2. The decoration for the dining room of Marie Henry’s inn at Le Pouldu (Brittany) was a collaborative effort by Gauguin, De Haan, Paul Sérusier and Charles Filiger. For the decorative programme, see Welsh 1989 and Gauguin’s Nirvana: painters at Le Pouldu, 1889-1890. Ed. E. M. Zafran. Hartford and London 2001, pp. 61-101.

3. The window in the dining room, which Gauguin and De Haan painted with rustic motifs in oil paint, has not been preserved. Maxime Maufra recalled a decoration with white geese and blue and yellow ornaments, ‘imitating stained glass’. See Maxime Maufra, ‘Souvenirs de Pont-Aven et du Pouldu’, Bulletin des amis du Musée de Rennes. Numéro spécial “Pont-Aven”. Rennes 1978, p. 24.

a. Read: ‘Haan’.

4. De Haan’s fresco, transferred to canvas, is Breton women scutching flax: Labour, 1889 (private collection). Ill. 2295

. The sketch Gauguin made after it is not known. It emerges from Meijer de Haan’s letter of 13 December 1889 to Theo that Gauguin also wrote an ‘explanation of the colours’ on the sketch. De Haan, who remarks that Gauguin is very pleased with the mural, describes it as follows: ‘it is a depiction titled Labour, Pouldu at the height of the harvest, with many figures 1.25 metres high, the whole is 3 by 2 and I finished such a thing very quickly. Also 5 large, detailed still lifes. So that this little room looks truly cosy, since we’ve decorated all the walls with ornaments in character and style’ (FR b1319).

5. Paul Gauguin, Joan of Arc, 1889 (W329) (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 2296

6. The two portraits are Self-portrait, 1889 (W323) (Washington, National Gallery of Art (Chester Dale Collection)), Ill. 2145

, and Meijer de Haan, 1889 (W317) (private collection). Ill. 2146

7. Gauguin’s previous letter contained a description and a sketch of this painting, Christ in the Garden of Olives . See letter 817, n. 10.

8. In 1889 Gauguin made several paintings of this subject, such as Breton girls in front of the sea (W340) (Tokyo, Museum of Western Art) and Cowherdess (W344) (Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek).

9. Paul Gauguin, Women collecting kelp ii, 1889 (W349) (Essen, Museum Folkwang). Ill. 111

b. Read: ‘Trophime’.

10. In a letter to Theo, Vincent compared this Romanesque portal to ‘a Chinese nightmare’. See letter 588, n. 8.

11. For Meijer de Haan’s Uriel Acosta , see letter 708, n. 2. Van Gogh had sent his letter to Isaäcson in care of Theo on about 8 October (see letter 810); apparently Isaäcson, who was staying in Paris, had sent it on to De Haan in Le Pouldu.

12. There is no known drawing by Van Gogh after Rembrandt. It is possible that Gauguin was mistaken, and that Van Gogh had suggested exchanging his painting Angel (after ‘Rembrandt’) (F 624 / JH 1778) for one of Gauguin’s works. Gauguin had written earlier about a reproduction of an angel by Rembrandt, of which Van Gogh had a copy (letter 817).