147 To Theo van Gogh. Etten, Thursday, 15 August 1878.

metadata

No. 147 (Brieven 1990 146, Complete Letters 125)
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Etten, Thursday, 15 August 1878

Source status

Original manuscript

Location

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b145 V/1962

Date

Letter headed: ‘Etten 15 Aug 1878’.

Ongoing topics

Anna van Gogh and Joan van Houten register their banns (146)

Aunt Cornelie van Gogh-Carbentus’s illness (146)

original text

1r:1

Etten 15 Aug. 1878

Waarde Theo,

Een enkel woordje sluit ik nog bij Pa en Moe in1 om U nog even goeden morgen te zeggen. Het regent buiten en dat doet het dezer dagen veel, met storm erbij. Toen Anna en Joan zijn aangeteekend was het een aardigen dag. Anna ziet er nu terwijl Joan hier is heel wat opgeruimder en beter uit dan voor dien tijd.2 Zij denken voor hun huwelijksreisje een togt door Belgie te doen. eerst n. Brussel en vandaar denkelijk naar het zuiden, Luik of Chaudfontaine of de grot van Han. Schreef aan D^s de Jonge dat ik bereid was om dadelijk n. Brussel te komen als werk of pligt mij er riepen, maar dat als er geene gegronde reden bestond waarom het wenschelijk zou kunnen geacht worden dat ik er nu reeds heen ging ik nog gaarne (om reden van Annas trouwen) een week hier zou blijven om alsdan vóór Zondag 25 Aug. over te komen.3

1v:2

Zeer nieuwsgierig ben ik of de tentoonstelling van schilderijen aldaar dan nog open zal zijn,4 zeer gaarne zou ik die zien.

Het is maar zeer treurig te Prinsenhage, Tante lijdt veel, en allen zijn zeer bezorgd over haar.

Ik verlang naar een woordje van U, hoop U wat uitvoeriger te schrijven zoodra ik te Brussel zal zijn, ook over de tentoonstelling als die ten minste nog niet gesloten is.

Groet Braat & Soek voor mij als gij hen ziet en Ernest. A dieu, heb het zoo goed mogelijk, er gaat geen dag om of er wordt over U gesproken. Schrijf maar weer eens spoedig, en ontvang in gedachten een hartelijken handdruk van

uw liefh. broer

Vincent

in haast.

translation

1r:1

Etten, 15 Aug. 1878

My dear Theo,

I’m enclosing a few words with Pa and Ma’s letter1 to bid you good morning. It’s raining outside and has done so a lot lately, with strong winds too. It was nice the day Anna and Joan registered their banns. Now that Joan is here, Anna looks a lot more cheerful and better than before.2 For their honeymoon they’re thinking of making a journey through Belgium, first to Brussels and from there probably south to Liège or Chaudfontaine or the cave in Han. Wrote and told the Rev. De Jonge that I was ready to come to Brussels straightaway if work or duty should call me, but that if there were no sound reasons that made it desirable for me to go there now, I’d like to stay here another week (because of Anna’s wedding), coming in that case before Sunday, 25 Aug.3 1v:2

I’m very curious to know whether the exhibition of paintings there will still be open,4 I should so much like to see it.

Things are very sad at Princenhage, Aunt suffers a lot, and they’re all very worried about her.

I long for a word from you, hope to write to you in more detail as soon as I’m in Brussels, also about the exhibition, at least if it isn’t over yet.

Give my regards to Braat and Soek, if you see them, and Ernest. Adieu, I wish you the very best, not a day goes by that we don’t speak of you. Do write again soon, and accept a hearty handshake in thought from

Your loving brother

Vincent

In haste.

notes

1. The enclosed letters from Mr and Mrs van Gogh have both survived (FR b990 and b996). Nine days later Mrs van Gogh wrote again to Theo; her letter betrays her anxiety about Vincent’s future: ‘How will things turn out for Vincent? We watch him go with trepidation. His ideas about everyday life are so unhealthy that it seems to me he won’t be able to teach people; may things turn out better than expected. He travels there on Monday’ (FR b2433, 24 August 1878).

2. Although Anna was cheered by the situation, her relations with Vincent did not improve. She wrote to thank Theo for the ‘splendid prints’ he had sent, and spoke plainly of Vincent’s stubbornness: ‘Vincent is more of a wooden lion than ever and is very annoyed at the preparations. For Pa and Ma’s sake I hope so much that this thing in Belgium will succeed, but I fear that his extreme obstinacy and lack of human understanding won’t do him much good in his new situation’ (FR b989, 13 August 1878). Her characterization of Vincent as a ‘wooden lion’ probably refers to her brother’s lofty inaccessibility.

3. Anna and Joan were married on 22 August 1878; Vincent originally planned to leave for Brussels on the 24th, according to a letter written by Mr van Gogh to Theo: ‘Vincent will leave next Saturday. May he have the good fortune to succeed there.’ Mrs van Gogh wrote the following about him in the same letter: ‘He is more withdrawn than ever, no doubt because he is concentrating hard on writing his sermons, which he is stocking up on’ (FR b991, 21 August 1878). The caves of Han, a tourist attraction, are in Han-sur-Lesse in the Ardennes. In the end he left on Monday 26 August (FR b2433).

4. This quite possibly refers to the Brussels Salon, which lasted from 5 September to 15 October. See Exposition générale des Beaux-Arts 1878. Catalogue explicatif. Brussels 1878, pp. 11, 23.