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873 To Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger. Auvers-sur-Oise, Tuesday, 20 May 1890.

metadata
No. 873 (Brieven 1990 874, Complete Letters 635)
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger
Date: Auvers-sur-Oise, Tuesday, 20 May 1890

Source status
Original manuscript

Location
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b684 V/1962

Date
The letter was most likely written on the day of Van Gogh’s arrival in Auvers. In this letter he tells about his first visit to Gachet and reflects on his stay in Paris.
Dr Gachet noted in his diary on 20 May: ‘M. Van Gogh’. See Paul Gachet, Deux amis des impressionnistes: le docteur Gachet et Murer. Paris 1956, p. 106. On 20 May 1890 Jo van Gogh-Bonger made entries in her Household book for ‘railway’ and ‘carriage’ (0.20 en 2.00 francs, respectively). These expenses presumably indicate that Vincent went to the station that day (Wednesday, 21 May contains no entries that could be connected with his departure on that day). See Household book of Mrs Theodorus van Gogh-Bonger, April 1889 - September 1891 (FR b2211). Jo’s brother, Andries Bonger, wrote on 21 May 1890 to his parents: ‘Vincent the painter has already left’ (FR b1852). On the basis of this information, we have dated Van Gogh’s letter to Tuesday, 20 May 1890.
Twenty-five years later, however, Jo said that Vincent had left on 21 May (Brieven 1914, p. lxi), though her reasons for saying this are not clear.

Ongoing topic
Visit to Paris (872)

original text
 1r:1
Mon cher Theo et chère Jo
Après avoir fait connaissance avec Jo il me sera désormais difficile d’écrire à Theo seul mais Jo me permettra j’espère d’ecrire en français parceque après deux ans dans le midi reellement je crois, ainsi faisant, mieux vous dire ce que j’ai à dire.– Auvers est bien beau – beaucoup de vieux chaume entre autres, ce qui devient rare.
J’espérerais donc qu’en faisant quelques toiles de cela bien serieusement il y aurait une chance de rentrer dans les frais du séjour – car reellement c’est gravement beau, c’est de la pleine campagne caracteristique et pittoresque.
J’ai vu M. le Dr Gachet qui a fait sur moi l’impression d’être assez excentrique mais son expérience de docteur doit le tenir lui-même en équilibre en combattant le mal nerveux duquel certes il me parait attaqué au moins aussi gravement que moi.
 1v:2
Il m’a piloté dans une auberge où l’on demandait 6 francs par jour.
De mon côté j’en ai trouvé une où je payerai 3.50 par jour.1
Et jusqu’a nouvel ordre je crois devoir y rester. Lorsque j’aurai fait quelques études je verrai si il y aurait avantage à changer. mais cela me parait injuste lorsqu’on veut et peut payer et travailler comme un autre ouvrier, d’avoir à payer quand même le double presque parceque l’on travaille à de la peinture. Enfin je commence par l’auberge à 3.50.
Probablement tu verras le Dr Gachet cette semaine – il a un très beau Pissaro, hiver avec maison rouge dans la neige.2 et deux beaux bouquets de Cezanne.3
 1v:3
Aussi un autre Cezanne du village.4 Moi à mon tour je veux volontiers, très volontiers donner ici un coup de brosse.
J’ai dit à M. le Dr Gachet que pour 4 francs par jour je trouverais l’auberge indiquée par lui preferable mais que 6 était 2 francs trop cher pour les dépenses que je fais. Il a beau dire que j’y serai plus tranquille, assez c’est assez.
Sa maison à lui est pleine de vieilleries noires noires noires, à l’exeption des quelques esquisses d’impressionistes nommées.5 Malgré que c’est un drôle de bonhomme l’impression qu’il a faite sur moi n’est pas defavorable. Causant de la Belgique6 et des jours des anciens peintres, sa figure raidie par le chagrin redevient souriante et je crois bien  1r:4 que je resterai amis avec lui et que je ferai son portrait. Puis il me dit qu’il faut beaucoup travailler hardiment et ne pas du tout songer à ce que j’ai eu.
J’ai bien senti à Paris que tout le bruit de là-bas n’est pas ce qu’il me faut.
Que je suis content d’avoir vu Jo et le petit et ton apartement qui certes est mieux que l’autre.7
Vous souhaitant bonne chance et santé et espérant vous revoir sous bien peu, bonnes poignées de main

