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\fancyhead[LO,RE]{\footnotesize To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Monday, 28 May 1888.}
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\begin{document}
\title{To Theo van Gogh. Arles, Monday, 28 May 1888.}
\date{Monday, 28 May 1888}}
\maketitle
\selectlanguage{english}
\section*{Metadata}
\subsection*{Source status:}

Original manuscript

\subsection*{Location:}

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. nos. b532 a-c V/1962

\subsection*{Date:}

Vincent told Theo on 27 May that the weather was fine (\href{let614.xml}{letter 614}). In the present letter he says: ‘Thunderstorm and rain today’ \TeiRefIII{(l. 220)}. The weather reports tell us that there was sudden heavy rain on Monday, 28 May (Météo-France). He also received the allowance that he had expected on Sunday (\href{let613.xml}{letters 613} and \href{let614.xml}{614}). We have therefore dated the letter Monday, 28 May. 29 May – the date Jo van Gogh-Bonger gave in Brieven 1914, which was probably based on a postmark – must therefore have been the date it was posted.

\subsection*{Additional:}

\section*{Original}
\selectlanguage{french}

\marginpar{[1r:1]}
\\
Mon cher Theo,
\\
Ta lettre de ce \\matin m’a fait grand plaisir, \\je te remercie beaucoup du billet \\de 100 fr. qui y était inclus.

\\
\TeiAbV{Et suis enfin content que la \\caisse soit arrivée.}
\\
\TeiAbV{Si tu trouves que le Souvenir \\de Mauve est des passables –}
\\
faudrait alors le joindre au \\prochain envoi La Haye avec \\simple cadre tout blanc.\footnote[1]{\TeiAnchor{

Pink peach trees (‘Souvenir de Mauve’) (F 394 / JH 1379).
}} \\Si dans le nombre tu trouverais \\une autre étude qui te semblerait \\plus convenable pour Tersteeg \\tu l’y ajouterais sans dédicace \\et tu garderais celle qui porte \\sa dédicace que tu pourrais dès lors \\gratter.\footnote[2]{\TeiAnchor{
Van Gogh had dedicated the painting The Langlois bridge with washerwomen (F 397 / JH 1368) to Tersteeg\footnote{
Hermanus Gijsbertus Tersteeg (H.G.T., T. or Mr T.)

(1845-1927) art dealer at the Goupil gallery in The Hague
}; see for scraping it off: \href{let608.xml#n-3}{letter 608, n. 3.} As far as we know, Tersteeg never had any of Van Gogh’s paintings in his possession.
}} Car il vaut mieux \\lui en donner une sans dédicace \\aucune. Il peut alors prétendre \\ne pas avoir compris qu’elle lui \\était offerte et la renvoyer sans \\mot dire s’il préfère ne pas \\avoir quelque chose de moi.
\\
\TeiAbV{Il faut que moi je lui en offre \\une certainement, pour prouver \\que j’ai quelque zèle pour la \\cause et que j’apprecie que lui 
\marginpar{[1v:2]}
\\l’aie prise en main – mais en somme \\fais comme ca tombe, n’en envoie pas, \\envoie celle là avec ou sans dedicace, \\envoies en une autre, tout cela m’est \\absolument égal. Seulement comme \\Mauve et lui etaient si \\unis, il me semblait dans l’emotion \\du moment une chose très simple \\de faire quelque chôse pour Tersteeg \\en même temps que je faisais \\un souvenir pour Mauve. \\Et je n’eus guère d’autre pensée \\que celle là. Donc suffit.}
\\
\TeiAbV{L’etude de verger dont tu parles – \\où il y a beaucoup de pointillé – \\est la moitié du motif principal \\de la decoration. L’autre moitié est l’etude \\de même format sans chassis.
\footnote[3]{\TeiAnchor{

Orchard with peach trees in blossom (F 551 / JH 1396) and Orchard bordered by cypresses (F 513 / JH 1389). The former is the work with ‘a lot of stippling’.
}}
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Et à eux deux elles donneraient une \\idée de l’agencement des vergers d’ici. \\Seulement moi je considerais \\une etude trop molle, l’autre trop \\brutale, toutes les deux manquées. \\Le temps changeant y était certes aussi \\pour quelque chôse et puis j’étais \\comme le russe qui voulait gober trop \\de terrain dans une journee de marche.\footnote[4]{\TeiAnchor{
A reference to the story ‘Le Moujik Pakhom. Faut-il beaucoup de terre pour un homme?’ from Tolstoy\footnote{
Ljev (Leo) Nikolaevich Tolstoy (Tolstoi)

