30 March
Vincent Willem van Gogh is born in Groot-Zundert, Markt 26, eldest son of the Reverend Theodorus van Gogh and Anna Cornelia van Gogh-Carbentus.
17 February
His sister Anna is born.
1 May
His brother Theo is born.
16 May
His sister Elisabeth (Lies) is born.
January-October (?)
Vincent attends the village school in Zundert.
Is taught at home by governess Anna Birnie, probably with additional lessons from his father.
16 March
His sister Willemien (Wil) is born.
1864 (1 October)-1866 (31 August)
Vincent attends Jan Provily’s boarding school for boys at Zandweg A40 in Zevenbergen.
1866 (3 September)-1868 (19 March)
Attends the Willem II high school in Tilburg. Lodges with the Hannik family, Korvel 57.
17 May
His brother Cornelis (Cor) is born.
19 March
Vincent returns home.
30 July
Is appointed junior apprentice at Goupil & Cie in The Hague, Plaats 14. His superior is H.G. Tersteeg. Lodges with Willem and Dina Roos at Lange Beestenmarkt 32 (1).
Starts collecting photographs, photo-engravings and prints sold by Goupil.
29 January
The Van Gogh family moves from Zundert to Helvoirt, where the Reverend Van Gogh has been called. They live at Torenstraat 47. Theo attends secondary school in Oisterwijk until the end of 1872.
29 September
Vincent’s (surviving) correspondence with Theo begins. Theo has just stayed with him for a few days in The Hague (1).
October
Visits the auction of books which took place from 21 to 29 October 1872 at the premises of W.P. van Stockum (1a)
Mid-August - mid-October
Visits the Salon in Brussels (4).
December
Spends Christmas in Helvoirt (3).
6 January
Theo takes a job with Goupil & Cie in Brussels, 58 rue Montagne de la Cour (FR b1896); he lodges with the Reverend Hendrik van den Brink, 5 place Sainte-Cathérine (FR b2594).
26-27 January
Vincent visits Uncle Cor, the art dealer Cornelis Marinus van Gogh, in Amsterdam. Views his collection of paintings and drawings, and goes to museums, among them the Trippenhuis (4).
15 February
Drafted for military service; the Reverend Van Gogh finds a replacement for him (FR b2604).
2 March
Sees the Dutch contribution to the upcoming World Exhibition in Vienna at the artists’ society Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam (5).
13 April
Spends Easter at home in Helvoirt. Theo is also there (FR b2616-b2617).
May
Visits the artist J.H. Weissenbruch in his studio in The Hague (125).
12 May
Leaves Helvoirt for Paris (FR b2626), where he stays for several days before his transfer to Goupil’s London branch. Visits the Goupil galleries, the Salon, the Louvre and the Musée du Luxembourg (9).
About 19 May
Starts work at Goupil & Co. in London, 17 Southampton Street, The Strand. His superior is Charles Obach. Finds lodgings in a London suburb, address unknown (9).
During his stay in London he visits the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection and the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) (131, 361, 453).
Reads poetry by Keats, Musées de la Hollande by Thoré-Bürger and Cromwell by Lamartine (12, 15, 119).
Early June
Theo moves to the Goupil & Cie building at 58 rue Montagne de la Cour, where he lodges with his superior, Tobias Schmidt (9, FR b2632).
August
Visits the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (12, 13).
End of August
Moves to 87 Hackford Road, Brixton, where he lodges with Ursula Loyer and her daughter Eugenie (13).
12 September
Views work by Belgian artists at the London International Exhibition (13).
Autumn
Reads Michelet’s L’amour (14).
October
Re-reads the poems of Longfellow (14).
12 November
Theo is transferred to Goupil’s branch in The Hague, at Plaats 14. He lodges with the Roos family at Lange Beestenmarkt 32, as Vincent had done before him (16, FR b2674).
First half of June
Vincent visits the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (23).
27 June-14 July
Stays in Helvoirt and spends a few days with Theo in The Hague (23, 25, FR b2709-b2710). His sister Anna travels back to London with him and also lodges with the Loyers.
Shortly after 10 August
He and Anna go to live with John Parker and his family at 395 Kennington Road in South London (28, FR b2715).
24 August
Anna moves to Welwyn to take up a position as a teacher (FR b2715).
26 October
Vincent is temporarily transferred to Goupil’s headquarters in Paris, 9 rue Chaptal (FR b2728).
End of December
Spends Christmas in Helvoirt, as does Theo (89, FR b2737).
January
Goes to work at the Holloway & Sons gallery at 25 Bedford Street, London, which has been taken over by Goupil’s.
