1. Van Gogh means the time he spent in Dordrecht, Amsterdam and the Borinage (from early 1877 until about August 1880, when he decided to become an artist).

2. In fact the flat was located in a small street off Schenkweg, though it was considered part of the same street. The house number was 138 (from 1884 number 9). The owner of the house was Adrianus Johannes van der Drift. Van Gogh made a drawing of the group of houses to which his flat belonged: Houses on Schenkweg (F 915 / JH 122). See exhib. cat. The Hague 1990, pp. 17-19, and Visser 1973, pp. 23-24. Visser suggests, incidentally, that Van Gogh sublet his room from another (unknown) tenant.

3. Regarding this saying, see letter 182, n. 7.

4. Artists prefer a north-facing studio because the northern light is the most constant in quantity and colour.

5. Anton Mauve, Fishing boat on the beach, 1882 (The Hague, Kunstmuseum). Ill. 239 . The canvas, measuring 115 x 172 cm, was shown at the 1882 Salon, which opened on 1 May 1882. Its title was Sur la plage à Scheveningue (On the beach at Scheveningen). See exhib. cat. Paris 1882, p. 157, cat. no. 1811.