1. On 31 January Theo had informed Vincent of the birth of his son, Vincent Willem (see letter 847).

2. Theo had also sent his mother a copy of Aurier’s article on Vincent, mentioned later on in the letter. In her letter of 3 February 1890, Mrs van Gogh told Willemien that she had written about it to Vincent: ‘What would Vincent say? After my letter, I wrote him a postcard after reading that article about his work’ (FR b3249).

3. This was letter 845.

4. For Aurier, ‘Les isolés: Vincent van Gogh’, see letter 845, n. 2.

a. Read: ‘je n’ai pas le dos assez solide’.

5. In ‘Parijsche brieven ii. Gevoelens over de Nederlandsche kunst op de Parijsche Wereld-tentoonstelling’ (Paris letters ii. Feelings about the Dutch art at the Paris World Exhibition) in De Portefeuille. Kunst- en Letterbode of 10 August 1889, Isaäcson remarked: ‘Argue? Here in France, no longer. To prove that, Mr Degas, for one ... recently had words with Mr Antonin Proust – the exhibition’s director of fine arts – because the latter wanted to exhibit some works of art by Mr Degas. And so it goes with the other artists here; they seldom exhibit except in a small room at the firm of Boussod Valadon in boulevard Montmartre and let the ordinary man-in-the-street gape at canvases by Bouguereau’ (p. 233). Isaäcson’s irony obviously escaped Van Gogh.

6. In his article (see n. 4 above), Aurier wrote the following about Van Gogh’s sunflowers: ‘And also this obsessional passion for the solar disc, which he loves to make shine in the blaze of his skies, and, at the same time, for that other sun, that vegetable star, the magnificent sunflower, which he paints over and over, without wearying, like a monomaniac; how are we to explain it if we refuse to acknowledge his persistent preoccupation with some vague and glorious heliomythic allegory?’ (Et aussi cette obsédante passion pour le disque solaire qu’il aime à faire rutiler dans l’embrasement de ses ciels et, en même temps, pour cet autre soleil, pour cet astre végétal, le somptueux tournesol, qu’il répète, sans se lasser, en monomane, comment l’expliquer si on refuse d’admettre sa persistante préoccupation de quelque vague et glorieuse allégorie héliomythique?) (p. 28).

7. Quost made many paintings of hollyhocks, including Garden with hollyhock (see letter 891, n. 15). It is not known which work Van Gogh has in mind when referring to ‘yellow irises’.

8. Georges Jeannin painted several still lifes with peonies. It is not known which work or works Van Gogh is referring to here.

9. This alludes to the fourth line in the refrain of the political song ‘En revenant de la revue’ (Returning from the march-past) of 1886. The lyrics were written by Lucien Delormel and Léon Garnier, the music composed by Louis-César Desormes. The refrain of the Boulangist song is as follows:

Happy and gay

Triumphant we marched

On our way to Longchamp

Glad at heart.

Without hesitation

For we were going to celebrate

To see and to compliment

The Army of France.

(Gais et contents

Nous marchions triomphants

En allant à Longchamp

Le cœur à l’aise.

Sans hésiter

Car nous allions fêter

Voir et complimenter

L’armée française.)

See Collection les chansons. Ces années-là, 1850-1899. CD in the series ‘Histoire de France en chansons’.

10. Adolphe Goupil, founder of the firm of Goupil & Cie.

11. Gauguin wrote this in letter 844.

12. The letter to Russell is letter 849.

13. Van Gogh had painted copies of prints after Millet’s The labours of the field , The sower , The two diggers , The four times of the day , Winter: The plain of Chailly and The first steps . See letters 805, 815, 816 and 839.

14. Theo had sent another consignment of photographs of the work of Millet and others, some of which Vincent forwarded with letter 849 to Russell. From what follows, it appears that one of these works was a depiction of ‘the Virgin’. The prints made after Daumier’s The four ages of the drinker and Doré’s A prison yard in Newgate (both mentioned in letter 854) must also have been included (Van Gogh did not send these to Russell).

15. This was presumably a photograph of Delacroix’s painting The education of the Virgin , which Van Gogh mentions in letter 893. For the painting, see letter 781, n. 2.

16. This version of the sower is Sower (after Millet) (F 690 / JH 1837 ). See letter 816, n. 5.

17. Van Gogh had written earlier that he wanted to make a series of six canvases after Millet (see letter 839). These became Evening (after Millet) (F 647 /JH 1834 ), The end of the day (after Millet) (F 649 / JH 1835 ), Morning: going out to work (after Millet) (F 684 / JH 1880 ), Noon: rest (after Millet) (F 686 / JH 1881 ), Snow-covered field with a plough and harrow (after Millet) (F 632 / JH 1882 ) and The first steps (after Millet) (F 668 / JH 1883 ).

18. In letter 843 Theo had written that Lauzet thought Vincent’s paintings of Provence very beautiful and was planning to pay him a visit.

19. Van Gogh is referring to a line of a poem quoted by Aurier at the beginning of his article (see n. 4 above): ‘And everything, even the colour black, / Seemed furbished, bright, iridescent’. (Et tout, même la couleur noire, / Semblait fourbi, clair, irisé). Further on Aurier writes about ‘cypresses standing nightmarishly outlined in flames, which would be black’ (des cyprès dressant leurs cauchemardantes silhouettes de flammes, qui seraient noires) (p. 24).

20. Van Gogh is probably referring here to the passage from Isaäcson’s previously cited article (see n. 5 above) about several Dutch artists whom he numbered among ‘those who strive to render symbolically a picture of their vision’. About their work he writes: ‘It is lacking a certain ineffable something, there are not yet symbolical representations of natural forces, but rather a partly slavish imitation of nature’s forms blended with colour or tonal sentiments, which testify to sufficient artistry to make their work enjoyable. In representative art, one must symbolize that which the senses perceive inside or outside, and this holds true not only for the content but also for the form: the personal form; and that is exactly what is lacking in the work of the last-mentioned gentlemen’ (p. 233).

21. For ‘the ray from on high’, see letter 143, n. 5.

22. This friend is Madame Ginoux from Arles; Van Gogh had visited her on 18 or 19 January (see letter 841, n. 1). He had painted her portrait in November 1888 (see letter 717). There are two extant versions of it, but the one referred to here is the portrait in Theo’s possession: Marie Ginoux (‘The Arlésienne’) (F 489 / JH 1625 ).

23. Mrs van Gogh had gone to Amsterdam to visit Aunt Mina, her sister-in-law, who was ill (see letter 855).