(1828-1910) Russian writer
}’s 
A la recherche du bonheur
: \href{let602.xml#n-10}{see letter 602, n. 10.}

}}
}
\marginpar{[1v:3]}
\\
\TeiAbV{Je suis très-curieux de voir les resultats \\du système Gruby – à la longue
, \\après disons une année de pratique. \\Ce sera sage de te montrer \\quelquefois – de causer avec lui – \\et – de lui arracher sa vraie attention
, \\un vrai effort serieux de son côté, \\comme Bonger a fini par avoir \\sa sympathie et son interêt plus \\serieux. Alors je serais plus \\tranquille sur ton compte.– \\Maintenant je ne saurais l’être. \\La proposition de ces messieurs \\de te faire faire de petits voyages \\d’outre mer est éreintante pour \\toi.–}
\\
\TeiAbV{Et moi je m’accuse de t’éreinter \\ainsi – moi – avec mes besoins \\d’argent continuels.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Il me semble que ce qu’exigent\\ de toi ces messieurs serait pourtant \\raisonable si avant ils consentaient \\à te donner un an de congé \\(tout en gardant ton salaire \\entièrement) pour refaire \\ta santé. Cette annee tu la\\ devouerais à aller revoir chez \\eux tous les impressionistes et 
\marginpar{[1r:4]}
\\amateurs d’impressionistes.– Ce serait \\encore travailler dans l’interêt de Boussod \& Co. \\Après tu partirais le sang \& les nerfs \\plus tranquilles et capable de faire \\de nouvelles affaires là-bas.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Mais aller chercher les marrons du feu \\pour ces messieurs dans l’état où \\tu es maintenant, c’est faire une \\année qui t’ereintera.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Et cela ne sert à personne.–}
\\
\TeiAbV{Mon cher frère – l’idee musulmane \\que la mort n’arrive que lorsqu’elle doit \\arriver – voyons ça pourtant.–}
\\
\TeiAbV{moi il me semble que nous n’ayons \\aucune preuve d’une direction directe \\d’en haut tant que ca.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Au contraire il me semble prouvé \\qu’une bonne hygiène non seulement \\puisse prolonger la vie mais surtout \\la rendre plus sereine – d’une \\eau plus limpide – tandis \\qu’une mauvaise hygiène non \\seulement trouble le courant de \\la vie mais encore le manque \\d’hygiène peut mettre un terme à la \\vie avant le temps.}
\\
\TeiAbV{N’ai je pas moi vu mourir devant mes yeux \\un bien brave homme faute d’avoir \\un medecin intelligent – il etait si calme \\et si tranquille dans tout cela, seulement il \\disait toujours – “si j’avais un autre medecin” \\et il est mort en haussant les épaules d’un air que je \\n’oublierai pas.–}
\marginpar{[2r:5]}
\\
\TeiAbV{Veux tu que j’aille en Amérique \\avec toi, ce ne serait que juste que \\ces messieurs me payeraient mon \\voyage.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Bien des chôses me seraient égales mais \\non pas celle là de chôse – que tu \\ne te referais pas la santé sérieusement \\d’abord.}
\\
\TeiAbV{Or je crois qu’il faut que tu te retrempes \\encore davantage et dans la nature et dans \\les artistes.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Et préférerais te voir indépendant des \\Goupil et à ton propre compte avec \\les impressionistes, à cette alternative \\d’une vie de voyages avec les tableaux \\chers qui appartiennent à ces messieurs. \\Lorsque notre oncle était leur associé \\il s’est dans de certaines années fait \\très bien payer – comptes pourtant \\ce que cela lui a couté.\footnote[5]{\TeiAnchor{
See for Uncle Vincent:\footnote{
Vincent van Gogh (Uncle Vincent or Uncle Cent)

(1820-1888) brother of Theodorus van Gogh, art dealer
} \href{let398.xml#n-6}{letter 398, n. 6.}

