2. Emile Bernard included the sonnet ‘A feu Joseph Delorme’ in Le voyage de l’être. Poèmes d’évolution:

In winter, have neither a sou nor a flower,

To freeze under the roof, on the sixth floor;

To drown your pillow in your tears

While crying that you suffer and you love.

Never to see her: as you burn,

To long for her with love’s keenest desire,

Resigned to decent stratagems

To bring the problem to an end.

To stay within doors, closely penned up, alone;

To waste, to die, to turn a deathly pale,

Or see the snow, that dismal sign,

Cast o’er the earth a shroud;

To muse that it’s for you, perhaps…

– ’Twere better had you not been born.

1887

(L’hiver, n’avoir ni sou, ni fleurs,

Glacer sous le toit, au sixième;

Noyer son oreiller de pleurs

En criant qu’on souffre et qu’on aime.

Ne la voir jamais: plein d’ardeurs

La désirer d’amour extrême,

Et se résoudre à des pudeurs

Pour la conclusion du problème.

Rester chez-soi, bien claustré, seul;

Maigrir, mourir, devenir blême...

Ou voir la neige, sombre emblême,

Jeter sur la terre un linceul;

Songer qu’il est pour soi, peut-être...

– Mieux aurait valu ne pas naître.

1887)

See Bernard 1898, p. 36.

3. In a letter to his parents of 26 April 1888 Bernard wrote that he had found Van Gogh’s letter on his arrival in Saint-Briac on Wednesday, 25 April. He used his reaction as an argument for pursuing his poetic ambitions. ‘On arriving I found a very interesting letter from Vincent which I read and re-read to divert myself, because with the wind that’s blowing, the rain and the cold, the countryside, although very wild, is still really dreary.

Vincent congratulates me on my decision about Algeria, and tells me that he will perhaps also go to see me there himself. He advises me to build myself up before going for my service, which I also believe very necessary, although my constitution is not as strong as it looks.

In short, he’s a very good friend, very sincere, and all his southern exuberance expresses itself (in a northerner) in a deep sincerity. But (there’s always a but), he blows up too quickly over unimportant things.

He has spoken to me a lot about the lines of verse I sent him, and says, “it’s not as good as your painting, but you must definitely continue with sonnets. There are many pals who think it’s bad to write. Well! I say that it’s just as interesting to paint with words as with a brush. So continue”’. (En arrivant j’ai trouvé une lettre de Vincent très intéressante que j’ai lue et relue pour me distraire car avec le vent qu’il fait, la pluie et le froid, le pays quoique très sauvage est encore bien triste.

Vincent me félicite de ma décision pour l’Algérie et me dit que lui-même ira peut-être aussi pour m’y voir. Il me donne le conseil de me fortifier avant d’aller au service, ce que je crois aussi très nécessaire quoique je sois d’une constitution moins gaillarde que j’en ai l’air.

C’est en somme un très bon ami, très sincère et toute son exubérance méridionale se traduit (en homme du nord) par une profonde sincérité. Seulement, (il y a toujours un seulement), il s’emporte trop vite pour des choses insignificantes.

Il m’a parlé beaucoup des vers que je lui ai envoyés et me dit “ce n’est pas si bien que ta peinture, mais il faut sûrement continuer les sonnets. Il y a beaucoup de copains qui croient qu’écrire est mauvais. Eh bien! Moi je dis qu’il est aussi intéressant de peindre avec la parole qu’avec le pinceau. Continue donc”). See Harscoët-Maire 1997, pp. 162-163. According to Gauguin, one of Van Gogh’s favourite sayings was ‘stone will perish, the word will remain’ (la pierre périra, la parole restera). See Pickvance 1992, p. 133.

4. The letter sketch – Vincent also sent one to Theo (letter 600) – is based on Orchard with pear trees in blossom (F 406 / JH 1399

5. In letter 597 to Theo, written about a week earlier, Vincent gave more details about his series of nine orchards. They were The pink orchard (F 555 / JH 1380

), The pink peach tree (F 404 / JH 1391

), The white orchard (F 403 / JH 1378

), Small pear tree in blossom (F 405 / JH 1394

), Orchard with apricot trees in blossom (F 553 / JH 1387

), Orchard with apricot trees in blossom (F 556 / JH 1383

), Orchard bordered by cypresses (F 513 / JH 1389

), Orchard with peach trees in blossom (F 551 / JH 1396

) and probably Orchard (F 552 / JH 1381

) or a study of a cherry tree. Van Gogh had meanwhile spoiled that one, as he writes a little later in the letter, so the ninth work here must be his new painting, Orchard with pear trees in blossom (F 406 / JH 1399

), or Orchard (F 552 / JH 1381

). In letter 600 to Theo written the next day he refers to ten orchards.

a. This should be read as ‘coi’ (quiet). The slip of the pen may have been due to the context; ‘coït’ means ‘intercourse’.

6. ‘Make a lot of noise’ (Faire beaucoup de bruit) is an allusion to the Provençal battle-cry that features several times in Alphonse Daudet’s Tartarin sur les Alpes (1885). It first appears in chapter 7: ‘That terrible war-cry in the Tarascon dialect: “Fen dé brut!...let’s make a noise…”.’ (‘Ce terrible cri de guerre en patois tarasconnais: “Fen dé brut!... faisons du bruit...”’). See Daudet 1986-1994, vol. 3, pp. 614 (quotation); 626 (chapter 8) and 635 (chapter 10). See for Tartarin: letter 583, n. 9.