1. This was letter 824.

2. Theo is referring here to letter 823.

3. Edouard Manet, In the garden, 1870 (Shelburne, Vermont, The Shelburne Museum). Ill. 228 .

4. Trees with ivy in the garden of the asylum (F 609 / JH 1693 ).

5. Sunflowers in a vase (F 454 / JH 1562 ) and Sunflowers in a vase (F 456 / JH 1561 ). Van Gogh had framed these works himself with strips of wood; see letter 776, n. 6.

6. The other works that Van Gogh eventually exhibited were Orchard in blossom with a view of Arles (F 516 / JH 1685 ), Wheatfield at sunrise (F 737 / JH 1862 ) and The red vineyard (F 495 / JH 1626 ).

7. This resulted in the publication Adolphe Monticelli. Paris (Boussod, Valadon & Cie) 1890, which appeared in June of that year. The large-format album contains lithographs by Auguste Lauzet after twenty paintings by Monticelli, as well as two portraits of the artist, a ‘biographical and critical study’ by Paul Guigou and ‘an introductory poem’ by Fernand Mazade. Lauzet included two works from the collection of the Van Gogh brothers: no. 4 The Italian girl and no. 15 Woman at a well (both Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 309 and 2306 . For this publication, see Sheon 2000.

8. A technique frequently employed by Louis Marvy is that of ‘crayon-manner etching’ with a ‘soft varnish’ (vernis mou) whereby it seems as though the lithographed etchings have been worked up in pencil. This last term was recorded below a number of prints he made in the 1840s. For this technique, see André Béguin, Dictionnaire technique de l’estampe. Paris 1998, pp. 102-104.

9. Luc le Flaneur (the pseudonym of Albert Aurier), ‘En quête de choses d’art’, Le Moderniste Illustré 2 (13 April 1889), p. 14. Aurier was the editor-in-chief of this weekly magazine. He writes: ‘Do you know Tanguy? Yes or no? 14 rue Clauzel; an ugly-looking shop, and so small! But with little caskets, fine ointments. Go in and you’ll see treasures out of the Arabian Nights... This père Tanguy, what an astute spotter of masterpieces! How good he’s been at discovering today’s unknowns, tomorrow’s masters!... But let’s go in with no more ado... Look, here are some incomparable marvels by Cézanne! Look, here are some canvases by Vincent, extraordinarily fiery, intense, sunny’. (Connaissez-vous Tanguy? Oui, non. Rue Clauzel, 14; vilaine boutique et si petite! mais aux petites boëtes, les bons onguents. Entrez et vous verrez des trésors mille-et-une-nuitesques... Ce père Tanguy, quel fin dénicheur de chefs-d’oeuvre! Comme il a su les découvrir les méconnus d’aujourd’hui, les maîtres de demain!... Mais entrons sans plus tarder... Tenez, voici d’incomparables merveilles de Cézane! tenez, voici des toiles de Vincent, formidables de fougue, d’intensité, d’ensoleillement).

10. Theo later added ‘& nous ... souvent’.