}}
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Or toi tes poumons sont biens – mais \\mais mais – – – un an de Gruby \\d’abord et puis tu verras le danger \\que tu cours maintenant.}
\\
\TeiAbV{A présent tu as plus de 10 ans \\de Paris ce qui est plus qu’il ne faut. 
\marginpar{[2v:6]}
\\Tu me diras que Détaille par \\exemple en a une trentaine peut etre \\d’années de Paris et qu’il se tient \\droit comme un i
.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Bon, fais comme cela si tu as des \\capacités pareilles. Je ne m’y \\oppose pas et notre famille a une \\vie tenace.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Tout ce que je désirerais dire \\se résume à ceci: si ces messieurs \\te font prendre des marrons du feu \\pour eux à de pareilles distances, fais \\toi payer cher ou refuses et mets toi \\dans les impressionistes, faisant moins \\d’affaires au point de vue des sommes \\remueés mais en vivant davantage \\dans la nature.}
\\
\TeiAbV{Pour moi je me refais décidemment \\et l’estomac depuis le mois écoulé \\a gagné énormément. Je souffre \\encore d’émotions mal motivés \\mais involontaires, ou d’hébétement \\de certains jours, mais cela va \\en se tranquilisant.}
\\
\TeiAbV{Je compte faire une excursion \\à Ste Marie pour voir enfin \\la Mediterranée.
\footnote[6]{\TeiAnchor{
Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is about 40 km to the south of Arles. See for the date of Van Gogh’s visit to this seaside town: \href{let617.xml}{letter 617}, Date.
}}
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Sans doute les deux soeurs seront \\bien contentes de venir à Paris \\et cela ne leur fera aucun \\mal c’est bien sûr.\footnote[7]{\TeiAnchor{
Theo wanted his sisters Lies\footnote{
Elisabeth (Lies) Huberta Du Quesne-Van Gogh

(1859-1936) sister of Vincent, second wife of Jean Philippe Theodore du Quesne van Bruchem
} and Willemien\footnote{
Willemina (Wil or Willemien) Jacoba van Gogh

(1862-1941) sister of Vincent
} to come to Paris. In the end Willemien came alone and stayed with Theo for several weeks in the summer of 1888.
}}
}
\marginpar{[2v:7]}
\\
\TeiAbV{Je voudrais que tout le monde vienne \\ici dans le Midi également.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Je me fais toujours des reproches \\que ma peinture ne vaut pas ce \\qu’elle coûte.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Il faut pourtant travailler – seulement \\sache que si jamais les circonstances \\rendraient desirables que je m’occupe \\plutôt dans le commerce, pourvu \\que cela te decharge, je le ferais \\sans regrets.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Mourier te donnera encore deux dessins \\à la plume.\footnote[8]{\TeiAnchor{
One of the drawings Mourier-Petersen\footnote{
Christian Vilhelm Mourier-Petersen

(1858-1945) Danish artist
} took with him was probably The Langlois bridge (F 1470 / JH 1377), which Van Gogh incorporated in his letter sketch. It is not possible to identify the other one.
}}
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Sais tu ce qu’il faudrait en faire \\de ces dessins – des albums de \\6 ou 10 ou 12 comme les albums \\de dessins originaux japonais.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{
J’ai grand envie de faire un tel \\album pour Gauguin et un \\pour Bernard. Car cela deviendra \\mieux que ça les dessins.
\footnote[9]{\TeiAnchor{
In his letter sketch of the Leporello album – which was to be made after a Japanese example – Van Gogh included four of his Arles drawings: Farmhouse in a wheatfield (F 1415 / JH 1408), which he had probably sent to Theo at the end of April (\href{let602.xml}{see letter 602}), Landscape with a tree in the foreground (F 1418 / JH 1431) and Montmajour (F 1423 / JH 1433), which he said in \href{let613.xml}{letter 613} that he had sent, and The Langlois bridge (F 1470 / JH 1377). Theo did not yet have this drawing: it is dated to mid-May (in other words after the first two consignments in late April-early May) and it was not in the batch referred to in \href{let613.xml}{letter 613}, since those were views around Montmajour. It seems likely that Mourier-Petersen\footnote{
Christian Vilhelm Mourier-Petersen

(1858-1945) Danish artist
} took it with him. See cat. Amsterdam 2007, p. 114.
\TeiAbV{In the Van Gogh Museum collection there is a Japanese album of prints that comes from the family estate and was made in the way Van Gogh illustrated in his sketch: Shinsen kachō no kei (Glimpses of newly selected flowers and birds). See cat Amsterdam 1991, p. 25 and cat. no. 112.}
}}
}

\marginpar{[2r:8]}
\\
J’ai acheté aujourd’hui des couleurs ici et des toiles \\parceque selon le temps qu’il fera il me faudra \\attaquer. Raison de plus pour que dans \\la commande de couleurs\footnote[10]{\TeiAnchor{
Van Gogh had enclosed this paint order for Tasset\footnote{
Guillaume Charles Tasset