January-February
Visits the Annual Winter Exhibition of Old Masters at the Royal Academy (29).
February
Compiles a scrapbook for Theo of poems and prose fragments by Heine, Uhland, Sainte-Beuve, Carlyle, Michelet and Goethe, among others.
Mid-May
Is transferred back to Goupil’s headquarters in Paris (FR b2338). Lives in a small room in Montmartre, address unknown (37). Visits the Salon (34).
30 May
Visits the Corot retrospective at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts (34).
During his stay in the French capital, he frequents the Louvre and the Musée du Luxembourg (42). Is in touch with the Dutch artist Matthijs Maris, who is also living in Paris (318, 394).
He puts together a scrapbook for Maris, with poems by Uhland, Heine and Goethe, and fairytales by Andersen in verse.
11 or 12 June
Admires drawings and pastels by Millet from the Gavet Collection at the sale exhibition held at the Hôtel Drouot (36).
25 July
Spends the day in Ville-d’Avray, where he see murals by Corot in the village church (40).
Autumn
Befriends Harry Gladwell, a fellow lodger who also works for Goupil.
18 October
The Van Gogh family moves to Etten, where the Reverend Van Gogh has been called. They live at Roosendaalseweg 4 (FR b2366).
24 December-3 January
Spends Christmas and New Year in Etten. Theo is also there (62, FR b2385, b2224).
4 January
On his return to Paris learns that Goupil is dismissing him as from 1 April (65, FR b2227).
Mid-January
Reads George Eliot’s Felix Holt, the radical (66).
February
Reads Eliot’s Scenes of clerical life(70).
1-14 April
Is in Etten. Theo joins him there on 8 April (74, FR b956).
14 April
Leaves for Ramsgate to take up a position as an assistant teacher at William Stokes’s boarding school for boys. Lodges at 11 Spencer Square.
12-17 June
Walks to London, where he stays for two days before visiting Anna in Welwyn (84).
Last week of June
Moves to Isleworth (near London), Linkfield House, 183 Twickenham Road, where Stokes has opened his new school (85, FR b2756).
Early July
Moves and takes up a position as a teacher at the school run by the Reverend Thomas Slade-Jones at Holme Court, 158 Twickenham Road, Isleworth (86).
October
Reads Souvestre’s Le philosophe sous les toits (93).
13 October
Cites poems by De Génestet, a poet he quotes from quite often in this period (94).
29 October
Delivers his first sermon at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Richmond (96).
19 November
Is appointed a volunteer worker at Slade-Jones’s Congregational Church in Turnham Green, where he preaches and teaches Sunday school. He also preaches in Petersham (98).
20 December
He and Anna travel back to Etten together from England. Theo is also there for Christmas (FR b2802-b2804).
9 January
Becomes a general assistant in the Blussé & Van Braam bookshop in Dordrecht. Lodges with the corn chandler Pieter Rijken in Tolbrugstraat A312; his fellow lodger is P. C. Görlitz (101, 102).
16 February
Visits the Dordrechts Museum with his father (FR b2507). He goes again on 25 February with Theo (103).
18 March
Vincent and Theo visit the Museum Van der Hoop in Amsterdam (108, 111).
1 April
Vincent and Theo spend Easter in Etten (FR b2519).
8-9 April
Vincent is in Zundert and Etten (110).
About 2-14 May
Is in Etten. Spends a day with Theo in The Hague, where they visit their cousin by marriage, the painter Anton Mauve (114, 137).
14 May
Moves to Amsterdam to prepare himself for his theological studies (FR b959). Is taught Latin and Greek by Maurits Mendes da Costa (120). Lives with his uncle, Jan van Gogh, director of the naval dockyard, at Grote Kattenburgerstraat 3.
August
Reads Fénelon’s Les aventures de Télémaque (125).
September
Transcribes the whole French edition of Thomas a Kempis’s De imitatione Christi and reads Bossuet’s Oraisons funèbres (129).
7 September
Visits the Trippenhuis (twice) (130).
18 September
Visits the Trippenhuis to see the etchings by Rembrandt (131).
20 September
Visits the Trippenhuis again and leaves his signature in the visitors’ book (131).
October
Reads Dickens’s A tale of two cities and Carlyle’s The French Revolution (132).
Early October
Theo is on a business trip and visits Vincent in Amsterdam (FR b2562).
End of December-7 January
Vincent is in Etten. Theo is also there for Christmas (138).
7 January
Vincent returns to Amsterdam, visiting Theo in The Hague on the way (139, FR b960).
