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816 To Theo van Gogh. Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, on or about Sunday, 3 November 1889.

metadata
No. 816 (Brieven 1990 818, Complete Letters 613)
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, on or about Sunday, 3 November 1889

Source status
Original manuscript

Location
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b661 V/1962

Date
The painting described in ll. 21-22, Rain(F 650 / JH 1839), was probably made during the heavy rainfall on 31 October 1889 (see Hendriks and Van Tilborgh 2001, p. 155). Moreover, Van Gogh writes ‘At home they’ll have moved by now’ (l. 71); that move took place on Saturday, 2 November. Taking this into account, we have dated the letter to about Sunday, 3 November 1889.

Additional
The order for paints that Van Gogh enclosed in this letter has not been preserved.

Ongoing topics
Mrs van Gogh and Willemien’s move to Leiden (798)
Vincent has paintings intended for his mother and Willemien (803)
Third consignment of paintings from Saint-Rémy (806)

original text
 1r:1
Mon cher Theo,
Ci inclus je t’envoie une liste de couleurs qu’il me faudrait encore le plus tôt possible.
Tu m’as fait un bien grand plaisir en m’envoyant ces Millet,1 j’y travaille avec zèle. À force de ne jamais rien voir d’artistique je m’avachissais et cela me ranime. J’ai fini la Veillée2 et ai en train les bêcheurs3 et l’homme qui met sa veste,4 toiles de 30, et le semeur plus petit.5 La Veillée est dans une gamme de violets et lilas tendres avec lumière de la lampe citron pâle puis la lueur orangée du feu et l’homme en ocre rouge. Tu verras cela.– il me semble que faire de la peinture d’après ces dessins de Millet soit les traduire dans une autre langue bien plutôt que de les copier. A part cela j’ai un effet de pluie6 en train et un effet de soir avec des grands pins.7
 1v:2
Et aussi une chûte des feuilles.8
La santé va fort bien – sauf souvent beaucoup de mélancolie cependant – mais je me sens bien bien mieux que cet été et même mieux que lorsque je venais ici et même mieux qu’à Paris. Aussi pour le travail les idées deviennent à ce qu’il me parait plus fermes. Mais alors je ne sais trop si tu aimeras ce que je fais maintenant. Car malgré ce que tu dis dans ta lettre précédente, que la recherche du style fait souvent du tort à d’autres qualités,9 le fait est que je me sens beaucoup poussé à chercher du style si tu veux mais j’entends par là un dessin plus mâle et plus volontaire. Si cela me fera davantage ressembler à Bernard ou Gauguin je n’y pourrais rien. Mais suis porté à croire qu’à la longue tu t’y ferais.
 1v:3
Car oui, il faut sentir l’ensemble d’une contrée – n’est ce pas là ce qui distingue un Cézanne d’autre chôse. Et Guillaumin que tu cites, lui en a tant de style et de dessin personnel. Enfin je ferai comme je pourrai.
À present que la plupart des feuilles sont tombées le paysage ressemble davantage au nord et alors je sens bien que si je revenais dans le Nord j’y verrais plus clair qu’auparavant.
La santé est une grande chôse et beaucoup depend de là aussi quant au travail.
Heureusement ces abominables cauchemars ne me tourmentent plus.
J’espère aller à Arles de ces jours ci.
Je voudrais bien que Jo voie la veillée, je crois que je te ferai un envoi sous peu mais cela sèche fort mal à cause de l’humidité de l’atelier. Ici il n’y a guère de cave ou de fondements dans les maisons et on sent l’humidité davantage que dans le nord.
A la maison on aura démenagé, je joindrai au prochain envoi 6 toiles pour eux.10 Est ce necessaire de les faire encadrer, peut être pas car cela n’en vaut pas la peine. Surtout ne fais pas encadrer les etudes que je t’envoie de temps en temps, on pourra le faire plus tard, inutile que cela prenne trop de place.
 1r:4
J’ai aussi fait une toile pour m. Peyron, une vue de la maison avec un grand pin.11
J’espère que ta santé et celle de Jo continuent à aller bien.
J’en suis si heureux que tu ne sois plus seul et que tout soit plus normal qu’auparavant.
Est ce que Gauguin est de retour, et que fait Bernard?12
à bientôt, je te serre bien la main à toi, à Jo, aux amis et crois moi