Vincent.

translation
 1r:1
My dear Theo and dear Jo
After making Jo’s acquaintance it will be difficult for me from now on to write to Theo alone, but Jo will permit me, I hope, to write in French, because after two years in the south I really think, in doing so, that I tell you better what I have to say. Auvers is really beautiful – among other things many old thatched roofs, which are becoming rare.
I’d hope, then, that in doing a few canvases of that really seriously, there would be a chance of recouping some of the costs of my stay – for really it’s gravely beautiful, it’s the heart of the countryside, distinctive and picturesque.
I’ve seen Dr Gachet, who gave me the impression of being rather eccentric, but his doctor’s experience must keep him balanced himself while combating the nervous ailment from which it seems to me he’s certainly suffering at least as seriously as I am.  1v:2
He directed me to an inn where they were asking 6 francs a day.
For my part I’ve found one where I’ll pay 3.50 a day.1
And until there’s a change of circumstances I think I ought to stay there. When I’ve done a few studies I’ll see if there would be any advantage in moving. But it seems unjust to me, when one wants to and can pay and work like any other workman, to have to pay almost double all the same because one works at painting. Anyway I’m starting with the 3.50 inn.
You’ll probably see Dr Gachet this week – he has a very fine Pissarro, winter with red house in the snow,2 and two fine bouquets by Cézanne.3  1v:3
Also another Cézanne of the village.4 Myself, in my turn I’ll gladly, very gladly give a stroke of the brush here.
I told Dr Gachet that I would find the inn he suggested preferable at 4 francs a day, but that 6 was 2 francs too dear for the expenses I’m having. It’s all right for him to say that I’ll be quieter there, enough is enough.
His own house is full of old things, dark, dark, dark, with the exception of a few sketches by Impressionists I mentioned.5 Despite the fact that he’s an odd fellow, the impression he made on me isn’t unfavourable. Chatting of Belgium6 and the days of the old painters, his grief-stiffened face took on a smile again, and I really think  1r:4 that I’ll stay friends with him and that I’ll do his portrait. Then he tells me that I must work a great deal, boldly, and not think at all about what I’ve had.
I really felt in Paris that all the noise there wasn’t what I need.
How pleased I am to have seen Jo and the little one and your apartment, which is indeed better than the other one.7
Wishing you good luck and health, and hoping to see you again very soon, good handshakes

Vincent.
notes
1. Gachet had presumably recommended the Auberge Saint-Aubin. See Coquiot 1923, p. 244. This inn was not in rue Rémy, as recorded in Ravoux 1957, p. 7 and exhib. cat. New York 1986, p. 197, but in rue de Pontoise (now rue François Villon). Van Gogh, however, preferred the less expensive Auberge Ravoux, on the place de la Mairie. It was managed by the wine dealer Arthur Gustave Ravoux and his wife Adeline Louise Touillet. See Mothe 1987, p. 220, and Leaf and Leeman 2001, p. 79.
2. Camille Pissarro, Chestnut trees at Louveciennes, 1869-1870 (Paris, Musée d’Orsay). Ill. 313 .
3. Paul Cézanne, Geraniums and coreopsis in a small Delft vase, 1873 (private collection), Ill. 684 ; and Bouquet in a small Delft vase (Dahlias), 1873 (Paris, Musée d’Orsay). Ill. 683 .
4. Paul Cézanne, Doctor Gachet’s house, 1872-1873 (Paris, Musée d’Orsay). Ill. 685 .
5. Gachet lived in the former girls’ boarding school, which he had bought in 1872, in what is now rue du Dr Gachet. For his collection and photographs of the interior of his house, see exhib. cat. Paris 1999.
6. In his youth Gachet had lived in Mechelen in Belgium.
7. Theo and Jo lived at 8 cité Pigalle. Their old apartment was at 54 rue Lepic.