April
Reads Michelet’s L’histoire de la Révolution française (143).
1 May
Theo is temporarily transferred to Goupil’s place de l’Opéra branch in Paris. He works at the World Exhibition and rents a room from Mrs Remilleret, 46 rue de la Tour d’Auvergne (FR b997, b2439).
5 July
Vincent returns to Etten (FR b984).
16-17 July
Travels to Brussels with his father and the Reverend Slade-Jones to discuss the possibility of his attending the Flemish training college for evangelists (145, FR b985).
26 August
Moves to Laken, Brussels, for a three-month trial period training to be an evangelist (FR b2433). Lodges with Plugge family, 6 chemin de Halage (148, FR b2446).
About 13 November
Theo returns to the Netherlands from Paris, and visits Vincent in Brussels.
Together they visit the Musée des Beaux-Arts (148).
25 November
Vincent’s trial period comes to an end. He is not accepted (FR b2446).
Early December
Leaves for Pâturages in the Borinage (Hainaut), a mining area. Lodges until the end of December with the evangelist-colporteur Benjamin Vanderhaegen, 39 rue de l’Eglise (149, FR b2452), and then with the farmer Jean-Baptiste Denis, 81 rue du Petit-Wasmes in Wasmes (151).
Mid-January
Is appointed for six months as an evangelist in the Borinage, starting on 1 February. He is to give Bible readings, teach and visit the sick (FR b2456-b2457).
June
Reads Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s cabin and Dickens’s Hard times (152, 153).
Early August
Leaves for Cuesmes, where he lodges with the evangelist-miner Edouard Joseph Francq, 5 rue du Pavillon (153). He is now mainly preoccupied with drawing.
Sends his first drawings to Tersteeg (221).
10 August
Visit from Theo (154). There is no more contact between the brothers until June 1880 as a result of a difference of opinion over Vincent’s future (155).
15-after 19 August
In Etten, where he spends his time reading Dickens (FR b2492).
About 1 November
Theo moves to Paris, where he is given a permanent position with Goupil & Cie. He again rents a room from Mrs Remilleret, 46 rue de la Tour d’Auvergne (FR b3106).
Winter
Vincent reads Hugo’s Le dernier jour d’un condamné and Shakespeare’s Henry IV and King Lear (158).
Early March
Travels on foot to Courrières in northern France and sees the studio of Jules Breton, but does not dare make himself known (158, 391).
11 March-May or June (?)
In Etten (FR b2496).
June
Theo makes a financial contribution to Vincent’s upkeep, which Vincent does not acknowledge until June (155).
July
Vincent lodges with the mine-worker Charles Decrucq, 3 rue du Pavillon in Cuesmes (155, 156).
August
Finally decides to become an artist, probably on Theo’s advice (156, 214).
Reads Cassagne, Guide de l’alphabet du dessin (158).
October
Moves to Brussels, 72 boulevard du Midi (159). On Theo’s advice pays visits to the painters Willem Roelofs and Anthon van Rappard, who are living in Brussels (160).
End of October
Sends two drawings to his father (160).
15 December
Enrols for the drawing course at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (160). It is not known whether he ever attended any lessons.
1 February
Theo is appointed manager of the Goupil branch at 19 boulevard Montmartre in Paris, and assumes responsibility for Vincent’s upkeep by sending money to his parents (FR b2235).
Mid-February
Takes drawing lessons from a painter, probably Jan Madiol (163, 164, FR b2235).
End of March - end of April
Works in Van Rappard’s studio (164).
Visits the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (164).
12-17 April
In Etten (165). Theo is also there for Easter (165, 166).
End of April
Visits the exhibition of the Société Royale Belge des Aquarellistes in the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Moves from Brussels back home to Etten (166).
Spring-Summer
Reads a number of French and English novels, among them Shirley and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Illusions perdues and Le père Goriot by Balzac, and the Goncourts’ Gavarni - l’homme et l’oeuvre (174).
Around mid-June
Van Rappard comes to stay in Etten for 12 days (168).
Last weeks of July
Theo is in Etten (170).
Summer
Falls in love with his cousin Kee Vos (Uncle Stricker’s widowed daughter), who is staying in the parsonage with the Van Gogh family. He makes a marriage proposal to her, but she turns him down (179, 180).
Re-reads Michelet’s L’amour and La femme (186).
23-25 August
Visits Mauve in The Hague. Meets Théophile de Bock and shows his studies to Johannes Bosboom.
Goes with De Bock to see the Panorama Mesdag and the sixth exhibition of the Hollandsche Teeken-Maatschappij (Dutch drawing society). Travels on to Dordrecht and visits the Schielandhuis in Rotterdam (175).
