1. The Lançon sale is the auction of the estate of the artist, who had died in 1885: Tableaux, dessins, aquarelles, sculptures et eaux-fortes. Oeuvres de Auguste Lançon, Paris (Hôtel Drouot), 5-6 March 1888 (Lugt 1938-1987, no. 47131). No information about Lançon’s mistress has been found.
2. Adolphe Willette, known for his illustrations for the Montmartre magazines, Le Chat Noir and Le Courrier Français, had a retrospective of drawings and paintings in Paris in 1888. The exhibition, which was held at Tripp et Cie’s gallery, opened on 20 February. See Adolphe Willette. Catalogue tableaux et dessins. Paris (34 rue de Provence) 1888, and La Revue Indépendante (March 1888), no. 17 (vol. 7), p. 481.
3. Wilhelm i, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, died on 9 March.
4. It was feared that Wilhelm i’s death could be the spark that detonated a political time bomb which had been ticking for years: since France’s defeat at German hands in the war of 1870-1871, there had been a cold war between the two countries that threatened to escalate at any time. When the Kaiser died his son was already so seriously ill that he was only given a few months to live. In his turn he would be succeeded by his son Wilhelm ii. There was considerable fear that he would initiate a war. The Kaiser’s death also increased the risk of a Russian attack on Germany because of a conflict over the Balkans. People were convinced that France would support the Russians were it to come to a confrontation.
5. It has not been possible to trace Van Gogh’s source of this news. In 1883 the USA had raised import duties on works of art from 10 to 30 percent, which had an adverse impact on French artists. Evidently there was a discussion about reduction or abolition, but it was not until 1892 that the rate was lowered to 15 percent. See Fidell-Beaufort 2000, p. 103.
6. Van Gogh described Degas, Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Camille Pissarro as ‘Impressionists of the Grand Boulevard’ because their reputations were already established and their work was exhibited by renowned galleries like Boussod, Valadon & Cie, Durand-Ruel and Georges Petit, which were in or near the chic boulevards around place de l’Opéra. Van Gogh saw opportunities for an association of these artists with the younger generation of artists of the ‘Petit Boulevard’, among whom he counted Guillaumin, Seurat and Gauguin, as well as Bernard, Anquetin, Angrand, Toulouse-Lautrec, Signac, Lucien Pissarro and himself. By ‘Petit Boulevard’ he was referring to the neighbourhood around boulevard de Clichy and boulevard de Rochechouart in Montmartre, where the younger men had their studios and exhibited in cafés. See Richard Thomson, ‘The cultural geography of the Petit Boulevard’, in exhib. cat. Saint Louis 2001, pp. 65-108, esp. 66.
It emerges from letter 625 that the Van Gogh brothers had already made plans for a society of this kind in the winter before Vincent’s departure – each artist would hand over fifty paintings. Van Gogh set himself the goal of having his share of fifty paintings ready by the following year. He refers to this number again in letters 625, 626 and 631.
7. These were most probably The Gleize bridge with washerwomen (F 396 / JH 1367 [2570]) and Avenue of plane trees (F 398 / JH 1366 [2569]), which are painted on coarse canvas (see letter 583) and are mentioned in letter 585. Pollard willows with setting sun (F 572 / JH 1597 [2727]) is also a possibility. Cf. for the new dating of March 1888 for this last work: cat. Otterlo 2003, pp. 202-205.
[2570] [2569] [2727]
8. At the Pillet sale in Paris (Hôtel Drouot, 2 and 3 March 1888; Lugt 1938-1987, no. 47127) Theo had bought a drawing by Georges Seurat for 16 francs; it was Woman singing in a café-chantant, 1887 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 424 [424]. See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1999, p. 179.
It emerges from a letter from Lucien Pissarro to his father Camille of 12 March 1888 that Theo was not at the sale in person, but got Emile Bernard to buy the drawing for him: ‘he had young Bernard buy the drawing that Seurat had put in the sale, it fetched very little, because you know how stingy he is, he wasn’t there, otherwise I would have gone back to chat to him and find out the price’ (il a fait acheter par le petit Bernard le dessin que Seurat y avait mis, il a été payé tres bon marché, car tu sais comme il est chien, il n’y était pas sans quoi je serai rentré pour bavarder avec lui et en apprende le prix). See Letters of Pissarro 1993, pp. 105-106.
[424]
9. No exchange between Van Gogh and Seurat ever took place.
10. The Danish painter Christian Vilhelm Mourier-Petersen was in Arles from about 10 October 1887 to around 22 May 1888, apart from a brief stay in Martigues at the end of March 1888. On 16 March 1888 he wrote about meeting Van Gogh: ‘Initially I considered him to be mad, but by and by I note that there is method in it. He knows the friends of Jastrau: McKnight, Russell etc. – but at the moment I can’t remember his name: Van Prut or something of the kind.’ See Larsson 1993, pp. 14, 26.
11. Van Gogh must be referring here to the last Impressionist exhibition, which had run from 15 May to 15 June 1886 in a gallery in rue Laffitte. It included work by Degas, Guillaumin, Gauguin, Seurat and Camille Pissarro. See exhib. cat. Paris 1886-2.
12. Mourier-Petersen went to Paris around 22 May. The Salon in 1888 ran from 1 May to mid-July. He stayed in Paris for almost three months, and then spent November and December 1888 in the Netherlands. See Larsson 1993, p. 29.
13. Piles of French novels and roses in a glass (‘Romans parisiens’) (F 359 / JH 1332 [2556]). See for the other two works by Van Gogh at this exhibition: letter 582, n. 9.
[2556]
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