1. Van Gogh sent three drawings of approx. 49 x 61 cm and five of approx. 24 x 32 cm; see nn. 3-10.
2. See letter 656, n. 9, for De Lemud’s lithographs.
3. Garden with flowers (F 1456 / JH 1537 [2685]).
[2685]
4. Garden of a bathhouse (F 1457 / JH 1539 [2687]). The bathhouse has not been identified. There are two listed in the Arles address books – at 18 rue du Grand-Prieuré and 38 rue de Vers (L’indicateur marseillais 1888). The latter was closer to Van Gogh’s house in place Lamartine – moreover, the architecture in rue du Grand-Prieuré does not resemble that in Van Gogh’s drawing. See cat. Amsterdam 2007, pp. 153-157, cat. no. 345.
[2687]
5. Garden with flowers (F 1455 / JH 1512 [2669]). Van Gogh made two paintings of this garden: Garden with flowers (F 430 / JH 1510 [2668]) and Garden with flowers (F 429 / JH 1513 [2670]).
[2669] [2668] [2670]
6. See letter 578, n. 4, for Monticelli’s Vase of flowers [306].
[306]
7. Arles seen from the wheatfields (F 1492 / JH 1544 [2691]).
[2691]
8. Newly mown lawn with weeping tree (F 1451 / JH 1545 [2692]).
[2692]
9. Sower with setting sun (F 1441 / JH 1543 [2690]).
[2690]
10. Fishing boats at sea (F 1430b / JH 1541 [2688]) and Fishing boats at sea (F 1431 / JH 1542 [2689]).
[2688] [2689]
11. These paintings are Arles seen from the wheatfields (F 545 / JH 1477 [2650]), Newly mown lawn with a weeping tree (F 428 / JH 1499 [0]), Sower with setting sun (F 422 / JH 1470 [2646]), Fishing boats at sea (F 417 / JH 1453 [2633]) and Fishing boats at sea (F 415 / JH 1452 [2632]).
[2650] [0] [2646] [2633] [2632]
12. Ernest Quost was known for his paintings of flower gardens, and Georges Jeannin for his flower still lifes. Van Gogh believed that Quost was the ultimate exponent of the hollyhock, while Jeannin reigned supreme with the peony.
13. We do not know who accompanied Van Gogh on this excursion around the farms; it may have been the vet who had to break a previous engagement; see letter 629, n. 14, and letter 636.
14. Van Gogh had also criticized the way Macknight and Boch treated the local people in letter 650.
15. For the boarding house where Gauguin was staying, see letter 581, n. 5.
16. Voltaire’s coffee-drinking must have been legendary: in an early-nineteenth-century illustrated advertisement, ‘Le Roi du Café’ has Voltaire’s head. The story that he drank fifty cups of coffee a day was quoted by the King of Prussia in 1778 in his Eloge funèbre for the writer. Voltaire himself once said ‘coffee revives me’ (le café me ranime), and his love of it assumed impressive proportions in his correspondence. See Inventaire Voltaire. Sous la direction de Jean Goulemot et al. Révision générale par André Magnan. Paris 1995, p. 185. Nothing is known about Voltaire’s staying in the south of France.
17. The pimp Van Gogh is referring to is Monsieur Kangourou, who was the go-between in the marriage between the two protagonists in Madame Chrysanthème. This character is extremely subservient, as is evident from his entrance into the story in chapter 3 of the novel (p. 65). Van Gogh must have derived the phrase ‘of a surprising courtesy’ (d’une surprenante obligeance) from the description of one of the minor characters in the book, a French friend in Madame Chrysanthème’s circle. Among other things he is referred to as ‘the friend of a surprising height’ (l’ami d’une surprenante hauteur) (see Loti 1990, pp. 118, 218).
On ‘sugared peppers’ and ‘salted sweets’ Loti writes: ‘sparrow mince, a stuffed shrimp, seaweed in sauce, a salted sweet, a sugared pepper’ (un hachis de moineau, une crevette farcie, une algue en sauce, un bonbon salé, un piment sucré) (p. 113). Although he describes ‘strange icy and snowy drinks, tasting of perfume or flowers’ (des boissons étranges à la neige et à la glace, ayant goût de parfums ou de fleurs) (p. 98) and ‘funny little water-ices, flavoured with flowers’ (des petits sorbets drôles, parfumés aux fleurs) (p. 160), there is no mention of ‘fried ices’ (glaces frites); Van Gogh must have dreamt them up for himself.
18. Van Gogh’s neighbours, François Damase Crévoulin and Marguerite Crévoulin-Favier ran a grocer’s shop in the left-hand side of the building at 2 place Lamartine. Crévoulin was the first signatory – and probably the author – of the petition against Van Gogh in February 1889. His wife’s statement about Van Gogh’s alleged indecent behaviour was included in the official report drawn up in response to the petition. See letter 750, nn. 2 and 3.
The ‘Buteaux’ relates to the violent peasant couple in Zola’s La terre (1887). Buteau and his wife Lise are boorish people with coarse features, who are only out for their own gain. When the father divides his land between his three children, Buteau – as the youngest – gets the worst piece. He refuses to accept this and will not be satisfied until he gets his hands on the lot. Greed and self-interest drive him and his wife to murder and rape. Cf. Sund 1992, p. 174.
19. In a letter to Theo of 5 August 1888 Koning wrote: ‘how’s Vincent doing? I wrote him a long letter a while back and would like to hear from him’ (FR b1079). Contrary to what Vincent thought, Koning never went back to France. See exhib. cat. Barneveld 1981.
20. For Cassagne’s Guide de l’alphabet du dessin see letter 214, n. 2. Vincent had asked Theo to buy the book in letter 630; see further nn. 9 and 10 to that letter.
21. Seated Zouave (F 424 / JH 1488 [2657]). The other four figure studies are: Zouave (F 423 / JH 1486 [2655]), Mousmé (F 431 / JH 1519 [2671]), Joseph Roulin (F 432 / JH 1522 [2672]) and Joseph Roulin (F 433 / JH 1524 [2673]).
[2657] [2655] [2671] [2672] [2673]
22. See letter 663 for this new batch of sketches.
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