173 To Theo van Gogh. Etten, beginning of October 1881.

metadata

No. 173 (Brieven 1990 173, Complete Letters 151)
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Etten, beginning of October 1881

Source status

Original manuscript

Location

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b171 V/1962

Date

This letter was written before letter 174 of 12 October 1881, since Van Gogh states in that letter that he has finished seven drawings of tree-trunks along Leurseweg, whereas in this letter he reports having made only three. These corresponding motifs mean that the letter was likely written not long before 12 October – roughly speaking, from the first week of October. Nothing mentioned in the letter permits a more specific dating.

Ongoing topic

Request for Theo to send ‘Ingres paper’ (171)

Sketches

Road with pollard willows (F - / JH 48), letter sketch (no. ‘14’ in pencil)
Farmhouses on a road with trees (F - / JH 49), letter sketch (no. ‘15’ in pencil)
Digger (F - / JH 55), letter sketch (no. ‘16’ in pencil)

original text

1r:1

Waarde Theo,

Daar er weder een brief naar U toegaat zoo sluit ik een woordje in.1 Van harte hoop ik dat gij het goed maakt & eens een half uurtje zult kunnen vinden om mij weer eens te schrijven.

Ik wil U nu nog zeggen wat ik heb uitgevoerd sedert ik U het laatst geschreven heb.

Vooreerst twee groote teekeningen (krijt & iets of wat sepia) van Knotwilgen, zoo ongeveer als onderstaand schetsje.2

[sketch A]

Verder een dito maar in de hoogte van de Leursche weg.3 Dan heb ik weer een paar keer model gehad, spitter4 en mandemaker.5

En dan heb ik van Oom Cent verl. week een verfdoos gekregen die vrij goed is, zeker goed genoeg om mee te beginnen (de verf is van Paillard).6 En daar ben ik zeer blij mede.

[sketch B]

Nu heb ik dadelijk eens beproefd een soort aquarel te maken als bovenstaand motief.7

1v:2

Ik reken mij zeer gelukkig model te kunnen krijgen, ik ben ook met een paard & ezel aan ’t scharrelen.8

Vooral voor het teekenen met waterverf is dat bewuste dikke papier Ingres9 zeer goed & heel wat goedkooper dan ander.

Toch heb ik er niet bepaald haast mede want ik heb eenigen voorraad maar helaas effen wit uit den Haag medegebragt.

Enfin ge ziet ik ben druk aan den gang. Oom Cent gaat morgen naar s’Hage en zal alligt nog met Mauve eens spreken over de kwestie wanneer ik weer eens bij hem zou komen.

En nu à dieu, ik heb ver geloopen van daag & ben verbazend moe maar wilde den brief niet laten weggaan zonder iets in te sluiten.10

Heb het goed & ontvang een handdruk in gedachten.

t. à t.

Vincent.

1v:3 [sketch C]

translation

1r:1

My dear Theo,

As a letter is going to you again, I’m enclosing a word in it.1 I sincerely hope that you’re doing well and will be able to find half an hour to write to me again.

I want to tell you what I’ve done since I last wrote to you.

First of all, two large drawings (chalk and some sepia) of Pollard willows, something like the sketch below.2

[sketch A]

Also the same, but vertical, of Leurseweg.3 Then I had a model a couple of times, digger4 and basket-maker.5

And then last week I got a box of paints from Uncle Cent that is rather good, certainly good enough to start with (the paint is from Paillard).6 And I’m very glad to have it.

[sketch B]

I’ve just tried making a kind of watercolour, like the above motif.7 1v:2

I count myself very lucky to be able to get models, I’m also searching around for a horse and donkey.8

That thick Ingres paper9 is especially good for drawing with watercolour, and a great deal cheaper than other paper.

Still, there’s no particular hurry, because I have some on hand, but unfortunately plain white brought from The Hague.

Anyway, you see that I’m hard at work. Uncle Cent will be going to The Hague tomorrow and will most likely speak with Mauve again about when I should next visit him.

And now adieu, have walked far today and am surprisingly tired, but didn’t want the letter to leave without enclosing something.10

I wish you well, and accept a handshake in thought.

Ever yours,

Vincent.

1v:3

[sketch C]

notes

1. The enclosed letter from Mr and Mrs van Gogh is no longer extant.

2. Drawings similar to letter sketch A are not known.

3. This drawing of a pollard willow is not known.

4. Because the letter closes with a sketch of a digger (letter sketch C), Van Gogh must be referring to the corresponding drawing: Digger (F 866 / JH 54 ). See cat. Amsterdam 1996, pp. 96-98, cat. no. 21.

5. There are no known drawings of basket-makers.

6. Jacques Michel Paillard was a paint dealer and manufacturer in Paris; his shop was located at Faubourg St Denis 132 (Almanach du commerce de Paris 1886 and AP, Listes électorales, 9e arrondissement; Calepins du cadastre).

7. There is no known watercolour displaying a composition comparable to that of letter sketch B (Farmhouses on the road with trees).

8. The only drawing made in Etten in which one of these animals occurs is Donkey and cart (F SD1677 / JH 52), though it is uncertain whether that drawing dates from this time. Van Heugten dates the drawing to October 1881 but leaves open the possibility of a dating to c. May 1881 (cat. Amsterdam 1996, pp. 93-95, cat. no. 20).

9. The thicker kind of ‘Ingres paper’, which he had bought at Stam’s (see letter 171).

10. This could refer either to the letter (which Van Gogh enclosed with one from their parents (l. 2) or to the sketches he sent, which Theo subsequently commented upon (cf. letter 175).