1. View of Arles from a hill (F 1452 / JH 1437 ). Van Gogh described this drawing in the letter he enclosed for Koning (618).

2. A paint order for Tasset was enclosed with letter 613.

3. Van Gogh went to Saintes-Maries on 30 or 31 May (according to Pickvance and Hulsker on 30 May; according to Dorn on 10 June). He returned to Arles on 4 or 5 June (according to Pickvance and Hulsker on 3 June; according to Dorn on 16 June). See Date.

4. The Camargue is the area of marshes in the Rhône delta between Arles and Saintes-Maries, where there are flamingos, wild horses and bulls.

5. This is the (unknown) letter that Van Gogh said he would write in the postscript to letter 616.

6. We do not know what this refers to.

7. The enclosed letter for Koning is letter 618. The letter reached Paris too late, so Theo forwarded it to Winschoten in the Netherlands, where Koning lived (FR b1077).

8. Georges Thomas, called ‘le père Thomas’, was known to a small circle as a dealer who supported the most contemporary art. He it was, for instance, who sold one of Toulouse-Lautrec’s first paintings and he exhibited work by Van Gogh. At that time his gallery was at 43 boulevard Malesherbes. See letter 718 and exhib. cat. Paris 1988, p. 342.