Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 25 October 1889) ... or not - so that it does not
accumulate - I also have to thank you for a package of paints,
and finally, last night the canvas arrived and the Millet
reproductions, of which I am very glad. M. Peyron said to me
again that there is a considerable improvement and that he has
good hopes for me - and that he has no objection to my going to
Arles just now.
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 2 November 1889) ... My dear Theo,
Enclosed I send you a list of paints which again I want as
soon as possible.
You gave me great pleasure by sending those Millets. I am
working at them zealously. Because I haven't been seeing
anything artistic, I was getting slack, and this has revived
me. I have finished the “Veillée” and am working
on the “Diggers” and the “Man Putting on
His Jacket,” size 30 canvases, and the “Sower,”
smaller. The “Veillée” is in a colour scheme of
violets and tender lilacs with the light of the lamp pale
lemon, then the orange glow of the fire and the man in red
ochre. You will see it; it seems to me that painting from these
drawings of Millet's is much more translating them into
another tongue than copying them.
Besides that, I have a rain effect going and an evening effect with
some big pines . And also one of the falling leaves .
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (17 November 1889) ... 20
francs remain in hand for M. Peyron, since I laid in a stock of
paints there and paid for the room where the furniture is, etc.
I stayed there for two days, not yet knowing what to do in the
future; it is a good thing to show yourself there from time to
time, so that the same story doesn't start among people again.
At present no one has any antipathy to me, as far as I can see:
on the contrary, they were very friendly, and even welcomed me.
And if I stayed in the country, I should have a chance to
acclimatize myself little by little, which is hardly easy for
strangers and would have its use when painting here. But we
will wait a little first to see if this journey will provoke
another attack. I almost dare to hope it won't.
It is often cold here too; however, we are a little more
sheltered from the mistral by the mountains. And meanwhile I
keep working. I have several things to send you with the canvas
for the Vingtistes - I am waiting for that to dry.
If I had known in...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 21 November 1889) ... c. 21 November 1889
My dear Theo,
I have to thank you very much for a package of paints, which
was accompanied by an excellent woolen waistcoat.
How kind you are to me, and how I wish I could do something
good, so as to prove to you that I would like to be less
ungrateful. The paints reached me at the right moment, because
what I had brought back from Arles was almost exhausted. The
thing is that this month I have been working in the olive
groves, because their Christs in the Garden, with nothing
really observed, have gotten on my nerves. Of course with me
there is no question of doing anything from the Bible - and I
have written to Bernard and Gauguin too that I considered that
our duty is thinking, not dreaming, so that when looking at
their work I was astonished at their letting themselves go like
that. For Bernard has sent me photos of his canvases. The
trouble with them is that they are a sort of dream or nightmare
- that they are erudite enough - you can see that...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (7 December 1889) ... studies which I hope will reach you safely. I have to thank you
for 10 meters of canvas which have just arrived.
Among the studies you will find the following which are for
Mother and our sister: “Olives” ,
“Bedroom” , “Reaper” ,
“Ploughing” , “Wheat Field with
Cypresses” , “Orchard in Blossom”,
“Portrait” . The rest are mostly studies of autumn,
and I think that the best is the yellow mulberry tree
against a bright blue sky - then the study of the
house and the park , of which there are two variations . The
studies, size 30 canvases, were not yet dry, and will follow
later. They are giving me a lot of trouble, and sometimes I
think they are very ugly, sometimes they seem good to me;
perhaps you will have the same impression when you see them.
There are a dozen of them, so it is more considerable than what
I have just sent.
I have gone on working outside till now in spite of the
...
