2. Van Gogh had had another attack, exactly one year after the first. He said in
letter 836 that this one ‘ended in a week’ (meaning from about 24 December to about 30 December);
Jo wrote: ‘perhaps the thought of last year made him extremely anxious on Christmas Day’ (FR b4299). Theo’s
letters 835 and
838 reveal that
Peyron had written to tell him that Vincent had tried to poison himself by eating paint, as he had done during the previous attack (
see letter 797, n. 6).