(1843-1925) seller of artists' materials in Paris
} in \href{let613.xml}{letter 613}.
}} il n’y a rien de \\pressé que les dix grands tubes de blanc.
\\
\TeiAbV{C’est drôle qu’un de ces soirs ci à \\Mont-majour j’ai vu un soleil couchant \\rouge qui envoyait des rayons dans les \\troncs \& feuillages de pins enracinés dans \\un amas de rochers, colorant d’orangé feu \\les troncs et les feuillages tandis que \\d’autres pins sur des plans plus reculés \\se dessinaient bleu de prusse sur un \\ciel bleu-vert tendre – céruléën. \\C’est donc l’effet de ce Claude Monet.
\footnote[11]{\TeiAnchor{
Van Gogh must be responding to Theo’s description of a painting by Monet\footnote{
Claude Oscar Monet

(1840-1926) French artist
}, in connection with his preparations for the exhibition (\href{let625.xml#n-5}{see letter 625, n. 5}). This was Under the pine trees at the end of the day, 1888 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Otto F. Haas). Ill. 1593. It emerges from \href{let627.xml}{letter 627} to Russell\footnote{
John Peter Russell

(1858-1930) Australian artist
} that Vincent knew this work through Theo’s description of it. 
}} \\C’était superbe. Le sable blanc \\et les gisements de rochers blancs sous \\les arbres prenaient des teintes bleues. \\Ce que je voudrais faire c’est le \\panorama dont tu as les premiers \\dessins\footnote[12]{\TeiAnchor{
Van Gogh later did the painting The harvest (F 412 / JH 1440) of this view near Montmajour. The drawings were The plain of La Crau (F 1419 / JH 1430), Landscape with a tree in the foreground (F 1418 / JH 1431), View from Montmajour (F 1448 / JH 1432), Landscape with Arles in the background (F 1475 / JH 1435) and Heath (F 1493 / JH 1436).
}} – c’est d’un large – et puis \\ca ne s’en va pas dans le gris, cela reste \\vert jusque dans la derniere ligne – \\bleue celle là, la rangée de collines. \\Aujourd’hui orage \& pluie qui fera d’ailleurs \\du bien. Si Koning préfère une étude peinte \\fais comme cela tombe.
\footnote[13]{\TeiAnchor{
See for the proposed exchange with Koning\footnote{
Arnold Hendrik Koning

(1860-1945) Dutch artist
}: \href{let614.xml#n-3}{letter 614, n. 3.}

}}
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Réfléchis bien avant que tu n’acceptes \\tout ce que demandent les Goupil \\et si cela entrainait un changement \\pour moi, vrai, je pourrais maintenant \\que la santé reprend travailler n’importe \\où et n’ai pas d’idée fixe pour le \\travail à la rigueur. Poignee de main \\à toi \& à Koning.}

\\
t. à t.

\\
Vincent

\\
Je crois que pour le verger blanc il faudrait un cadre blanc froid \& cru.
\footnote[14]{\TeiAnchor{

The white orchard (F 403 / JH 1378).
}}

\marginpar{[3r:9]}
\\
Saches bien que j’aimerais mieux \\abandonner ma peinture que \\de te voir t’ereinter pour gagner \\de l’argent. Certes il en faut \\mais en sommes-nous là qu’il \\faille aller le chercher si loin.

\\
\TeiAbV{Tu vois si bien que “se preparer \\à la mort”, idée chretienne – \\(heureusement pour lui le Christ \\lui-même ne la partageait aucunement \\il me semble – lui qui aimait les \\gens et les choses d’ici bas plus que de \\raison selon les gens qui ne voient en \\lui qu’un toqué), si – tu vois si bien \\que se préparer pour la mort est une \\chôse – à laisser là pour ce qu’elle est – \\ne vois tu pas qu’egalement le – \\dévouement – vivre pour \\les autres – est une erreur si \\c’est compliqué de suicide – vu \\que vraiment dans ce cas on fait des meurtriers \\de ses amis.
}
\\
\TeiAbV{Si donc tu en es là de devoir faire \\des voyages comme cela sans \\avoir jamais de tranquilité, vraiment \\cela m’ôte l’appétit pour me refaire \\mon calme à moi.
}
\marginpar{[3v:10]}
\\
\TeiAbV{Et si tu acceptes ces propositions, \\bien – mais alors demandes à \\ces Goupil de me reprendre moi \\à mes gages de dans le temps, \\et prends moi avec toi dans \\ces voyages. Les gens cela \\vaut mieux que les chôses et \\pour moi, plus que je me donne \\du mal pour les tableaux plus \\les tableaux en soi me laissent \\froids. Ce pourquoi je cherche \\à les faire, c’est pour être dans les \\artistes. Tu comprendras – cela \\me chagrinerait de te pousser à \\gagner de l’argent, restons plutot \\ensemble en tout cas – là \\où il y a une volonté il y a un \\chemin et je sens que tu \\te gueriras pour toute une serie \\d’années si tu te gueris maintenant. \\Mais ne t’ereintes pas maintenant ni \\pour moi ni pour d’autres. Tu \\connais le portrait de Six vieux, \\un homme qui s’en va
\footnote[15]{\TeiAnchor{
See for Rembrandt\footnote{

