1. See for the expression ‘le rayon noir’ (the black ray), derived from Victor Hugo’s Quatre-vingt-treize: letter 388, n. 22.

2. Van Gogh fell passionately in love with his cousin Kee Vos in the summer of 1881; see letters 179 ff.

3. See for this expression letter 154, n. 7.

a. Means: ‘ik weersta je’ (I stand up to you).

4. See for this quotation from Proudhon quoted in Michelet’s La femme: letter 181, n. 8.

5. Probably an allusion to a dictum by David Friedrich Strauss on Ernest Renan: See Pierre Mille, Anthologies des humoristes Français contemporains. Paris 1920, p. 50.

b. Read: ‘Waarop’ (when).

c. Means: ‘hij dringt hier op aan’ (he insists on it).

d. Means: ‘flink, krachtig’ (strong, powerful).

6. ‘Vivre tout haut’ (live to the full) is taken from Zola, see letter 400, n. 5.