferai surement un nouveau dessin, mieux que le premier croquis. Et ds maintenant jose ten parler que jai lintention dinviter Bernard et dautres menvoyer des toiles pour les montrer ici si loccasion se prsente et certes elle se prsentera Marseille. Jespre tre bien tomb cette fois ci tu comprends, jaune en dated early and assumed to have been in the first batch: Men working in a field (F 1090 / JH 1406), and Tiled roof with chimneys and church tower (F 1480a / JH 1403). It emerges from letter 631 that Canal with bridge and washerwomen (F 1473 / JH 1405) was also in one of the two consignments. In view of the subject, the stylistically similar drawing The Rhne with boats and a bridge (F 1472 / JH 1404) may have been made during the mistral Van Gogh mentioned (letter 605) and would consequently have belonged to the first batch. Altogether there are 18 known sketchbook pages of about 25 x 35 cm that date from the early months in Arles. As well as the 12 drawings mentioned above (F 1513 is not a sketchbook sheet) they are Landscape with windmills at Fontvieille (F 1496 / JH 1496), Field with houses (F 1506 / JH 1375), Landscape with hut (F 1498r / JH 1457) with on the verso A lane in the public garden with benches (F 1498v / JH 1614), The road to Tarascon with a man walking (F 1502 / JH 1492), Road with trees (F 1518a / JH 1495) and Landscape with a tree in the foreground (F 1509 / JH 1494). See cat. Amsterdam 2007, p. 5, nn. 26, 27. The larger drawing The Langlois bridge (F 1470 / JH 1377, 35 x 47 cm) is dated to mid-May 1888 so it did not go in either of the first two consignments. See also letter 615, n. 9. 2 Public garden and pond in front of the Yellow House (F 1513 / JH 1412), which was indeed drawn on yellow paper; other drawings from this period (in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum) are on cream paper. 3 Van Gogh rented the right-hand side of this house, shown in the small sketch and to become known as the Yellow House, from 1 May. It was at number 2 place Lamartine, on the northern edge of the city (lot 398). Ill. 2180. He set up his studio in it, but did not start living there until September, once the house had been redecorated and furnished. He officially registered himself at this address on 16 October 1888 (FR b2949 and cf. letter 677). There is a floor plan on blue paper, showing the layout in 1922, made by Lon Ramser (FR b3317). Ill. 2181. See for old photographs of the Yellow House: Dorn 1990, ills. 2-5. 4 Bernard5 stayed in Saint-Briac in Brittany from 25 April until about 10 August. See letter 664, n. 2. He lived in a small house attached to the inn run by Mrs Lemasson. He wrote to his parents6 on 26 April 1888: Ive got my old house, where Ive settled in, I do as I please. The garden, the first and second floors and the attic are entirely at my disposal. (Jai eu mon ancienne maison o je suis install, je fais ce que je veux. Le jardin, tout le premier, le deuxime, le grenier sont ma disposition.) See Harscot-Maire 1997, pp. 163, 181 (n. 6). To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Tuesday, 1 May 1888. 3 dehors, blanc en dedans, en plein soleil, je verrai enfin mes toiles dans un interieur bien clair. le parquet est en briques rouges. et dehors le jardin du square duquel tu trouveras encore deux dessins. 7 Les dessins, jose te lassurer, deviendront encore mieux. Jai eu une lettre de Russell qui a achet un Guillaumin et 2 ou 3 Bernard.8 [1v:3] Cela me fait enormement plaisir, il mcrit aussi quil me fera un change dtudes.12 Je naurais peur de rien si ntait cette sacr sant. Et pourtant je vais mieux qu Paris et si mon estomac est devenu excessivement faible cest un mal que jai attrapp l-bas probable en grande partie par le mauvais vin dont jai trop bu. Ici le vin est aussi mauvais seule- ment je nen bois que fort peu. Et le cas est donc que ne mangeant gure et ne buvant gure je suis trs faible mais le sang se refait au lieu de se gter. Encore une fois donc cest la patience quil me faut dans le cas et persvrance. Ayant reu la toile absorbante, 14 de ces jours ci je commence une nouvelle toile de 30 qui jespre sera mieux que les autres.15 Te rappelles tu dans la recherche du bonheur le bonhomme qui a achet autant de terre quil peut en envelopper dans une course circulaire dune journe. 16 Eh bien avec ma decoration des vergers jai plus ou moins t cet homme-l, une demi douzaine dune douzaine je les ai pourtant, mais les 6 autres ne sont pas aussi bien et je regrette de ne pas plutot en avoir fait 2 au lieu des 6 derniers. Enfin, je tenverrai toujours une dizaine de ces jours ci. 18 [1r:4] 7 It is not possible to say for certain which two drawings these were. The most likely candidates are Path in the public garden (F 1476 / JH 1409) and Public garden with benches (F 1487 / JH 1410). See cat. Amsterdam 2007, p. 5, n. 26. 8 We do not know which paintings by Guillaumin9 and Bernard10 were in Russell11s possession. 12 Van Gogh suggested such an exchange to Russell13 in letter 598. 14 Van Gogh had asked for 3 metres of absorbent canvas in letter 597. It emerges from letter 610 that it came from Tasset. 15 There is no known painting of these dimensions dating from early May 1888 nor one on a smaller, no. 25 canvas, which Van Gogh sometimes called a no. 30 (see letter 594, n. 2). He most likely painted the smaller Farmhouse in a wheatfield (F 408 / JH 1417) on the new canvas. This is probably absorbent canvas, but finer in texture than F 555 (see letter 594, n.