1. On 20 July 1890, Theo wrote to Jo about Vincent’s letter, which is not known, but which must have been written about 16 July (it was apparently forwarded to the Netherlands, and finally arrived, via Jo, on 19 July at Theo’s in Paris): ‘I understand from Vincent’s letter that what he means by domestic quarrels are my attempts to achieve my own ends in the matters I discussed with Dries. That’s the only explanation I can think of, it’s certainly not clear. If only he’s not melancholy and heading for another crisis, it was all going so well’ (See FR b2058; Brief happiness 1999, pp. 249-250, with a small change in the translation).

2. This refers to the firm of Boussod, Valadon & Cie.

3. Andries had withdrawn his offer to be Theo’s business associate. See letter 900, n. 6.

4. For Prévost’s Lady with a dog , see letter 658, n. 9.

a. Read: ‘stable’.

5. The journey had also brought Theo to the decision to stay for the time being with Boussod, Valadon & Cie. On 22 July, Theo informed his mother and Willemien about his interview with his employers the day before (about which he says nothing at all to Vincent): ‘I haven’t written to you since I’ve been back, because I was waiting for a resolution on the part of the Gentlemen. On the way and coming back here, I realized so clearly that recklessly giving up my position to plunge into uncertainty was a very dangerous matter, for I did have hope of finding the money to start my own business, but was not sure of it by any means. I thought about it so much that I was nearly desperate about having let things come so far and perhaps being very soon without one penny of income. So yesterday morning I had another talk with the Gentlemen and found that they are not really ill-disposed towards me. I said that when I had first spoken I had had rather a lot of faith in my lucky stars, and had not thought enough about the power of the firm, but that on second thoughts I had come to the conclusion that it was wiser for me to stay and that even if they thought I didn’t deserve a rise, I would reconcile myself to it and manage to get by. Etienne B was then very friendly and said that nothing had been decided yet about my salary and that they would see if they could make things easier for me. I only hope that now I can do some business, that would surely be the best thing to help them make up their minds, but it is a quiet time [for business]’ (FR b933).