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570 To Charles Angrand. Paris, Monday, 25 October 1886.

metadata
No. 570 (Brieven 1990 573, Complete Letters -)
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Charles Angrand
Date: Paris, Monday, 25 October 1886

Source status
Facsimile in exhib. cat. Paris 1988, pp. 377-378.

Location
Unknown.

Date
Date of postmark: Monday, 25 October 1886.

Additional
The envelope of this letter has survived. The value of the postage stamp is not known. On the front is the postmark ‘PARIS 67 PL. DES ABBESSES 3h|25 OCT 86’. The address reads: ‘Monsieur Angrand/ Artiste Peintre/ au Collège Chaptal/ Boulevard des Batignolles/ E/V’.

original text
 1r:1
54 Rue Lepic

Monsieur,
J’ai parlé à M. Boggs de l’entrevue que j’ai eue avec vous1 et si vous aimeriez à faire un échange avec lui2 allez-y hardiment parceque vous verrez de belles choses chez lui3 et il sera très content de faire votre connaissance.
Moi-même je me recommande aussi pour un échange.4 J’ai justement 2 vues du Moulin de la galette dont je pourrais disposer.5
Esperant donc vous voir un de ces jours je vous serre la main.

b. à v.
Vincent

Allez donc aussi voir mon frère (Goupil & Cie 19 Boulevard Montmartre), il a dans ce moment un très beau de Gas.6 J’ai encore revu chez Tanguy votre jeune fille aux poules,7 c’est justement cette étude-là que j’aimerais bien à vous échanger. Ci-inclus une carte de mon frère,8 si vous ne le trouviez pas là vous pourriez donc toujours monter voir les tableaux.
 2r:2
translation
 1r:1
54 rue Lepic

Dear Sir,
I’ve spoken to Mr Boggs about the meeting I had with you1 and if you would like to do an exchange with him2 be bold about it, because you’ll see fine things at his place3 and he’ll be very pleased to make your acquaintance.
I also propose myself for an exchange.4 I happen to have 2 views of the Moulin de la Galette that I could spare.5
Hoping to see you one of these days, then, I shake your hand.

Yours truly,
Vincent

Do go and see my brother too (Goupil & Cie, 19 boulevard Montmartre), he has a very fine Degas at the moment.6 At Tanguy’s I had another look at your young girl with hens,7 that’s just the study I’d like to exchange with you. Enclosed, one of my brother’s cards,8 if you didn’t find him there you could always go up and look at the paintings.
 2r:2
notes
1. The meeting between Van Gogh and the painter Charles Angrand supposedly took place ‘in the café opposite the Chaptal, Boulevard des Batignolles’ (i.e., the Collège Chaptal, where Angrand held a teaching position); see François Lespinasse, Charles Angrand 1854-1926. S.l. 1982, pp. 26-27.
2. This exchange did not take place. See Welsh-Ovcharov 1971, pp. 37-39.
3. In 1886 Boggs had his studio in boulevard de Clichy. See Arsène Alexandre, Frank Boggs. Paris 1929, p. 47.
4. This exchange did not take place. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1999, p. 161.
5. ‘Moulin de la Galette’ refers to the part of Montmartre where there were three windmills: the Moulin de Blute-Fin, the Moulin Radet and the Moulin à Poivre. Van Gogh had finished several works in which one or more of these mills can be seen. He may have had two of the following four in mind for the exchange: The Moulin de la Galette (F 227 / JH 1170), The Moulin de la Galette (F 228/ JH 1171), The Moulin de Blute-Fin (F 274 / JH 1115) and The Moulin de Blute-Fin (F 273 / JH 1116). The latter two are signed. In the event, the exchange with Angrand did not go ahead.
6. We do not know which work by Degas Theo had in the gallery at this time. See Thomson in exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1999, p. 107.
7. Charles Angrand, Dans la basse-cour (Feeding the chickens), 1884 (Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek). Ill. 497 . Angrand later mentioned this proposed exchange to Gustave Coquiot. See Verzamelde brieven 1973, vol. 3, p. 173.
8. This business card of Theo’s (Boussod, Valadon & Cie) was still with the letter in 1961 according to a letter from John Rewald to V.W. van Gogh, New York, 15 December 1961 (Van Gogh Museum, Documentation).