1. The letter from Gauguin was 692; Vincent sent it on to Theo with letter 694.

2. For Gauguin, Self-portrait with portrait of Bernard, ‘Les misérables’ , see letter 692, n. 1.

3. Gauguin left Paris for Brittany on 26 January. See Merlhès 1989, p. 61.

4. See letter 589, n. 19, for Vincent and Theo’s visit to Seurat’s studio.

5. Vincent formulated the same idea in letter 694 to Theo, possibly referring to Puvis de Chavannes’ painting Hope . See letter 694, n. 11.

6. For the term ‘Petit Boulevard’, see letter 584, n. 6.

a. Read: ‘Alors’.

b. Read: ‘nous vous’.

7. The green vineyard (F 475 / JH 1595 ).

8. After this Van Gogh crossed out ‘presque violet’ (almost violet).

9. Self-portrait (F 476 / JH 1581 ). Van Gogh’s reference to ‘the character of a bonze, a simple worshipper of the eternal Buddha’ may have been prompted by Emile Burnouf’s article, ‘Le bouddhisme en Occident’, Revue des Deux Mondes 58 (15 July 1888), no. 88, pp. 340-372. Van Gogh was in any event familiar with Henry Cochin’s article on Boccaccio (‘Boccace d’après ses oeuvres et les témoignages contemporains’) in the same issue; see letter 683, n. 15. Merlhès regards Burnouf’s article as the direct source for the self-portrait; see Merlhès 1989, pp. 114-118, however the words Van Gogh used do not occur in the article. Loti’s Madame Chrysanthème might also have inspired him to depict himself thus; see letter 628, n. 20.

c. Read: ‘Boch’.

10. Letter 693 is Van Gogh’s reply to the (lost) letter from Boch. Boch’s sister Anna was a member of the artists’ association Les Vingt from 1886 to 1894. See letter 580, n. 6.

11. A reference to the Venus of Arles as an example of the classical remains in the town; see letter 683, n. 21.

12. It emerges from the following paragraph that Van Gogh is referring to the poets Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio and the painters Giotto and Botticelli, whom he discussed in letter 683 after reading Cochin’s article ‘Boccace d’après ses oeuvres et les témoignages contemporains’. See letter 683, n. 15.

13. At this point the decoration called ‘the poet’s garden’ consisted of The public garden (‘The poet’s garden’) (F 468 / JH 1578 ) and a now unknown painting of the park (cf. the letter sketches in letters 689 and 693 for the composition). Van Gogh regarded the canvases as companion pieces (letter 689) and gave them the title of ‘the poet’s garden’ (letter 696). They were joined later by two more paintings: The public garden with a couple strolling (‘The poet’s garden’) (F 479 / JH 1601 ) and Row of cypresses with a couple strolling (‘The poet’s garden’) (F 485 / JH 1615 ). See letter 709, nn. 6 and 7. On the development and significance of this series, see Van Uitert 1983, pp. 37-41, and Dorn 1990, pp. 117-123, 378-382.

14. Vincent had previously told Theo that he wanted to capture ‘the real character of things here’ in his views of the park (letter 689).

15. See letter 698, n. 1, for this exchange with Bernard, Laval, Moret and Chamaillard.

16. In his influential book L’Art japonais (1883) Louis Gonse wrote about Japanese artists’ custom of exchanging prints known as ‘surimonos’: ‘Small sheets, drawn or engraved by members of societies of artists, poets and tea-drinkers, are called surimonos ... At New Year, the members of these societies were normally in the habit of giving each other presents. It was also good manners to make a drawing for the occasion, which one would have engraved and of which one would print a limited number of proofs for selection. In the hands of members, these proofs, called surimonos, perpetuated the memory of their periodic meetings.’ (On appelle sourimonos, de petites feuilles dessinées ou gravées par des membres de sociétés d’artistes, de poètes et de buveurs de thé ... Au retour de la nouvelle année, les membres de ces sociétés avaient généralement l’habitude de s’offrir quelque présent. Il était aussi de bon ton de composer quelque dessin de circonstance que l’on faisait graver et que l’on tirait à un nombre limité d’épreuves de choix. Ces épreuves, dites sourimonos, perpétuaient entre les mains des sociétaires le souvenir de leurs réunions périodiques.) L’art japonais. Paris 1886, p. 324. Cf. Silverman 2000, pp. 42-43.