795 Jo van Gogh-Bonger to Vincent van Gogh. Paris, Friday, 16 August 1889.

metadata

No. 795 (Brieven 1990 796, Complete Letters T15)
From: Jo van Gogh-Bonger
To: Vincent van Gogh
Date: Paris, Friday, 16 August 1889

Source status

Original manuscript

Location

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b742 V/1962

Date

Letter headed: ‘Parijs 16 Augustus’.

Ongoing topics

Cor’s departure for South Africa (784)

Jo’s pregnancy (786)

First attack in Saint-Rémy (793)

original text

1r:1

Parijs 16 Augustus

Beste Vincent,

Je brief voor Cor hebben we ontvangen en hem van morgen overhandigd want hij is al vroeg, om 6 uur hier aangekomen.1 We vinden het toch zoo prettig dat hij nog zijn reis naar Southampton over Parijs heeft kunnen nemen – naar alle waarschijnlijkheid is het toch voor langen tijd, dat hij weggaat en ’t zou Theo vooral erg gespeten hebben als hij hem niet nog eens gezien had. We zijn al 1v:2 dadelijk van morgen begonnen hem de stad te laten zien, van de Place de l’Etoile tot de place de la Bastille en hij was er erg over verrukt–.2

Theo was wel een beetje te leur gesteld dat er voor hem geen lettertje bij was – toe schrijf je hem gauw eens – al is ’t maar één woordje – we zijn zoo verlangend van je zelf te hooren, hoe het je gaat en hopen zoo van harte dat je je gauw weer beter zult voelen. Je weet niet hoe dikwijls er aan 1v:3 je gedacht en over je gesproken wordt. Moe schreef ook, dat zij weer naar een brief van je verlangde – weet je wat Cor me van morgen van haar meebracht – een paar allerliefste kleine sokjes voor ons jongentje – (want ik blijf er toch maar bij, dat het een jongentje zal zijn – al lach je er me om uit!).

Als je kunt laat je Theo dan gauw iets van je hooren – hij verlangt er zoo naar. In gedachten een hartelijken handdruk van

Je liefhebbende

Theo is gelukkig weer in orde.

translation

1r:1

Paris 16 August

Dear Vincent,

We received your letter for Cor and gave it to him this morning because he arrived here very early, at 6 o’clock.1 We’re so pleased that he was able to break his journey to Southampton in Paris — in all likelihood he’ll be away for a long time, and Theo, in particular, would have been very sorry if he hadn’t seen him again. We started 1v:2 showing him the city straightaway this morning, from place de l’Etoile to place de la Bastille, and he was thrilled with it.2

Theo was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a note for him in it — do write to him soon — even if it’s just one little word — we’re so longing to hear how you are from you yourself, and hope so sincerely that you’ll soon feel better again. You don’t know how often 1v:3 you are thought about and spoken of. Ma wrote, too, that she was longing for another letter from you — do you know what Cor brought me from her this morning? — a pair of the sweetest little socks for our little boy (for I still insist that it will be a little boy — even if you mock me for it!).

Do let Theo hear something from you soon if you can — he so longs for it. A warm handshake in thought from

Your loving

Happily, Theo is well again.

notes

1. Before his departure Cor spent ‘nearly a week’ with Theo and Jo in Paris, arriving there on 15 August 1889 (FR b4292). Aunt Cornelie had given him 500 guilders to travel to Southampton via Paris (FR b4292). Cor had written a letter to Vincent from Breda (FR b2408).

2. Jo wrote in more detail to Willemien about Cor’s visit: ‘It was so very nice to have him here, and the time flew by; at first he liked Paris enough to live here, but in the end he changed his mind – something I can easily understand – I can imagine Cor as a stalwart Transvaler on horseback, with a couple of pistols tucked under his belt, but not as a dandy parading down the boulevards. On Monday we spent a delightful morning together. Theo treated us to an open carriage (which Cor loved as much as I did), then we went briefly to see the Magasin du Louvre, then along the Seine to Sainte Chapelle and the Palais de Justice, afterwards to Notre-Dame – Jardin du Luxembourg, where we couldn’t feast our eyes enough on the magnificent flowers, and then across the place du Carousel and on home. When neither Theo nor I could go along, Isaäcson was his travelling companion, and he spent the whole of the last day with him. They only went out in the morning, to see Napoleon’s grave, since Cor preferred to spend the afternoon at home. Theo came home around two o’clock, and so we could sit together pleasantly until dinner time and – then the time to say good-bye had come ... [Vincent] wrote that he had received such nice letters from home – he also wrote an extremely warm-hearted letter to Cor before his departure’ (FR b944, 23 August 1889).