- 1: The number of surviving letters by Vincent van Gogh
- 2: The number of surviving letters to Vincent van Gogh
- 3: Related manuscripts
- 4: The unknown letters
The correspondents: an overview in numbers
Total of the surviving correspondence: 903
Letters by Van Gogh: 820
Letters to Van Gogh: 83
1 The number of surviving letters by Vincent van Gogh
| 659 | to Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger, brother and sister-in-law (651 to Theo, 1 to Jo, 7 to Theo and Jo) |
| 58 | to Anthon van Rappard, Dutch artist whom Van Gogh met in Brussels |
| 22 | to Emile Bernard, French artist whom Van Gogh met in Paris |
| 21 | to Willemien van Gogh, sister |
| 12 | to Anna van Gogh-Carbentus, mother (8 to her, 1 to her and Theo, 3 to her and Willemien) |
| 6 | to Willem van Stockum and Caroline van Stockum-Haanebeek, acquaintances in The Hague (4 to Caroline and Willem, 2 to Caroline) |
| 5 | to Theodorus van Gogh and Anna van Gogh-Carbentus, parents |
| 5 | to Anton Kerssemakers, an amateur artist to whom Van Gogh gave lessons in Nuenen |
| 4 | to Paul Gauguin, French artist whom Van Gogh met in Paris |
| 4 | to Joseph Ginoux and Marie Ginoux-Julien, managers of the Café de la Gare in Arles (2 to Joseph and Marie, 2 to Joseph) |
| 4 | to Michiel de Zwart, Van Gogh’s landlord in The Hague |
| 3 | to John Peter Russell, Australian artist whom Van Gogh met in Paris |
| 2 | to Cornelis Marinus van Gogh, uncle |
| 2 | to Arnold Hendrik Koning, Dutch artist whom Van Gogh met in Paris |
| 1 | to Charles Angrand, French artist whom Van Gogh met in Paris |
| 1 | to Albert Aurier, French art critic |
| 1 | to Eugène Boch, Belgian artist whom Van Gogh met in Arles |
| 1 | to Egbert Borchers, acquaintance in The Hague |
| 1 | to Hendrik Jan Furnée, seller of artists’ materials in The Hague |
| 1 | to Antoine Philippe Furnée, surveyor, amateur artist to whom Van Gogh gave lessons in The Hague (son of the above) |
| 1 | to Johannes van Hombergh, mayor of Nuenen |
| 1 | to Horace Mann Livens, English artist whom Van Gogh met in Antwerp |
| 1 | to Octave Maus, secretary of the avant-garde Les Vingt artists’ society, Brussels |
| 1 | to Paul Signac, French artist whom Van Gogh met in Paris |
| 1 | to Hermanus Gijsbertus Tersteeg, Vincent and Theo’s superior at Goupil & Cie in The Hague |
| 1 | to Betsy Tersteeg, daughter of the above |
| 1 | to Hendrik Verzijl, retired tutor of Helvoirt |
2 The number of surviving letters to Vincent van Gogh
| 46 | from Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger (39 from Theo, 2 from Theo and Jo, 5 from Jo) |
| 16 | from Paul Gauguin |
| >4 | from Joseph Roulin, postal worker in Arles and Marseille |
| 2 | from Joseph Ginoux and Marie Ginoux-Julien (1 from Joseph, 1 from Marie) |
| 2 | from Arnold Hendrik Koning |
| 2 | from Paul Signac |
| 1 | from Willemien van Gogh |
| 1 | from Anna van Gogh, sister |
| 1 | from Hendrik Bonger and Hermine Bonger-Weismann (Jo’s parents) and Anna van Gogh-Carbentus |
| 1 | from Henriette Lamblot-Gaudin, bookseller in Arles |
| 1 | from Octave Maus |
| 1 | from Paul Eugène Milliet, French soldier whom Van Gogh met in Arles |
| 1 | from Christian Mourier-Petersen, Danish artist whom Van Gogh met in Arles |
| 1 | from Théophile Peyron, medical director of the asylum in Saint-Rémy |
| 1 | from Anthon van Rappard |
| 1 | from John Peter Russell |
| 1 | from Frédéric Salles, clergyman in Arles |
3 Related manuscripts
Included in this edition are 25 letters that are either unfinished,
crossed out, incomplete and/or were not sent which have been grouped
together in this edition as ‘Related manuscripts’: a one-line note from
Paul
Gachet, Van Gogh’s doctor in Auvers, and
24 letters by Van Gogh. Thirteen of the latter were addressed to Theo, two to Theo and Jo, one to Willemien, one to Russell, one to the
Dutch art critic Joseph Isaäcson, and
one to Hendrik Jan Furnée. The addressee of one fragment,
RM14, is not known. Another fragment of
a letter and a copied-out poem (RM1 and
RM12) may have been intended for
Vincent’s sister Anna.