Rembrandt van Rijn

(1606-1669) Dutch artist
}’s 
Jan Six
: \href{let047.xml#n-8}{letter 47, n. 8.} Fromentin\footnote{
Eugène Fromentin

(1820-1876) French artist and writer
} had also written about Six\footnote{
Jan Six

(1618-1700) mayor of Amsterdam
} in 
Les maîtres d’autrefois
: ‘He is going out’ (Il va sortir). See Fromentin 1902, chapter 14, p. 370.
}} son gant à la main, \\bon, vis jusqu’à que tu t’en aille \\comme cela, c’est comme cela \\que je te vois, marié, ayant une \\position à Paris crâne. Tu joueras \\un bon rôle de cette façon. Réflechis \\et consulte Gruby avant d’accepter telle \\proposition.}

\\
t. à t.

\\
Vincent

\selectlanguage{english}
\section*{Translation}

\marginpar{[1r:1]}
My dear Theo,

I was very pleased to receive this morning’s letter from you; I thank you very much for the 100-franc note that was included in it.

\TeiAbIII{And am glad in the end that the crate has arrived.}

\TeiAbIII{If you think the Souvenir de Mauve is among those that are passable — then you should add it to the next Hague consignment, with a simple all-white frame.\footnote[1]{\TeiAnchor{

Pink peach trees (‘Souvenir de Mauve’) (F 394 / JH 1379).
}} If you found another study among them that seemed to you more suitable for Tersteeg\footnote{
Hermanus Gijsbertus Tersteeg (H.G.T., T. or Mr T.)

(1845-1927) art dealer at the Goupil gallery in The Hague
}, you should put it in without a dedication, and you should keep the one with the dedication to him, which you could then scratch out.\footnote[2]{\TeiAnchor{
Van Gogh had dedicated the painting The Langlois bridge with washerwomen (F 397 / JH 1368) to Tersteeg\footnote{
Hermanus Gijsbertus Tersteeg (H.G.T., T. or Mr T.)

(1845-1927) art dealer at the Goupil gallery in The Hague
}; see for scraping it off: \href{let608.xml#n-3}{letter 608, n. 3.} As far as we know, Tersteeg never had any of Van Gogh’s paintings in his possession.
}} Because it’s better to give him one without any sort of dedication. He can then claim not to have understood that it was a gift for him, and send it back without saying anything if he would rather not have something of mine.}

\TeiAbIII{I’ll certainly have to give him one myself, to prove that I have some enthusiasm for the cause and that I appreciate his having 
\marginpar{[1v:2]} taken it in hand — but in short, do as it turns out, don’t send any, send that one with or without a dedication, send another one, it makes no difference to me whatsoever. Only as Mauve\footnote{
Anton Mauve

(1838-1888) Dutch artist
} and he were so close, in the emotion of the moment it seemed to me a very simple thing to do something for Tersteeg\footnote{
Hermanus Gijsbertus Tersteeg (H.G.T., T. or Mr T.)

(1845-1927) art dealer at the Goupil gallery in The Hague
} at the same time as I was doing a souvenir of Mauve. And I had scarcely another thought but that. So that’s enough.}

\TeiAbIII{The orchard study you mention — where there’s a lot of stippling — is half of the main subject of the decoration. The other half is the study in the same format, without a stretching frame.\footnote[3]{\TeiAnchor{

Orchard with peach trees in blossom (F 551 / JH 1396) and Orchard bordered by cypresses (F 513 / JH 1389). The former is the work with ‘a lot of stippling’.
}}
}

\TeiAbIII{And those two together would give an idea of how orchards are laid out here. But I myself thought one study too feeble, the other too harsh, both of them failures. The changeable weather certainly had something to do with it too, and I was like the Russian who tried to swallow up too much ground in a day’s march.\footnote[4]{\TeiAnchor{
A reference to the story ‘Le Moujik Pakhom. Faut-il beaucoup de terre pour un homme?’ from Tolstoy\footnote{
Ljev (Leo) Nikolaevich Tolstoy (Tolstoi)