End of October
Visit from Anthon van Rappard (176, 178).
10 or 11 November
Vincent sends Theo several drawings (182).
23 November
Tells Theo he has sent Mauve a drawing (189).
24-27 November
In Amsterdam, where he visits his uncle and aunt Stricker, and tries in vain to see Kee Vos (193).
Reads Michelet, Du prêtre, de la femme, de la famille (193).
27 November-about 21 December
Stays in The Hague. Mauve gives him lessons in watercolouring and painting in oils (191, 192).
About 22 December
Back in Etten (193).
25 December
Moves to The Hague following a furious row with his father (194). From now on receives his allowance directly and solely from Theo.
1 January
Rents rooms in Schenkweg 138, where he sets up his studio (196, 198).
January
Takes lessons in drawing and watercolouring with Mauve. Joins the Pulchri Studio artists’ society in order to draw from the clothed model there (202).
End of January
Meets the pregnant ex-prostitute Sien Hoornik, who becomes his regular model (224, 228).
Mid-February
Sells a drawing to Tersteeg (205).
February-April
Is in touch with the artists Weissenbruch, De Bock, Jules van de Sande Bakhuyzen and Bernardus Blommers (204, 210, 214). Befriends George Breitner (204).
March
Reads Sensier’s La vie et l’oeuvre de J.F. Millet (210).
11-24 March
Draws 12 views of The Hague that have been commissioned by his Uncle Cor (210, 213).
Early April
Uncle Cor commissions a second series of cityscapes (214). Theo moves to 25 rue Laval in Montmartre (218, 223).
About 10 April
Sends Theo a drawing (216).
18 or 19 April
Sends Theo a drawing (218).
2 May
Sends Theo a drawing (223).
About 7 May
Sends Theo 3 drawings (224).
12 or 13 May
Sends Theo ‘two dozen’ drawings (226, 231).
27 May
Visit from Van Rappard (231).
End of May
Sends the second series of cityscapes (7 drawings) to Uncle Cor (232).
Sends Theo a drawing (233, 234).
Summer
Reads Zola’s Une page d’amour, quickly followed by Le ventre de Paris, Nana, La curée, La faute de l’abbé Mouret, Son Excellence Eugène Rougon and L’assommoir (244, 245, 250, 255, 259, 260).
1 or 2 June
Reports to Theo that his collection now comprises more than 1,000 prints, mainly from English and French illustrated magazines (234).
3 June
Sends Theo 2 drawings (235).
7 June-1 July
In the Municipal Hospital in The Hague to be treated for gonorrhoea (237, 241).
4 July
Moves to Schenkweg 136 (243, 245).
7 July
Sends his doctor a watercolour as thanks for his treatment (245).
Shortly before 9 July
Visits an exhibition of French art from private collections at the Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague (246).
15 July
Sien, her five-year-old daughter Maria and her newborn son Willem move in with him (246).
Early August
His parents move from Etten to Nuenen, to which the Reverend Van Gogh has been called. They live at De Berg F523.
About 2-4 August
Visit from Theo (252).
August
Visits the seventh exhibition of the Hollandsche Teeken-Maatschappij (256), and a showing of works from the Koninklijk Genootschap van Nederlandsche Aquarellisten (Royal Dutch Society of Watercolourists) (265 and 267).
Autumn
Reads Erckmann-Chatrian’s Les deux frères, Daudet’s Les rois en exil and Le Nabab, Hugo’s Quatre-vingt-treize and Zola’s Pot-bouille (265, 274, 286, 292)
25 September
Sends Theo a painting (269).
November
Practices lithography in the hope of finding work as an illustrator.
Sends Theo and Van Rappard impressions of his lithographs (281, 283, 284, 289).
3 January
Sends Theo 2 drawings (298).
5 or 6 January
Sends Theo 5 drawings (299, 300).
3 February
Has sent his father a drawing (306).
About 1 March
Sends Theo a watercolour (322).
About 4 March
Sends Theo a drawing (324).
About 21 March
Re-reads George Eliot’s Felix Holt, the radical (332).
Spring
Reads Eliot’s Middlemarch (316). Re-reads Carlyle’s Sartor resartus (274, 325) and Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris and Les misérables (318, 333).
Shortly before 20 May
Visit from Van Rappard (343).
About 21 May
Visits Van Rappard at his studio in Utrecht (344).
May-July
Paints with Herman van der Weele in the dunes, and works in De Bock’s studio in Scheveningen (347, 360).