t. à t.
Vincent

Je cherche autant que possible à simplifier la liste des couleurs13 – ainsi c’est tres souvent que j’emploie comme autrefois les ocres.
Je sais bien que les études dessinées avec de grandes lignes sinueuses du dernier envoi n’etaient pas ce que cela doit devenir, pourtant j’ose t’engager à croire que dans le paysage on continuera à chercher à masser les chôses par le moyen d’un dessin qui cherche à exprimer l’enchevêtrement des masses. Ainsi te rappelles tu le paysage de Delacroix, la lutte de Jacob avec l’ange.–14 Et il y en a d’autres de lui! par ex. les falaises15 et justement les fleurs dont tu parles quelquefois.–16 Bernard a reellement trouvé des choses parfaites là-dedans. Enfin ne prends pas trop vite un parti pris contre.
Enfin tu verras que dans un grand paysage avec des pins, des troncs ocre rouge arretés par un trait noir,17 il y a déjà davantage de caractère que dans les precedents.18

translation
 1r:1
My dear Theo,
Enclosed I’m sending you a list of colours I need as soon as possible.
You gave me very great pleasure by sending me those Millets,1 I’m working on them zealously. I was growing flabby by dint of never seeing anything artistic, and this revives me. I’ve finished The evening2 and am working on The diggers3 and the man who’s putting his jacket on,4 no. 30 canvases, and The sower, smaller.5 The evening is in a range of violets and soft lilacs, with light from the lamp pale citron, then the orange glow of the fire and the man in red ochre. You will see it. It seems to me that doing painting after these Millet drawings is much rather to translate them into another language than to copy them. Apart from that I have a rain effect6 on the go, and an evening effect with tall pines.7  1v:2
And also a leaf-fall.8
My health is very good – except often a lot of melancholy however – but I feel much much better than when I came here, and even better than in Paris. Also, as for the work the ideas are becoming firmer, it seems to me. But then I don’t quite know if you’d like what I’m doing now. For despite what you say in your previous letter, that the search for style often harms other qualities,9 the fact is that I feel myself greatly driven to seek style, if you like, but I mean by that a more manly and more deliberate drawing. If that will make me more like Bernard or Gauguin, I can’t do anything about it. But am inclined to believe that in the long run you’d get used to it.  1v:3
For yes, one must feel the wholeness of a country – isn’t that what distinguishes a Cézanne from something else. And Guillaumin, whom you mention, he has so much style and a personal way of drawing. Anyway, I’ll do as I can.
Now that most of the leaves have fallen the landscape looks more like the north, and then I really feel that if I went back to the north I would see it more clearly than before.
Health is a big thing, and a lot depends on it, as regards work too.
Fortunately those abominable nightmares no longer torment me.
I hope to go to Arles in the next few days.
I’d very much like Jo to see The evening, I think that I’ll send you a consignment shortly, but it’s drying very badly because of the dampness of the studio. Here the houses have scarcely any cellar or foundations, and one feels the damp more than in the north.
At home they’ll have moved by now, I’ll add 6 canvases for them to the next consignment.10 Is it necessary to have them framed, perhaps not, for it isn’t worth it. Above all, don’t frame the studies I send you from time to time, that can be done later, pointless for them to take up too much room.  1r:4
I’ve also done a canvas for Mr Peyron, a view of the house with a tall pine tree.11
I hope that your health and Jo’s continue to be good.
I’m so happy that you’re no longer alone, and that everything’s more normal than before.
Is Gauguin back, and what’s Bernard doing?12
More soon, I shake your hand firmly, and Jo’s, and our friends’, and believe me

