1. See for the expression ‘le rayon noir’ (the black ray), derived from Victor Hugo’s Quatre-vingt-treize: letter 388, n. 22.
2. Van Gogh fell passionately in love with his cousin Kee Vos in the summer of 1881; see letters 179 ff.
3. See for this expression letter 154, n. 7.
a. Means: ‘ik weersta je’ (I stand up to you).
4. See for this quotation from Proudhon quoted in Michelet’s La femme: letter 181, n. 8.
5. Probably an allusion to a dictum by David Friedrich Strauss on Ernest Renan: See Pierre Mille, Anthologies des humoristes Français contemporains. Paris 1920, p. 50.
b. Read: ‘Waarop’ (when).
c. Means: ‘hij dringt hier op aan’ (he insists on it).
d. Means: ‘flink, krachtig’ (strong, powerful).
6. ‘Vivre tout haut’ (live to the full) is taken from Zola, see letter 400, n. 5.
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