About 25 July
Writes to tell Theo that all his paintings and drawings are henceforth Theo’s property (367).
August
Visits the second exhibition of work from the Koninklijk Genootschap van Nederlandsche Aquarellisten (370).
17 August
Visit from Theo (373).
Shortly before 21 August
Visit from Van Rappard (378).
23-29 August
Sends more than 20 drawings to Uncle Cor, who takes them on commission (379, 380, 384).
Early September
Decides to leave The Hague for the countryside, and ends his relationship with Sien (382, 383).
11 September
Departs for Hoogeveen, Drenthe, where he stays in Albertus Hartsuiker’s lodging-house, Grote Kerksteeg 51 (385).
24 September
Sends Theo 3 paintings (389).
October
Re-reads Carlyle’s On heroes, hero-worship and the heroic in history (395).
2 October-4 December
Stays in Nieuw-Amsterdam/Veenoord in the lodging-house run by Hendrik Scholte, E34 (392, 409).
12 or 13 November
Sends Theo 6 paintings to be shown to the art dealer E.J. van Wisselingh (406).
5 December
Goes to live with his parents once again. They are now living in Nuenen, where they had moved the previous year. (409).
7 December
Sends Theo 2 drawings (FR b2248).
Mid-December
The mangle room is turned into his studio (413).
20-24 December
Visits Van Rappard in Utrecht. Travels on to The Hague to collect drawings and studies and to see Sien (416, FR b2250).
15 January
Proposes to Theo that he accept the works he sends him as his own property. In return, Vincent will henceforth consider his monthly allowance as ‘money I’ve earned’ (422).
13 February
Sends Theo 3 paintings and 9 watercolours (429).
February-March
Transcribes poems by François Coppée and Jules Breton in letters to Theo and Van Rappard (430, 433, 435).
End of February
Sends Theo a watercolour and 5 drawings (432).
Early March
Sends Van Rappard several drawings (437).
Second week of March
Sends Theo a drawing (434).
About 13 March
Sends Van Rappard 7 drawings (437).
About 21-28 March
Sends Van Rappard 3 drawings (441).
First half of May
Rents studio space from the Catholic sacristan Johannes Schafrat at Heieind 540 in Nuenen (446).
About 17 May
Van Rappard comes to stay in Nuenen for around ten days (446, 447).
About 28 May
Sends Theo the drawings that Van Rappard has returned (447).
Spring-Summer
Reads Blanc’s Les artistes de mon temps and Grammaire des arts du dessin, architecture, sculpture, peinture, and Fromentin’s Les maîtres d’autrefois (449, 454, 450).
1 June
Theo spends Whitsun in Nuenen (449).
Summer
Has a relationship with a neighbour, Margot Begemann, who has taken over his mother’s sewing class while she is recovering from a broken leg (469).
Early August
Retired goldsmith Antoon Hermans commissions a series of paintings from him (453).
August
Gives painting lessons to Dimmen Gestel (FR b3039).
About 15-20 August
Theo is in Nuenen (453, b2256).
Mid-September-early October
Margot tries to commit suicide and is taken to a doctor in Utrecht. Vincent visits her there and thinks of marrying her (456, 458, 469, FR b2257).
Early October
Reads Zola’s Au bonheur des dames (464).
About 14 October-1 November
Van Rappard comes to stay in Nuenen (FR b2259, b2260).
Mid-November
Gives lessons in still-life painting to Hermans, Anton Kerssemakers, a tanner, and Willem van de Wakker, telegraph operator (469, 471).
26 March
The Reverend Van Gogh dies (486, 487, 488, FR b4536).
28 March-1 April
Theo is in Nuenen for the funeral, which takes place on 30 March (FR b1811, bd16).
He takes several of Vincent’s paintings back to Paris (489).
April
Vincent has read Gigoux’s Causeries sur les artistes de mon temps (492).
Second half of April
Sends impressions of his lithograph The potato eaters to Theo (494, 495).
Early May
Leaves the family home after an argument with his sister Anna and goes to live in the studio he rents from Schafrat (501).
6 May
Sends Theo his painting of The potato eaters and a dozen painted studies (500, 501).
End of May
May-June
Sends impressions of his lithograph The potato eaters to Van Rappard and Van Wisselingh (503, 509).
About 9 June
Sends Theo 14 paintings and 2 watercolours (506, 507).
29 July-7 August
Theo is in the Netherlands and visits the family in Nuenen (522, FR b889). He meets Jo Bonger in Amsterdam the day before he returns to Paris.
Early August
Vincent reads Silvestre’s Eugène Delacroix. Documents nouveaux and Bracquemond’s Du dessin et de la couleur (526).
