1. Sunflowers in a vase (F 456 / JH 1561 [2703]) and Sunflowers in a vase (F 454 / JH 1562 [2704]).
[2703] [2704]
2. The repetitions are Sunflowers in a vase (F 455 / JH 1668 [2772]) and Sunflowers in a vase (F 458 / JH 1667 [2771]). See Van Tilborgh and Hendriks 2001, p. 22.
[2772] [2771]
3. Augustine Roulin (‘La berceuse’) (F 508 / JH 1671 [2775]); Van Gogh wrote about this canvas in letter 741.
[2775]
4. The second version is Augustine Roulin (‘La berceuse’) (F 506 / JH 1670 [2774]). See Hoermann Lister 2001, p. 72.
[2774]
5. Van Gogh had written this to Gauguin a week earlier. See letter 739.
6. Van Gogh had meanwhile finished six canvases: two of Berceuses and four of Sunflowers. These formed two triptychs: one for Theo and one for Gauguin. Van Gogh says they number ‘7 or 9’ canvases, because he intends in any case to paint another Berceuse for Holland (ll. 49-51), which would bring the total up to 7, possibly followed by two more canvases of sunflowers, giving rise to a third triptych. A few days later he did indeed have a third version of the Berceuse (see letter 745).
Whether or not Van Gogh, when mentioning the number 7, actually intended to hang the three Berceuses (B) with sunflowers (S) on either side – in the order S B S B S B S – is unclear. For another suggestion, see Dorn 1990, p. 306.
7. Vincent responds here to the question Theo put to him in mid-January about his expected expenses (see letter 736, n. 1). Perhaps Theo had brought the subject up again in his last letter.
8. Allusion to Ps. 119:105.
9. Regarding the collector and Maecenas Alfred Bruyas of Montpellier, see letter 726, n. 1.
10. During his first stay in hospital, Van Gogh had been in isolation (in a ‘cabanon’, or padded cell) for two or three days, as emerges from Dr Félix Rey’s letter of 17 March 1922 to Gustave Coquiot (FR b3282). Rey described the cell to Theo as ‘un appartement isolé’ (separate quarters) (FR b1055; Documentation, 29 December 1888).
11. Van Gogh refers to Jean Baptiste Faure’s important collection of Impressionist paintings, which included work by Manet, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro and Degas. See Distel 1989, pp. 75-78. It is not known at which framer’s shop in rue Laffitte Faure’s collection was exhibited in the years 1886-1888.
12. The harvest (F 412 / JH 1440 [2621]).
[2621]
13. The white orchard (F 403 / JH 1378 [2576]).
[2576]
14. Vincent expected that Theo, if he were to bypass the firm and deal in his brother’s art on his own, would get into trouble with his employers. For this reason he thought it better for Theo not to sell his work. See letter 721.
15. After ‘alors que’ (when), Van Gogh crossed out ‘notre oncle’ (our uncle); he later added ‘juste au moment où’ (precisely at the moment when). Here Van Gogh is referring to Uncle Cor and/or Uncle Vincent – both of whom had refused in 1886 to give Theo financial support. See letter 568, n. 2.
16. The French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 and led in 1793 to the Jacobin Reign of Terror, during which tens of thousands of people died under the guillotine.
17. The chief of police Joseph d’Ornano filed the report on 27 February 1889 (see letter 750). Gauguin described him in Avant et après as ‘the gentleman with the derby hat’ (le monsieur au chapeau melon), and drew caricatures of him in his Carnet. See Gauguin 1923, p. 22 and Gauguin 1952, pp. 22-23.
18. The agent in charge of the Yellow House was Soulè; the owner was Marie Louise Verdier; see letter 602, n. 19. There were plans to rent Van Gogh’s house to someone else; see letter 735.
19. For this quotation from Voltaire’s Candide, see letter 568, n. 3.
20. In Provence, pastoral plays were especially popular, having developed from the liturgy. In the nineteenth century they combined Christmas traditions, hymns and stereotypes patterned after life (the ‘santons’). The plot followed the story of the Nativity and was garnished with local intrigues. For the Provençal poets’ society ‘Les Félibres’, see letter 704, n. 14.
The ‘Folies arlésiennes’, where Van Gogh had seen the play, was a café-concert with a ‘salle des fêtes’ in Arles. It was located at 4 avenue Victor Hugo. See René Garagnon, ‘Odéon, Van Gogh et les Folies Arlésiennes’, Bulletin des Amis du Vieil Arles (September 1995), no. 90, pp. 14-18.
A number of pastoral plays were performed in Arles in this period. Given the dating of the letter, Van Gogh must have seen the play titled La Pastorale that was mentioned in L’Homme de Bronze of 10 February and was performed on 25, 26 and 27 January by a company from Marseille. The texts of the Provencal pastoral plays were often unpublished; the text of La Pastorale has not been traced.
Silverman assumes that Van Gogh saw the performance of Riboun: Pastouralo, Opéra coumique en 5 ate (Pastorale, a comic opera in 5 acts), performed by the theatrical company Orphéon des Alpines from Eyguières. See Silverman 2000, pp. 356-358. This pastoral play was announced in Le Forum Républicain, as well as in L’Homme de Bronze of 13 January; it is clear from both announcements that Riboun would be performed that same evening, which would mean that the present letter would date from Monday, 14 January. That is impossible, however (see Date).
21. For Maupassant’s ‘Horla’, see letter 739, n. 9.
22. The ‘St Vitus’s Dance’ is the popular name of a nervous disorder, causing convulsive movements of the arms and legs, as well as facial spasms (chorea minor). Saint Vitus was one of the fourteen saints invoked to alleviate the sufferers’ distress.
23. Regarding Berlioz and Wagner, see letter 739, n. 6.
24. For Puvis de Chavannes’s Hope [315], see letter 611, n. 11.
[315]
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