Critics of the old guard, such as Carel Vosmaer, strongly objected to such articles, opposing both the modern ideas they expressed and the impressionistic use of language. Henri Borel fulminated: ‘The Nieuwe Gids men are nasty, offensive people, who write about things that are done but never spoken of. They invent only crazy words. They speak of blue sounds and yellow tones. It’s incomprehensible. One should simply write Dutch. It’s all nonsense. They are eccentric, only in order to draw attention to themselves. They’re revolting. They don’t know their own language. They’re clowns. They’re imitators of Zola and write only about foul things.’ See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1991; Fusien Bijl de Vroe, De Schilder Jan Veth 1864-1925. Chroniqueur van een bewogen tijdperk. Amsterdam and Brussels 1987; Nop Maas, ‘Nevel en wind. Enkele reacties op De Nieuwe Gids oktober 1885 - mei 1886’, Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde te Leiden, 1983-1984. Leiden 1985, pp. 13-27 (quotations on pp. 20, 13-14).

Theo was not enthusiastic about Gauguin’s recent paintings, as evidenced by a long letter from Gauguin to Theo, written on 20 or 21 November 1889, in which he speaks of ‘the storm raised by my last canvases’ and after giving a detailed explanation of the meaning of his art, remarks: ‘Do you have better news of Vincent? I’m sorry he isn’t sometimes there near you, to give you a little guidance on painting. You hear too many different opinions’. (Avez-vous de meilleures nouvelles de Vincent. Je regrette qu’il ne soit pas là quelquefois près de vous pour vous guider un peu dans la peinture. Vous entendez trop de voix différentes). See Gauguin lettres 1983, pp. 148-175 (quotation on p. 175; GAC 22).