About 21-26 August
Sends 19 paintings to Leurs, a supplier of artist’s materials in The Hague, to exhibit in his shop window (529, 530).
Sends Theo several drawings (530).
October
Reads Edmond the Goncourt’s Chérie (534).
6-8 October
Vincent and Kerssemakers go to Amsterdam for three days.
They visit the newly opened Rijksmuseum and the Fodor Collection (534).
About 10 October
Sends Theo at least 9 paintings (534).
November
Reads the Brothers Goncourt’s L’art du dix-huitième siècle (539).
24 November
Moves to Antwerp, where he rents a room at Lange Beeldekensstraat 194 (543, 544).
Takes 3 paintings, a few small studies and drawings to Antwerp (542, 545). At least 100 paintings and a mass of drawings are left behind in Nuenen.
About 25 November
Sees the mural paintings by Leys in the dining room of the artist’s house, and visits the Musée Ancien and the Musée Moderne (544).
December
Regularly visits the Musée Ancien. Sees two collections of modern art: one of paintings bought by the organizers of the Antwerp World Exhibition to be sold in a lottery at the end of the show, and another of works for general sale (547).
About 2 January
Views the recent acquisitions of the Musée Moderne (551).
10 January
Visits the Cathedral to see the paintings by Rubens (552).
18 January
Enrols in the Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten. Attends lessons in figure painting from Karel Verlat by day, and in drawing after plaster casts from François Vinck in the evenings (553).
End of January
Joins two drawing clubs in order to draw from the model in the evenings. At the end of the painting course he joins the daytime drawing class given by Eugène Siberdt (555, 557).
About 28 February
Arrives in Paris and moves in with Theo, 25 rue Laval in Montmartre (567).
Early March-early June
Works at the studio of Fernand Cormon at 104 boulevard de Clichy, where he meets John Peter Russell, Emile Bernard, Louis Anquetin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, among others (569).
30 March
Mrs Van Gogh and Willemien move to Breda, Nieuwe Ginnekenstraat 649bis.
1 May-30 June
Visits the Salon, and lists the names of 21 painters who exhibited there in his sketchbook of the period (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum).
15 May-15 June
Visits the eighth and last Impressionist exhibition (569).
Early June
Vincent and Theo move to 54 rue Lepic in Montmartre (569, FR b727).
5 June
Vincent and Theo visit the exhibition of works for sale, the Saulnier Collection in the Hôtel Drouot (668, 676).
15 June-15 July
Vincent probably visits the ‘Ve Exposition internationale de peinture et sculpture’ at the Georges Petit gallery (569).
Mid-August
Reads Maupassant’s Bel-ami (568).
About 18 August
Cites from Voltaire’s Candide, which he had probably just finished reading (568).
Mid-August-26 August
Andries Bonger stays with Vincent while Theo is away in the Netherlands (568, FR b1844).
20 August-21 September
Probably visits the ‘IIe Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants’.
September-October
Exhibits works at the shop of the colourman Julien ‘Père’ Tanguy, the galleries of the art dealers Pierre Firmin Martin and Georges Thomas, and of a fourth dealer, possibly Alphonse Portier (569, 718). Sells at least one painting to Tanguy during his time in Paris (638). Beginning of his friendship with Emile Bernard after meeting him again in Tanguy’s shop. Gets to know Louis Anquetin through Bernard. Also meets Charles Angrand (570).
November
Meets Archibald Standish Hartrick in Russell’s studio.
Autumn-Winter
Is in regular touch with Toulouse-Lautrec and attends the weekly meetings of artists in his studio.
February
Befriends the art dealer Alexander Reid.
About February-March
Organizes an exhibition of Japanese prints from his own collection at Le Tambourin, the restaurant managed by his girlfriend Agostina Segatori (640).
End of March
The studies that he had left behind and his collection of magazine illustrations are moved from Nuenen to his mother’s house in Breda (FR b909).
26 March-3 May
Probably visits the ‘IIIe Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants’.
1 May-30 June
Probably visits the Salon.
May
Is in touch with Paul Signac in Asnières.
May-June
Vincent and Theo visit the ‘VIe Exposition internationale de peinture et sculpture’ at the Georges Petit gallery (798). Visits the Millet retrospective at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts (822).
May-July
Is in touch with Camille Pissarro and his son Lucien (FR b886).
July
Exhibits a recent painting in Tanguy’s shop window (572). His relationship with Agostina Segatori is over, and there is an argument about his paintings that hang in her restaurant (571, 572).
Autumn
Works with Bernard at the latter’s studio in Asnières.
