1. The reference is too general to allow us to determine which drawing of a plaster cast this is. The discus thrower (F 1364e / JH 1080) dates from this period.

2. See for this clash with Siberdt: letter 563.

3. The third exhibition of Les Vingt, which ran from 6 February to 7 March 1886 in Brussels, where several Impressionists exhibited, Monet and Renoir among them, was the initial introduction of Impressionism in Belgium. See for this exhibition: Susan Marie Canning, A history and critical review of the Salons of Les Vingt, 1884-1893. Diss. The Pennsylvania State University 1980, pp. 98-136; and exhib. cat. Brussels 1993, p. 30.

4. See for the competitions: letter 557, n. 3.

5. On this crisis, see letter 556, n. 1.

6. The World Exhibition, which ran in Antwerp from 2 May to 2 November 1885, may indeed have been ‘a product of the economic crisis’, but contrary to what Van Gogh asserts, it was a financial and artistic success. See exhib. cat. Antwerp 1993, p. 133.