1r:1
My dear brother
I hope that Gauguin will also completely reassure you a little regarding painting matters.
I expect to start work again soon.
The charwoman and my friend Roulin had taken care of the house, put everything in good order.1
When I come out I’ll be able to continue on my way here again, and soon the fine days will come and I’ll start on the orchards in blossom again.2
I am, my dear brother, so heartbroken by your journey, I would have wished that you’d been spared that, for all in all no harm has come to me, and it wasn’t worth  1v:2 troubling you.
I can’t tell you how much it delights me that you’ve made peace and even more than that with the Bongers. Say so on my behalf to André, and give him a very cordial handshake from me.3
What wouldn’t I have given for you to see Arles in fine weather, now you have seen it when it’s dark.
However, be of good heart, send the letters directly to me, 2, place Lamartine. I’ll send Gauguin the paintings of his that are still at the house as soon as he wishes. We owe him the money he spent on the furniture.4
Handshake, I must go back to the hospital again, but shortly I’ll leave for good.

Ever yours,
Vincent

Also write a line to Mother on my behalf, so that no one will be worried.5

729

Br. 1990: 734 | CL: 566
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Arles, Friday, 4 January 1889
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1. Van Gogh was home again for the first time in two weeks, in the company of Roulin, who informed Theo that he and Vincent had spent four hours in the Yellow House. Roulin went on to write: ‘he is as meek as a lamb’ (il est doux comme un agneau) (FR b1068). The charwoman was Thérèse Balmoissière.
2. In March-April 1888 Van Gogh had made a series of paintings of orchards in blossom; see letter 600, n. 7.
3. In the second half of 1887, Theo and Andries Bonger had drifted apart, since the latter wanted nothing to do with the bohemian artists with whom Theo associated since Vincent’s arrival in Paris. See Brief happiness 1999, pp. 20-21. Andries’s wife, Annie, may also have played a role in their estrangement.
4. Gauguin had bought ‘a chest of drawers’ and ‘various household utensils’ for the Yellow House; see letter 717.
5. Theo must have informed their mother straightaway of Vincent’s condition, because she already answered his letter on 29 December from Leiden (FR b2425). This remarkable letter from Mrs van Gogh was published in its entirety, along with an English translation, in Jansen et al. 2003-2. Vincent also wrote to his mother; see letter 733.