722

Br. 1990: 727 | CL: 558a
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Arles, on or about Wednesday, 21 November 1888
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1. On 13 November Theo informed Gauguin that he had sold two of his canvases. See Correspondance Gauguin 1984, p. 280. These were Dogs running in a meadow (W282/W265), sold on 10 November 1888 to Cheret for 300 francs, and Inlet opposite the fishing port of Pont-Aven (W276/W266), sold on 12 November 1888 to Dupuis for 500 francs.
In his letter (for which Vincent thanks him here), Theo undoubtedly wrote about the sale on 13 November of a third painting by Gauguin: the ledgers of Boussod, Valadon & Cie record that on that day View of Pont-Aven was sold to Dupuis for 500 francs. This was possibly Mount Sainte-Marguerite seen from the vicinity of the presbytery, 1886 (W227/W195). See Wildenstein 2001, p. 284. Soon after this, on 4 December, Theo sold another painting by Gauguin: Breton fishermen, 1888 (W275/W262), to Léon Clapisson for 400 francs. See Wildenstein 2001, pp. 384-385.
[784]
2. De Haan was 36 years old, Isaäcson 29.
3. Theo had sent two unspecified photographs of drawings by De Haan (see letter 708). On 6 December 1888 he wrote to Willemien about De Haan: ‘His earlier work somewhat resembles Vincent’s work from Nuenen, although it does not have Vincent’s fury but instead something resigned and Rembrandtesque that is indeed worthwhile’ (FR b916).
4. For Silvestre’s Eugène Delacroix. Documents nouveaux, see letter 526, n. 2.
5. For Blanc’s Grammaire des arts du dessin, see letter 454, n. 17. Van Gogh’s reference to the ‘article on colour’ could mean either the brief explanation of the basic principles of art in ‘Du dessin et de la couleur’ (On drawing and colour), or ‘Colour being what more particularly distinguishes painting from the other arts, it is indispensable to the painter to know the laws of colour insofar as they are quintessential and absolute’ (Le coloris étant ce qui distingue plus particulièrement la peinture des autres arts, il est indispensable au peintre de connaître les lois de la couleur dans ce qu’elles ont d’essentiel et d’absolu) – ‘Principes’ (Principles) and ‘Peinture’ (Painting), chapter 5 and chapter 13, respectively. See Blanc 1870, pp. 22-26, 601-617.
6. The letter sketch Sower with setting sun (F - JH 1628) was made after the painting of the same name (F 450 / JH 1627 [2746]). There is also a smaller work of the same subject (F 451 / JH 1629), which is assumed to have preceded the no. 30 canvas. Technical examination has however shown that Van Gogh painted it afterwards. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1988, pp. 182-185, and exhib. cat. Chicago 2001, p. 217.
[2746]
7. For Bernard’s Breton women in the meadow [2236], see letter 712, n. 4.
[2236]
8. Regarding the financial arrangement, see letter 717, Date and n. 9.
9. In this period Gauguin made two paintings of washerwomen: Washerwomen on the bank of a canal, 1888 (W322/W302) (New York, The William S. Paley Collection at the Museum of Modern Art). Ill. 2263 [2263], and Washerwomen, 1888 (W325/W303) (Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes). Ill. 119 [119].
[2263] [119]
10. This lost still life is most likely depicted in part in Van Gogh’s portrait Paul Gauguin (Man in a red beret) (F 546 / JH -), in which the painter sits at his easel, on which a yellow canvas stands. See exhib. cat. Chicago 2001, p. 236 and Van Tilborgh and Hendriks 2001, p. 39. Wildenstein assumes that The little cat (W294/W321), 1888 (private collection) is a surviving fragment of the partly overpainted still life; it displays yellow and orange fruits on a yellow background. See Wildenstein 2001, p. 533.
11. On the paintings by Monticelli owned by Theo and Vincent in 1888, see letter 578, n. 5.
12. Vincent had written to Theo about the continuation of Monticelli’s work in letters 689 and 702.