(1828-1910) Russian writer
}’s 
A la recherche du bonheur
: \href{let602.xml#n-10}{see letter 602, n. 10.}

}} 
\marginpar{[1v:3]}
}

\TeiAbIII{I’m very curious to see the results of the Gruby\footnote{
David Gruby

(1810-1898) doctor in Paris
} system — in the long run, after, let’s say, a year’s application. It will be wise to show up sometimes — to chat with him — and — to extract his real attention, a real, big effort on his part, as Bonger\footnote{
Andries (André or Dries) Bonger

(1861-1936) friend of Theo in Paris, brother of Jo van Gogh-Bonger
} in the end gained his friendship and deeper interest. Then I’d feel easier on your account. I couldn’t feel that way now. The proposal by those gentlemen to have you make short trips overseas is wearing you out.}

\TeiAbIII{And I blame myself for wearing you out like this — me — with my constant needs for money.}

\TeiAbIII{It seems to me that what those gentlemen are demanding of you could, however, be reasonable if they first agreed to give you a year’s leave (on full salary) to regain your health. You’d devote that year to going to see all the Impressionists and 
\marginpar{[1r:4]} connoisseurs of the Impressionists at their homes again. That would still be working in the interests of Boussod \& Co\footnote{

Boussod, Valadon \& Cie

art dealers in Paris, successors of Goupil \& Cie
}. After that you’d go off with your blood and your nerves more settled, and fit to do new business over there.}

\TeiAbIII{But to go and pull the chestnuts out of the fire for those gentlemen in the state you’re in now is to spend a year that will wear you out.}

\TeiAbIII{And that does nobody any good.}

\TeiAbIII{My dear brother — the Muslim idea that death only comes when it must come — let’s just see about that.}

\TeiAbIII{To me, it seems that we haven’t any proof of such a direct guidance from above.}

\TeiAbIII{On the contrary, it seems to me that it’s been proved that good hygiene may not only prolong life but above all, can make it more serene — its waters more limpid — while poor hygiene not only muddies life’s current, but even more than that, lack of hygiene may put an end to life before time.}

\TeiAbIII{Have I not myself seen a fine figure of a man die before my very eyes for want of an intelligent doctor — he was so calm and tranquil through all of that, only he kept saying — ‘if I had another doctor’, and he died shrugging his shoulders in a way I’ll never forget. 
\marginpar{[2r:5]}
}

\TeiAbIII{ Would you like me to go to America with you? It would be only right that those gentlemen paid my fare.}

\TeiAbIII{There are many things that wouldn’t matter to me one way or the other, but not that — that you didn’t first build up your health properly.}

\TeiAbIII{Now I think you need to immerse yourself again even more, both in nature and among artists.}

\TeiAbIII{And would prefer to see you independent of the Goupils and working on your own account with the Impressionists, to this alternative of a life of travelling with the expensive paintings that belong to those gentlemen. When our uncle\footnote{
Vincent van Gogh (Uncle Vincent or Uncle Cent)

(1820-1888) brother of Theodorus van Gogh, art dealer
} was an associate of theirs, in some years he managed to be very well paid — but just count what it cost him.\footnote[5]{\TeiAnchor{
See for Uncle Vincent:\footnote{
Vincent van Gogh (Uncle Vincent or Uncle Cent)

(1820-1888) brother of Theodorus van Gogh, art dealer
} \href{let398.xml#n-6}{letter 398, n. 6.}

}}
}

\TeiAbIII{Now you, your lungs are good — but but but — — — a year of Gruby\footnote{
David Gruby

(1810-1898) doctor in Paris
} first, and then you’ll see the danger you’re in now.}

\TeiAbIII{At present you’ve had over 10 years of Paris, which is more than is good. 
\marginpar{[2v:6]} You’ll tell me that Detaille\footnote{
Edouard Jean Baptiste Detaille

(1848-1912) French artist
}, for example, has had perhaps thirty years of Paris and that he holds himself as straight as a ramrod.}

\TeiAbIII{Good, do the same if you have comparable capacities. I’m not against it, and our family has a tenacious grip on life.}

\TeiAbIII{Everything I could wish to say is summed up in this: if those gentlemen make you pull the chestnuts out of the fire over such distances, see that you’re well paid, or refuse, and throw yourself into the Impressionists, doing less business from the point of view of the sums handled, but living closer to nature.}

\TeiAbIII{For myself, I’m definitely recovering, and since the past month my stomach has improved enormously. I still suffer from unaccountable, involuntary feelings, or a stupor on some days, but it’s getting calmer.}

