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813 Theo van Gogh to Vincent van Gogh. Paris, Tuesday, 22 October 1889.

metadata
No. 813 (Brieven 1990 815, Complete Letters T19)
From: Theo van Gogh
To: Vincent van Gogh
Date: Paris, Tuesday, 22 October 1889

Source status
Original manuscript

Location
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b746 V/1962

Date
Letter headed: ‘le 22 Oct_ 1889’.

Ongoing topics
Entry for the 1889 Indépendants exhibition (732)
Vincent considers settling in Auvers and putting himself in the care of Dr Gachet (808)
Jo’s pregnancy (786)
Cor’s departure for South Africa (784)

original text
 1r:1
le 22 Oct. 1889

Mon cher Vincent,
Sous ce pli tu trouveras fr 150.– pour Mr Peyron1 & pour ton voyage à Arles. J’avais dit dans mes lettres à Mr Peyron qu’il devait me dire s’il avait eu des frais supplémentaires, il n’en a jamais parlé. Demandes lui donc, si tu veux, de m’indiquer s’il lui est dû quelque chose chaque fois quand il m’accuse réception de ma lettre mensuelle, alors cela ne monte pas. J’espère que tu vas  1r:2 toujours bien & que tu as bonne chance avec le travail. J’ai eu plusieurs personnes pour voir tes tableaux. Le fils Israëls,2 qui habite Paris pendant quelque temps, Veth, un hollandais qui fait des portraits & qui écrit dans le Nieuwe Gids, ce journal dont tu as peut être entendu parler, qui indigne tant les gens,3 mais où il paraît souvent de bonnes choses & puis van Rijsselberghe, un des Vingtistes de Bruxelles,4 ce dernier a vu aussi tout ce qu’il y a chez Tangui & tes travaux semblent l’intéresser beaucoup. En Belgique ils sont déjà plus habitués à la peinture colorée, l’exposition des 20 a fait du bien à cela, malgré cela on n’y achète rien. L’exposition des Indépendants est  1v:3 terminé & j’ai de retour tes iris;5 c’est une de tes bonnes choses. Je trouve que tu es le plus fort en faisant des choses vraies, comme cela, ou comme la diligence de Tarascon,6 ou la tête d’enfant,7 ou le sous bois avec le lierre, en hauteur.8 La forme est si bien arêtée et l’ensemble est plein de couleur. Je sens bien ce qui te préoccupe dans les nouvelles toiles comme le village au clair de lune9 ou les montagnes10 mais je trouve que le recherche du style enlève au sentiment vrai des choses. Dans le dernier envoi de Gauguin il y a les mêmes préoccupations que chez toi, mais chez lui il y a beaucoup plus de souvenirs  1v:4 des Japonais, des Egyptiens etc. Quant à moi j’aime mieux voir une bretonne du pays qu’une bretonne avec les gestes d’une japonaise, mais en art il n’y a pas de limites, il est donc bien permis de faire comme on l’entend.11 Guillaumin a été en Auvergne cet été dont il a rapporté quelques bonnes toiles.12 Lui il ne cherche pas beaucoup de nouveau dans la coloration. Il se contente de ce qu’il a trouvé et on retrouve toujours ses mêmes taches roses, orangés & bleus violets, mais sa touche est vigoureuse & sa vue sur la nature est bien large. Pissarro est parti13 & doit s’occuper de ce bravhomme à Auvers.14 J’espère qu’il réussira & qu’au printemps prochain sinon plus tôt tu viennes nous voir. Jo se porte bien, elle grossit considérablement et sent déja vivre l’enfant, mais cela ne lui cause pas trop de désagréments. La mère nous a envoyé une lettre de Cor. il est arrivé à Johannesberg. C’est un pays bien sauvage où il faut se promener toute la journée avec un révolver. Il n’y a pas de plantes, rien que du sable. sauf dans des endroits qui sont comme des oasis. Il faut que ma lettre parte. Jo te dit bien bonjour. Reçois une bonne poignée de mains et