Ever yours,
Vincent

I’m trying to simplify the list of colours as much as possible13 – thus I very often use the ochres as in the old days.
I know very well that the studies drawn with long, sinuous lines from the last consignment weren’t what they ought to become, however I dare urge you to believe that in landscapes one will continue to mass things by means of a drawing style that seeks to express the entanglement of the masses. Thus, do you remember Delacroix’s landscape, Jacob’s struggle with the angel?14 And there are others of his! For example the cliffs,15 and the very flowers you speak of sometimes.16 Bernard really has found perfect things in there. Anyway, don’t be too swift to adopt a prejudice against it.
Anyway, you’ll see that there’s already more character in a large landscape with pines, red ochre trunks defined by a black line17 than in the previous ones.18
notes
1. Theo had sent Vincent prints after Millet’s Diggers , The sower , Winter: The plain of Chailly and The four times of the day ; see letter 805, nn. 7-10.
2. Evening (after Millet) (F 647 / JH 1834 ), after the print Evening in the series The four times of the day.
3. Diggers (after Millet) (F 648 / JH 1833 ).
4. The end of the day (after Millet) (F 649 / JH 1835 ), after the print The end of the day in the series The four times of the day.
5. Sower (after Millet) (F 689 / JH 1836 ). The canvas measures 64 x 55 cm (no. 15 canvas), the other three works were no. 30 canvases (72 x 92 cm). The second version, mentioned in letter 850 of 1 February 1890, was F 690 / JH 1837 . See exhib. cat. Paris 1998, p. 123 and Homburg 1996, pp. 91-92. For another interpretation, see cat. Otterlo 2003, pp. 338-339.
6. Rain (F 650 / JH 1839 ).
7. This refers to the same painting mentioned in ll. 113-115: The garden of the asylum (F 660 / JH 1849 ). See Hendriks and Van Tilborgh 2001, pp. 155-156.
8. The garden of the asylum (‘Leaf-fall’) (F 651 / JH 1844 ).
9. Theo wrote this in letter 813.
10. Van Gogh had promised his mother and Willemien seven paintings; see letter 811.
11. View of the asylum with a pine tree (F 653 / JH 1840 ). According to De la Faille 1970, the canvas was in the possession of Dr Joseph Peyron (this should be Théophile Peyron).
12. Gauguin had been with De Haan in Le Pouldu since 2 October, and would not return to Paris until 8 February 1890. See Gauguin lettres 1983, p. 137, and letter 852. Bernard was in Paris from September to December 1889. See exhib. cat. Mannheim 1990, pp. 98-99.
13. This refers to the order placed in ll. 1*-3, which is no longer extant.
14. Eugène Delacroix, Jacob wrestling with the angel, 1855-1861, a mural in the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. Ill. 71 .
15. It cannot be ascertained which work or works by Delacroix Van Gogh is referring to here. Two paintings are known with the title Cliffs: the panel Cliffs near Fécamp, 1854? (present whereabouts unknown) and the painting Cliffs at Etretat: the Porte d’Aval, 1849? (present whereabouts unknown). See Johnson 1981-1989, vol. 3, pp. 256, 293-294, cat. nos. 488, L210.
16. Theo had written about Delacroix’s flower studies (see letter 781, n. 1).
17. The garden of the asylum (F 660 / JH 1849 ) measures 73 x 92.5 cm. See Hendriks and Van Tilborgh 2001, p. 155.
18. ‘The previous ones’ refer to the ‘studies drawn with long, sinuous lines’ (ll. 100 ff.) from the previous consignment of paintings (regarding this consignment, see letter 806). Vincent is presumably reacting here to Theo’s cautious criticism (voiced in letter 813) of the new canvases, such as Starry night (F 612 / JH 1731 ) and The Alpilles with a hut (F 622 / JH 1766 ). ‘The previous ones’ was previously thought to refer to the paintings Trees in the garden of the asylum (F 642 / JH 1798 ) and Pine trees in the garden of the asylum (F 643 / JH 1799 ), described in letter 810. See Hendriks and Van Tilborgh 2001, p. 155 (n. 84).