\TeiAbIII{I plan to make an excursion to Saintes-Maries, to see the Mediterranean at last.\footnote[6]{\TeiAnchor{
Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is about 40 km to the south of Arles. See for the date of Van Gogh’s visit to this seaside town: \href{let617.xml}{letter 617}, Date.
}}
}

\TeiAbIII{Our two sisters\footnote{
Elisabeth (Lies) Huberta Du Quesne-Van Gogh

(1859-1936) sister of Vincent, second wife of Jean Philippe Theodore du Quesne van Bruchem
} will doubtless be quite happy to come to Paris and it won’t do them any harm, that’s quite certain.\footnote[7]{\TeiAnchor{
Theo wanted his sisters Lies\footnote{
Elisabeth (Lies) Huberta Du Quesne-Van Gogh

(1859-1936) sister of Vincent, second wife of Jean Philippe Theodore du Quesne van Bruchem
} and Willemien\footnote{
Willemina (Wil or Willemien) Jacoba van Gogh

(1862-1941) sister of Vincent
} to come to Paris. In the end Willemien came alone and stayed with Theo for several weeks in the summer of 1888.
}} 
\marginpar{[2v:7]}
}

\TeiAbIII{I’d like everybody to come here to the south too.}

\TeiAbIII{I’m always blaming myself for the fact that my painting isn’t worth what it costs.}

\TeiAbIII{We must work nevertheless — but you should know that if circumstances ever made it desirable for me to involve myself more in business, as long as it took a burden off you, I’d do it with no regrets.}

\TeiAbIII{
Mourier\footnote{
Christian Vilhelm Mourier-Petersen

(1858-1945) Danish artist
} will give you two more pen drawings.\footnote[8]{\TeiAnchor{
One of the drawings Mourier-Petersen\footnote{
Christian Vilhelm Mourier-Petersen

(1858-1945) Danish artist
} took with him was probably The Langlois bridge (F 1470 / JH 1377), which Van Gogh incorporated in his letter sketch. It is not possible to identify the other one.
}}
}

\TeiAbIII{Do you know what we should do with these drawings? Albums of 6 or 10 or 12, like the albums of original Japanese drawings.}

\TeiAbIII{
I’m very keen to make such an album for Gauguin\footnote{
Paul (Eugène Henri) Gauguin

(1848-1903) French artist
} and one for Bernard\footnote{
Emile Bernard

(1868-1941) French artist and writer
}. Because the drawings will become better than that.\footnote[9]{\TeiAnchor{
In his letter sketch of the Leporello album – which was to be made after a Japanese example – Van Gogh included four of his Arles drawings: Farmhouse in a wheatfield (F 1415 / JH 1408), which he had probably sent to Theo at the end of April (\href{let602.xml}{see letter 602}), Landscape with a tree in the foreground (F 1418 / JH 1431) and Montmajour (F 1423 / JH 1433), which he said in \href{let613.xml}{letter 613} that he had sent, and The Langlois bridge (F 1470 / JH 1377). Theo did not yet have this drawing: it is dated to mid-May (in other words after the first two consignments in late April-early May) and it was not in the batch referred to in \href{let613.xml}{letter 613}, since those were views around Montmajour. It seems likely that Mourier-Petersen\footnote{
Christian Vilhelm Mourier-Petersen

(1858-1945) Danish artist
} took it with him. See cat. Amsterdam 2007, p. 114.
\TeiAbV{In the Van Gogh Museum collection there is a Japanese album of prints that comes from the family estate and was made in the way Van Gogh illustrated in his sketch: Shinsen kachō no kei (Glimpses of newly selected flowers and birds). See cat Amsterdam 1991, p. 25 and cat. no. 112.}
}}
}

\marginpar{[2r:8]}

I bought some colours here today, and canvases, because depending on the weather I’ll have to go onto the attack. Another reason why there’s nothing urgent in the order for colours,\footnote[10]{\TeiAnchor{
Van Gogh had enclosed this paint order for Tasset\footnote{
Guillaume Charles Tasset

(1843-1925) seller of artists' materials in Paris
} in \href{let613.xml}{letter 613}.
}} except the ten large tubes of white.