t.t.
Theo

translation
 1r:1
22 October 1889

My dear Vincent,
Enclosed you’ll find 150 francs – for Mr Peyron1 and for your journey to Arles. I had said in my letters to Mr Peyron that he ought to tell me if he’d had additional expenses, he has never spoken of them. Ask him then, if you will, to tell me if anything is owing to him each time he acknowledges receipt of my monthly letter, then it doesn’t mount up. I hope that you’re  1r:2 still well and that you have good luck with work. I’ve had several people to see your paintings. Israëls’ son,2 who has been living in Paris for a while, Veth, a Dutchman who does portraits and who writes in De Nieuwe Gids, that journal you’ve perhaps heard about that makes people so indignant3 but in which good things often appear, and then Van Rijsselberghe, one of the Vingtistes from Brussels,4 the latter also saw everything there is at Tanguy’s, and your works seem to interest him a great deal. In Belgium they’re already more accustomed to brightly coloured painting, the Vingtistes’ exhibition did a lot of good in that respect, despite the fact that nobody’s buying anything there. The Independents’ exhibition is  1v:3 finished and I have your irises5 back; it’s one of your good things. I consider that you’re strongest when you’re doing real things, like that, or like the Tarascon diligence,6 or the child’s head,7 or the upright undergrowth with the ivy.8 The form is so well defined and the whole is full of colour. I clearly sense what preoccupies you in the new canvases like the village in the moonlight9 or the mountains,10 but I feel that the search for style takes away the real sentiment of things. In Gauguin’s last consignment there are the same preoccupations as with you, but with him there are a lot more memories  1v:4 of the Japanese, the Egyptians etc. As for me, I prefer to see a local Breton woman than a Breton woman with the gestures of a Japanese woman, but in art there are no limits, so it’s quite permissible to do as one sees it.11 Guillaumin was in Auvergne this summer, from where he brought back some good canvases.12 He doesn’t search for much that’s new in the coloration. He’s content with what he’s found, and one always finds his same pink, orange and violet blue patches again, but his touch is vigorous and his view of nature is quite broad. Pissarro has left13 and will be busying himself with that worthy fellow in Auvers.14 I hope that he’ll succeed, and that next spring, if not sooner, you’ll come to see us. Jo is well, she’s getting considerably bigger and can already feel the child quickening, but that doesn’t cause her too much inconvenience. Mother sent us a letter from Cor. He has arrived in Johannesburg. It’s a very wild country where you have to walk around with a revolver all day. There are no plants, nothing but sand. Except in places that are like oases. My letter must go off. Jo sends her warm regards. Accept a good handshake, and

Ever yours,
Theo
notes
1. Vincent owed Dr Peyron 125 francs; see letter 808.
2. The painter Isaac Israëls, the son of Jozef Israëls, spent five weeks in Paris in September-October 1889. See Isaac Israëls. Hollands Impressionist. Saskia de Bodt et. al. Exhib. cat. Rotterdam (Kunsthal), 1999-2000. Schiedam and Rotterdam 1999, p. 15.
3. The painter and art critic Jan Pieter Veth had close ties to writers and artists associated with the modern Dutch magazine De Nieuwe Gids. His polemical articles were aimed at the older generation of critics and the prevailing artistic norms. His opinion of an art work was based on the feelings it aroused in him.
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).
4. Regarding the artists’ society Les Vingt, see letter 580, n. 6. Theo van Rijsselberghe had been part of Les Vingt since its founding in 1883.
5. Irises (F 608 / JH 1691 ).
6. The Tarascon stagecoach (F 478a / JH 1605 ).
7. Marcelle Roulin (F 441 / JH 1641). This version was in Theo’s possession; see letter 774, n. 5.
8. Trees with ivy in the garden of the asylum (F 609 / JH 1693 ). The designation ‘upright’ is meant to distinguish it from the paintings of ivy in horizontal format, of which Theo had in any case already received Trees with ivy in the garden of the asylum (F 746 / JH 1762 ); see letter 806.
9. Starry night (F 612 / JH 1731 ).
10. The Alpilles with a hut (F 622 / JH 1766 ). Van Gogh gave it the title ‘the mountain’ (see letter 805).
11. Gauguin had probably sent his consignment of paintings shortly before leaving Pont-Aven for Le Pouldu on 2 October. It certainly contained The green Christ (Breton Calvary) (W328) and possibly Young Breton (W316), The yellow Christ (W327), Nude Breton boy (W339), Swineherdess (W354) and Breton boy tending geese (W367). See Gauguin lettres 1983, p. 147 (n. 4).
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).
12. In the spring Guillaumin had left for Agay on the Mediterranean, and had travelled from there to Pontgibaud in the Auvergne, where his wife’s family lived. In the nearby village of Peschadoire he painted a number of landscapes. See Armand Guillaumin 1841-1927: un maître de l’Impressionnisme français. François Daulte. Exhib. cat. Lausanne (Fondation de l’Hermitage). Lausanne 1996, p. 72.
13. Pissarro had probably travelled on 10 October 1889 from Paris to Eragny-par-Gisors; this can be inferred from a letter he wrote to his son Georges on 9 October 1889. See Correspondance Pissarro 1980-1991, vol. 2, p. 304.
14. Dr Paul Gachet.