1. Koning, who was lodging with Theo in Paris, went back to the Netherlands on 30 May. See letter 616, n. 4.

2. These works by Macknight cannot be identified. With the exception of a number of pastels dating from the 1880s and early 1890s, he painted virtually nothing but watercolours. His palette is characterized by unusual combinations of contrasting colours and reveals the influence of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. See exhib. cat. New York 1998, p. 198.

a. Read: ‘habiter’.

3. In the last years of his life Monticelli suffered a series of strokes that left him partially paralyzed. See Alauzen and Ripert 1969, pp. 159, 163, 165. See for Monticelli’s drinking: letter 600, n. 14.

4. Van Gogh had written about this in letter 600.

5. In the estate there are various photographs of Willemien at about 20 years old; Van Gogh may have had one of these portraits in mind. Ill. 2183 and Ill. 3113 . It is difficult to say how old she is in these photographs, but judging by Van Gogh’s remark the second is the most likely. Later Willemien actually did go mad; she died in an asylum in 1941.

6. David Gruby, who lived at 66 rue Saint-Lazare in Paris, was a well-known homeopathic doctor whom Theo and Vincent consulted. They knew him through Andries Bonger, who had been a patient of his since March 1882 (FR b1697). Gruby was known as a ‘psychological doctor’, who believed that health revolved around equilibrium and regarded illness as the consequence of a disturbance of the balance. See L. le Leu, Le Dr Gruby. Notes et souvenirs. Paris 1908.

7. Edgar Degas was a bachelor and on several occasions Van Gogh expressed his respect for the fact that Degas had adapted his lifestyle to serve his art. Cf. Kendall 1999, pp. 38-39.

8. See for the doctor Louis Rivet: letter 578, n. 9.

9. The philosopher Pangloss is a character in Voltaire’s Candide ; see letter 568, n. 3.

10. Van Gogh was staying in Hotel-Restaurant Carrel: see letter 577, n. 4. The hotel owner had complained that Van Gogh’s paintings took up too much room (letter 601).

11. See for this proposed consignment: letter 602, n. 11.

12. This question is clarified to some extent in letter 605, where we learn that the organizers of the Indépendants exhibition had announced that the paintings that had been submitted had to be collected on 5 and 6 May (the exhibition closed on 3 May); Koning, however, had misunderstood, and thought that it was 5 and 6 April. See for the exhibited works: letter 582, n. 9.