\TeiAbIII{It’s funny that one evening recently at Montmajour I saw a red sunset that sent its rays into the trunks and foliage of pines rooted in a mass of rocks, colouring the trunks and foliage a fiery orange while other pines in the further distance stood out in Prussian blue against a soft blue-green sky — cerulean. So it’s the effect of that Claude Monet\footnote{
Claude Oscar Monet

(1840-1926) French artist
}.\footnote[11]{\TeiAnchor{
Van Gogh must be responding to Theo’s description of a painting by Monet\footnote{
Claude Oscar Monet

(1840-1926) French artist
}, in connection with his preparations for the exhibition (\href{let625.xml#n-5}{see letter 625, n. 5}). This was Under the pine trees at the end of the day, 1888 (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Otto F. Haas). Ill. 1593. It emerges from \href{let627.xml}{letter 627} to Russell\footnote{
John Peter Russell

(1858-1930) Australian artist
} that Vincent knew this work through Theo’s description of it. 
}} It was superb. The white sand and the seams of white rocks under the trees took on blue tints. What I’d like to do is the panorama of which you have the first drawings\footnote[12]{\TeiAnchor{
Van Gogh later did the painting The harvest (F 412 / JH 1440) of this view near Montmajour. The drawings were The plain of La Crau (F 1419 / JH 1430), Landscape with a tree in the foreground (F 1418 / JH 1431), View from Montmajour (F 1448 / JH 1432), Landscape with Arles in the background (F 1475 / JH 1435) and Heath (F 1493 / JH 1436).
}} — it’s so wide — and it doesn’t fade into grey, it stays green to the last line — and that’s blue, the range of hills. Thunderstorm and rain today, which will do good anyway. If Koning\footnote{
Arnold Hendrik Koning

(1860-1945) Dutch artist
} prefers a painted study, do whatever turns out.\footnote[13]{\TeiAnchor{
See for the proposed exchange with Koning\footnote{
Arnold Hendrik Koning

(1860-1945) Dutch artist
}: \href{let614.xml#n-3}{letter 614, n. 3.}

}}
}

\TeiAbIII{Think carefully before you agree to everything the Goupils demand, and if that brought a change for me, really, now my health’s improving I could work anywhere, and don’t have an idée fixe about work, if it comes to that. Handshake to you and to Koning\footnote{
Arnold Hendrik Koning

(1860-1945) Dutch artist
}.}

Ever yours,

Vincent

I think that for the white orchard we need a cold and raw white frame.\footnote[14]{\TeiAnchor{

The white orchard (F 403 / JH 1378).
}}

\marginpar{[3r:9]}
You should know that I’d rather give up my painting than see you wear yourself out to earn money. We need it of course, but have we reached the point where we have to go and look for it so far away?

\TeiAbIII{You see so clearly that ‘preparing oneself for death’, a Christian idea — (fortunately for him Christ himself didn’t share it at all, it seems to me — he who loved the people and things of this earth, more than is wise according to those who see him as nothing more than a crackpot), if — you see so clearly that preparing oneself for death is a thing — to leave there for what it is — don’t you also see that — devotion — living for others — is a mistake if it’s complicated by suicide — since in that case one truly makes murderers of one’s friends.}

\TeiAbIII{So if you’ve reached the point where you have to make trips like that without ever having any peace and quiet, truly that takes away my appetite to recover my own tranquillity. 
\marginpar{[3v:10]}
}

\TeiAbIII{And if you agree to these proposals, well and good — but then ask those Goupils to take me on again at my previous salary and take me with you on these trips. People are worth more than things and for me, the more trouble I go to over paintings the more paintings as such leave me cold. The reason I try to make them is to be among artists. You’ll understand — it would grieve me to drive you to earn money, let’s rather stay together in any case — where there’s a will there’s a way, and I feel you’ll cure yourself for a good many years if you cure yourself now. But don’t wear yourself out now, either for me or for others. You know the portrait of Six\footnote{
Jan Six

(1618-1700) mayor of Amsterdam
} as an old man, a man who is leaving,\footnote[15]{\TeiAnchor{
See for Rembrandt\footnote{

Rembrandt van Rijn

(1606-1669) Dutch artist
}’s 
Jan Six
: \href{let047.xml#n-8}{letter 47, n. 8.} Fromentin\footnote{
Eugène Fromentin

(1820-1876) French artist and writer
} had also written about Six\footnote{
Jan Six

(1618-1700) mayor of Amsterdam
} in 
Les maîtres d’autrefois
: ‘He is going out’ (Il va sortir). See Fromentin 1902, chapter 14, p. 370.
}} his glove in his hand, well, live until you leave like that, that’s how I see you, married, with a solid position in Paris. You’ll play a good role that way. Think it over and consult Gruby before accepting such a proposal.}

Ever yours,

Vincent

\end{document}