End of October
Lists contemporary French authors and books that he considers important: Zola (La joie de vivre, L’assommoir), Flaubert, Maupassant (Bel-ami), the Goncourts (Germinie Lacerteux, La fille Elisa), Richepin, Daudet and Huysmans. Has just read Maupassant’s Mont Oriol and Tolstoy’s A la recherche du bonheur (574).
November-December
Organizes an exhibition at the Grand Bouillon-Restaurant du Chalet, 43 avenue de Clichy, with work by Anquetin, Bernard, Arnold Koning, Toulouse-Lautrec and himself. He meets Georges Seurat and Paul Gauguin there. Makes regular visits to Armand Guillaumin in his studio (575).
20 November-20 December
Together with Theo visits the Puvis de Chavannes retrospective at the Durand-Ruel gallery (829).
Winter-Spring 1888
Exhibits a painting at the Théâtre Libre in Paris (592).
December
Probably visits the exhibition of work by Gauguin, Guillaumin and Camille Pissarro organized by Theo at the Boussod, Valadon & Cie gallery on the boulevard Montmartre, and probably also the exhibition of work by Anquetin, Camille Pissarro and Seurat at the offices of La Revue Indépendante.
January
Probably visits the exhibition of pastels by Edgar Degas and paintings by Gauguin organized by Theo at Boussod, Valadon & Cie.
January-February
Probably visits the exhibition of work by Angrand, Seurat and Signac at the offices of La Revue Indépendante.
19 February
Together with Theo visits Seurat’s studio to see his most recent work; a few hours later he leaves for Arles (695).
20 February
On arriving in Arles he takes a room in the hotel and restaurant Carrel, at 30 rue Amédée-Pichot (formerly rue de la Cavalerie), run by Albert Carrel and his wife Catherine (577).
In Arles visits the Musée Réattu and the antiquities museum (578).
Has read Daudet’s Aventures prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon and soon begins Tartarin sur les Alpes (578, 583).
Before 10 March
Meets the Danish painter Christian Mourier-Petersen (584).
About 21 March
Reads Maupassant’s Pierre et Jean (588).
22 March-about 3 May
Represented with three paintings at the ‘IVe Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants’ in Paris (582, 584).
15 April
Meets the American artist Dodge Macknight, who is staying in Fontvieille near Arles (598).
Mid-April
Sends 2 drawings to Theo (600).
22 April-12 May
Theo is on a working trip to Brussels (600).
End of April
Mrs Van Gogh and Willemien move to Nieuwe Haagdijk in Breda. The works that Vincent had left behind in Nuenen are put in storage with a carpenter in Breda.
1 May
Rents the east wing of the ‘Yellow House’ (2 place Lamartine), and sets up his studio there (602).
Sends around 12 drawings to Theo (602).
3 May
Visits Macknight in Fontvieille (603).
First week of May
Sends 2 drawings to Theo (594).
7 May
Takes a room in the Café de la Gare run by Joseph and Marie Ginoux, 30 place Lamartine (606).
Sends 7 drawings to Theo (605).
10 May
Sends at least 26 paintings to Theo (606, 607).
26 May
Sends several drawings to Theo (613).
29 or 30 May
Sends a drawing to Theo (617).
30 or 31 May-4 or 5 June
Visits Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (617).
About 5 June
Sends several drawings to Theo (620).
About 15 June
Meets the Belgian painter Eugène Boch through Macknight (625). Gives drawing lessons to Paul Eugène Milliet, a lieutenant in the Zouaves (628).
Sends 3 drawings to Theo (625).
15-19 June
Sends a drawing to Willemien (626).
About 19 June
Has read Loti’s Madame Chrysanthème (628).
23 June
Sends a drawing to Theo (630).
July
Reads Balzac’s César Birotteau. Decides to re-read all of Balzac’s novels (636, 637).
8 or 9 July
Is in Fontvieille (638).
About 13 July
Sends 5 drawings to Theo (639).
15-20 July
Sends 15 drawings to Bernard, and receives drawings in exchange (641, 643, 650).
Early August
Sends 12 drawings to Russell (654).
8 August
Sends several drawings to Theo (657).
17 August
Milliet brings Theo 36 paintings and a drawing by Vincent (660, 662).
9 September
Sends 2 drawings to Theo (677).
17 September
Moves into the Yellow House (682).
Early October
Theo sells a study to the Paris art dealer Bague (699).
Vincent sends 2 paintings to Bernard and Gauguin, who are in Pont-Aven, and adds another 5 for Bernard, Charles Laval, Hanri Moret and Ernest de Chamaillard (680, 698).
