1. Wheatfield at sunrise (F 737 / JH 1862 ).

2. The bedroom (F 482 / JH 1608 ) and The bedroom (F 484 / JH 1771 ).

3. In mentioning ‘the last one’, Theo is referring to the repetition of the bedroom: The bedroom (F 484 / JH 1771 ).

4. Lauzet was working on the edition of lithographs Adolphe Monticelli; see letter 825, n. 7.

5. Vincent and Theo owned five works by Monticelli; see letter 578, n. 5.

6. For Monticelli’s Vase of flowers , see letter 578, n. 4.

7. Adolphe Monticelli, Italian girl, c. 1879 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 2302 .

8. There is no known drawing depicting a woman picking up apples. Theo is presumably referring to ‘ramasseuse de pommes de terre’, in which case this might refer to Woman lifting potatoes (F 1272 / JH 910). However, the early provenance of this work is unknown.

9. There is no known drawing that fits this description.

a. Read: ‘tout de suite’.

10. Theo means Auguste Marie Lauzet’s lithograph Head of a child, no. 17 in the publication Adolphe Monticelli. The painting which served as the model for the print has not been traced; the caption says that at the time the print after it was made, the painting was in the possession of Mr Bagnard. Ill. 2303 .

11. Regarding Marvy’s technique, see letter 825, n. 8.

12. It is possible that Theo wrote ‘sens’ instead of ‘sais’.

13. Theo had recently received two consignments of paintings from Gauguin in Brittany; see letter 799, n. 10 and letter 813, n. 11. Theo was less enthusiastic about these recent paintings than he had been about the paintings sent from Brittany the year before, several of which he had managed to sell. See letter 704, n. 1 and letter 722, n. 1.

14. On about 16 December Gauguin wrote to Theo about the accident that his eight-year-old son Jean-René had had in Copenhagen: ‘One of my boys fell from the 3rd floor. He was picked up in a terrible state and at the moment he’s in the hospital, more or less out of danger.’ (Un de mes garçons est tombée du 3em étage. On l’a relevé en capilotade et il est à l’hôpital a peu près sauvé en ce moment.) See Gauguin lettres 1983, p. 177 (GAC 23).

15. Figures in a meadow, 1889 (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 312 . The fan was a present from Pissarro to Jo. See Correspondance Pissarro 1980-1991, vol. 2, pp. 312-313 (letter 557) and Jampoller 1986, p. 52.

16. Dr Paul Gachet.

17. Only one letter from Cor in South Africa has been preserved from this period (FR b838, 20 October 1889).

b. Read: ‘inondé’.

18. For Isaäcson’s plans to go to the Transvaal, see letter 811, n. 2. It could not be ascertained which Amsterdam friends of Isaäcson Theo is referring to here.

19. In letter 829 Vincent had written that he had a ‘half-dozen’ studies of olive groves.

20. Sunflowers in a vase (F 454 / JH 1562 ) and Sunflowers in a vase (F 456 / JH 1561 ). Van Gogh intended to submit these two canvases to the exhibition of Les Vingt (see letter 820, n. 2).

21. For these two drawings, Wheatfield at sunrise (F 1552 / JH 1863) and The garden of the asylum (F 1545 / JH 1851), see letter 829, n. 9.

22. Andries wrote several days later to his parents: ‘Later Net [Jo] and Theo are coming to have lunch with us. Net seems in fine fettle and Theo has regained his strength’ (FR b1850, 25 December 1889).

23. This postcard is not known. Vincent must have asked Theo how the framing of the paintings for Brussels was coming along.