4 The unknown letters
In addition to the 903 surviving letters there must have been at least 550 to Van Gogh and 290 from him that we no longer have. Van Gogh is known to have corresponded with the people listed below, but the letters have not survived. That they must have existed at one time is clear from remarks in Van Gogh’s own correspondence, that of the family, or other sources. The section ‘Lost correspondence’ (4.2) takes a closer look at this group of correspondents.
Known correspondents whose letters to Van Gogh (and vice versa) are lost
- Margot Begemann, girlfriend in Nuenen
- Elisabeth Petronella van der Burg, acquaintance in Zundert
- Louise Christina van der Burg, acquaintance in Zundert
- Edouard Dujardin, French writer and art critic
- Lodewijk Cornelis Enthoven, factory owner in The Hague
- Dimmen Gestel, amateur artist to whom Van Gogh gave lessons in Nuenen
- Harry Gladwell, colleague at Goupil & Cie in Paris
- Henry William Gladwell, father of the above
- Cor van Gogh, brother
- Lies van Gogh, sister
- Hein van Gogh, uncle
- Jan van Gogh, uncle
- Vincent van Gogh and Cornelie van Gogh-Carbentus, uncle and aunt
- Carl Adolph Haanebeek, uncle by marriage
- Sien Hoornik, girlfriend in The Hague
- Nicolaas de Jonge, clergyman in Brussels
- Wilhelmus Johannes Leurs, seller of artists’ materials in The Hague
- Nico Mager, colleague at the Blussé & Van Braam bookshop in Dordrecht
- Anton Mauve and Jet Mauve-Carbentus, cousin by marriage and cousin
- Maurits Benjamin Mendes da Costa, teacher in Amsterdam
- Charles Obach, manager of Goupil & Cie in London
- Alphonse Portier, art dealer in Paris
- Frans Alexander Lodewijk van Rappard, father of Anthon van Rappard
- Emile Rochedieu, clergyman and chairman of the Comité d’Evangélisation in Laeken (Brussels)
- Willem Marinus Roos, with whom Vincent and Theo lodged in The Hague
- Charles Emmanuel Serret, French artist, acquaintance of Theo in Paris
- Thomas Slade-Jones, schoolmaster and clergyman in Isleworth and his wife, Annie Slade-Jones-Dawson
- Maria van Stockum, acquaintance in The Hague, sister of Willem van Stockum
- Marinus van Stockum, acquaintance in The Hague, brother of Willem van Stockum
- William Port Stokes, schoolmaster and clergyman in Ramsgate
- Johannes Paulus Stricker and Mina Stricker-Carbentus, uncle and aunt
- Guillaume Charles Tasset, seller of artists’ materials in Paris
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French artist whom Van Gogh met in Paris
- Willem Valkis, fellow lodger with the Roos family in The Hague
- Kee Vos, cousin
- Abraham van der Waeyen Pieterszen, clergyman in Mechelen
Possible correspondents
- George Hendrik Breitner, Dutch artist whom Van Gogh met in The Hague
- Félix Hilaire Buhot, French artist, acquaintance of Theo in Paris
- Willem Kiesenberg, acquaintance of Van Gogh in The Hague
- Frans Soek, colleague at Goupil & Cie in Paris
- Elbert-Jan van Wisselingh, Dutch art dealer in London, Paris and The Hague