1. The enclosed letter from Gauguin is letter 817.

2. For Gauguin’s Be in love, you will be happy , see letter 817, n. 13.

3. Emile Bernard, The annunciation, 1889 (private collection). Ill. 2309 . See Luthi 1982, pp. 36-37, cat. no. 216; exhib. cat. Mannheim 1990, pp. 209-213, cat. no. 62.

4. Emile Bernard, Christ in the Garden of Olives, 1889 (present whereabouts unknown). Ill. 2 .

5. Orchard in blossom with a view of Arles (F 516 / JH 1685 ).

6. This was letter 818 from Octave Maus.

7. Theo had written in letter 792 that Maus had come to see Vincent’s paintings. Theo must be referring to the orchard paintings from the spring of 1888, because those from 1889 had not yet arrived in Paris when Maus visited.

8. Theo had written in letter 813 that Theo van Rijsselberghe had seen Vincent’s canvases at Tanguy’s.

9. Joseph Roulin (F 436 / JH 1675 ). See letter 774, n. 3.

10. Theo must be referring to Sunflowers in a vase (F 454 / JH 1562 ) and Sunflowers in a vase (F 456 / JH 1561 ), which Vincent thought suitable to be exhibited (see, for example, letter 741).

a. Read: ‘cimaise’.

11. For the artists invited to participate, see letter 792, n. 8. In the end, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Albert Bartholomé and Louis Forain did not exhibit any work.

12. Irises (F 608 / JH 1691 ).

13. On 14 November 1889, Theo thanked Pissarro and his wife for their efforts: ‘Thank you for being so willing to take the trouble to see if there isn’t a boarding-house to be found where my brother would be comfortable, and Mrs Pissarro is most kind to take an interest in it too. It seems to me that if he could stay at Auvers, near this doctor of whom you’ve spoken, that would be excellent’. (Je vous remercie de ce que vous voulez bien vous donner la peine de voir s’il n’y a pas une pension à trouver où mon frère serait bien et madame Pissarro est bien aimable de s’en occuper aussi. Il me semble que s’il pouvait rester à Auvers, près de ce médecin dont vous m’avez parlé, cela serait excellent). Pissarro must have been reluctant to confront his children with the unstable Van Gogh. See Jampoller 1986, p. 57 and Correspondance Pissarro 1980-1991, vol. 2, p. 299 (n. 2).