Sends a drawing to Theo (700).
23 October
Gauguin arrives in Arles and moves into the Yellow House (712).
End of October
16 or 17 December
Together with Gauguin visits the Musée Fabre in Montpellier (726).
23 December
Suffers his first mental breakdown. Cuts off his ear and is admitted to hospital the next day (728). His doctor is Félix Rey.
24 December
Theo travels to Arles, visits Vincent in the hospital, and returns to Paris the next day with Gauguin.
Repeatedly refers to Flaubert’s Bouvard et Pécuchet and Voltaire’s Candide (e.g. 669, 764).
5-13 January
Theo is in the Netherlands. His engagement to Jo Bonger takes place on 9 January (FR b2023, b4250).
7 January
Vincent leaves the hospital (732).
About 4 February
Suffers his second mental breakdown.
7-18 February
Returns to hospital (747).
26 February
Committed to the hospital, although a petition by his neighbours sanctioned by the mayor advised that he should be taken to an asylum (750, FR b1047).
23-24 March
Signac visits him in Arles (752, FR b640).
End of March-8 May
Remains in the hospital, but is allowed out with an escort in the daytime (753). Reads Dickens’s Christmas books, and re-reads Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s cabin (753).
30 March-19 April
Theo is in the Netherlands for his marriage to Jo on 18 April in Amsterdam (759). In Paris they move to 8 cité Pigalle.
Early May
Vincent sends at least 30 paintings and a drawing to Theo (767).
8 May
Has himself admitted to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy (769). His doctor is Théophile Peyron.
About 18 June
Sends 6 drawings to Theo (782, 790).
June-July
Re-reads Voltaire’s Zadig ou la destinée and reads Shakespeare’s history plays and Measure for measure (783, 785, 787).
2 July
Sends 11 drawings to Theo (784).
7 July
Travels to Arles with an escort to collect paintings (787, 789).
15 or 16 July
Sends 11 paintings to Theo (789).
16 or 17 July-end of August
Suffers a mental breakdown (793, 798).
September-October
Represented with two paintings at the ‘Ve Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants’.
About 20 September
Sends 8 paintings to Theo (805).
28 September
Sends 11 paintings to Theo (806).
2 November
Mrs Van Gogh and Willemien move to Leiden, Herengracht 100.
Mid-November
Visits Arles (820).
6 December
Sends Theo 7 paintings for his mother and Willemien, as well several other paintings (824).
About 18 December
Sends 3 paintings and 2 drawings to Theo (829).
About 24-30 December
Suffers a mental breakdown (833, 836). Tries to poison himself by eating paint.
3 January
Sends 11 paintings and at least 1 drawing to Theo (834).
Mid-January
Sends 2 drawings to Gauguin (840).
18 or 19 January
Visits Arles (841).
20 or 21 January-31 January
Suffers a mental breakdown (846, FR b1061).
28 January-23 February
Represented with 6 paintings at the ‘VIIe Exposition des Vingt’ in Brussels (820). The Belgian artist Anna Boch buys his painting The red vineyard (855).
31 January
Birth of Vincent Willem, the son of Theo and Jo.
22 February-about 17 March
Suffers a mental breakdown (857, FR b1062).
20 March-27 April
Represented with 10 paintings at the ‘VIe Exposition de la Société des Artistes Indépendants’ in Paris (854).
29 April
Sends at least 30 paintings to Theo (863, 867).
16 May
Leaves the asylum.
17-19 May
With Theo and Jo in Paris (FR b2012).
Visits the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (879).
20 May
Travels on to Auvers-sur-Oise, where he lodges at the Auberge Ravoux, place de la Mairie. Meets Dr Paul Gachet (873, 874).
8 June
Visit from Theo, Jo and the infant Vincent (881, FR b1853).
6 July
Pays a brief visit to Theo in Paris, and also meets the art critic Albert Aurier and Toulouse-Lautrec. Returns to Auvers the same evening.
15-18 July
Theo is in the Netherlands.
27 July
Vincent shoots himself in the chest.
28 July
Theo receives the news and travels to Auvers.
29 July
Vincent dies of his wounds with Theo by his bedside.
30 July
Is buried in Auvers.
September
Theo’s health deteriorates rapidly. He is suffering from syphilis.
9 October
Theo suffers a mental and physical collapse and is hospitalized three days later.
25 January
Theo dies in the Willem Arntszkliniek in Utrecht.
29 January
Theo is buried in Utrecht.
April
Theo’s remains are transferred to Auvers, where he is buried next to Vincent.