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88 letters found

186 To Theo van Gogh. Etten, Friday, 18 November 1881.
in note 2:
...). Van Gogh could justify his relationship with Sien by means of Michelet’s argument that men who a...
193 To Theo van Gogh. Etten, on or about Friday, 23 December 1881.
in note 16:
... been assumed that she was Sien Hoornik, Vincent’s later model and lover, but ...
200 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Saturday, 14 January 1882.
in note 6:
...with a little child’ was most likely Clasina Maria Hoornik, called ‘Christien’ or ‘Sien’, ...
207 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Friday, 3 March 1882.
in note 2:
Christien (Sien), her mother Maria Wilhelmina Hoornik-Pellers and her younger sister Maria Wilhelmina...
219 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Friday, 21 April 1882.
in note 5:
.../ JH 131), drawn from the house at no. 16 where Sien and her mother lived. See exhib. cat. The Hague ...
224 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Sunday, 7 May 1882.
in note 4:
Sien eventually had her baby in the Academisch Ziekenhuis (teaching hospital) in Leiden, a town c. 10...
in note 3:
...ls the identity of his model, Clasina (Sien, Christien) Maria Hoornik; for what is possibly the firs...
in translation:
This winter I met a pregnant woman, abandoned by the man whose child she was carrying.
225 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Wednesday, 10 May 1882.
in translation:
If I said things in my last letter about her that are rather sombre, it’s because I wanted to point...
226 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Friday, 12 or Saturday, 13 May 1882.
in translation:
...ieve you’ll think ill of me for being with Christien. I don’t believe that you’ll abandon me a...
...t eat thy bread in the sweat of thy face’. Christien isn’t a millstone round my neck or a burden...
...ally, you’d perhaps see this business with Christien in a completely different light from what it ...
...e and H.G.T. and after what I told you about Christien, that I’m asking you frankly: Theo, d...
227 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 14 or Monday, 15 May 1882.
in note 5:
... 7 June 1875. At the age of 24, on 3 July 1874, Sien had had a daughter, Maria Clasina, who lived for...
in note 4:
Van Gogh often writes ‘Xtien’ or ‘Xn’ for ‘Christien’ (this spelling no doubt derives fro...
in translation:
Now I face Christien and reason like this: how would I feel if someone first helped me and then left ...
I met Christien, as you know, when she was pregnant, ill, in the cold — I was alone — I had just ...
Yet the question of loyalty or disloyalty to Christien is something about which I feel ‘I must not ...
...t you and she were considerably younger than Christien and I, that in the first place, and secondly ...
...y that you don’t see what there is between Christien and me that makes it necessary for me to marr...
... you or anyone else? – I would despair and Christien and the child would perish. You may think I�...
...e, I can only say: I promised to be loyal to Christien and she promised to be loyal to me, and so it...
...ly not, I need it for drawing. (And Christien and the child couldn’t pose without heads.)Christien
228 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Tuesday, 16 May 1882.
in note 18:
...and Pieter Hoornik had a total of ten children. Sien was the oldest child in this Catholic family. Af...
in translation:
...r: Yes, Theo, you’re right, I’ll give up Christien, then in the first place I’ll be telling an...
...ot yet understand, things will go better for Christien and her child and myself. And to achieve that...
...gth. Then, after M. let me down and I was ill for a few days, at the end of January I met Christien.
.... And I feel equally calm when, for example, Christien or her mother poses and I work out the propor...
... rises from the dead. Resurgam. Then I found Christien. It was no time to hesitate or delay. Action ...
I’m writing to you late at night. Christien is unwell and the time of her departure for Leiden is a...
This time, though, things are different and Christien and I understand each other better. We needn’...
...prospect of the very worst before me, as has Christien, because I continually said to her ‘Lass, I...
...decide, I don’t dare hope yet. I’ve told Christien: I’ll support you until Leiden. When you co...
...me the needful long enough for me to support Christien safely until Leiden, and then I’ll explai...
...just gone through the dreadful suspense with Christien, but she having pulled through, I am now plea...
...g myself in the eyes of the world by helping Christien, and I did not, or rather still do not, count...
229 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Thursday, 18 May 1882.
in translation:
Christien had a lot of cramp &c., and so it seemed to me best for her to go to Leiden again to find o...
...od — after all — in my behaviour towards Christien, I believe it’s more to your credit than to...
230 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Tuesday, 23 May 1882.
in note 3:
Both Sien and her mother were registered as living at Noordstraat 16 and Slijkeinde 31. In May (the e...
in translation:
...r, when I talk to them about the question of Christien (which I’ll definitely do in 3 weeks or so ...
... is no time to fall ill. I must carry on — Christien and her mother have moved to a smaller house,...
231 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Saturday, 27 May 1882.
in translation:
...t but dry black bread with a little coffee, and Sien too. Because we’d bought linen for her baby an...
... hope, brother, that you don’t think badly of Sien and me. That lass has put up with my disagreeabl...
...its as long as you don’t desert me because of Sien. I’m at work on the dot of 4, so with a little...
232 To Anthon van Rappard. The Hague, Sunday, 28 May 1882.
in note 16:
This was Sien Hoornik.
in translation:
I’m happy with the model I have, I mean the woman who was with me when you came, for she’s learni...
234 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Thursday, 1 and Friday, 2 June 1882.
in note 18:
...SAZ). Whether Theo found the comparison between Sien and Leen illuminating is open to doubt; he was f...
in translation:
...d you’ve told me frankly what you think about Sien, namely that she intrigued and that I allowed my...
The position with Sien is that I am truly attached to her and she to me, that she’s my loyal helper...
...e is finished, namely another fish-drying barn. Sien and I camped in the dunes for it for days on end...
...ng. I’m eager to know what sort of impression Sien will make on you. There’s nothing special abou...
...ome indifferent and sceptical if I hadn’t met Sien, but my work and she now keep me active. And I w...
I do wish that you knew Sien, but you’re so far away and it’s impossible for me to describe a per...
...age, not so much as a single old cup or saucer. Sien and I have the essentials. The only thing we can...
... hinder us or cause us sorrow. No one cared for her or wanted her, she was alone and abandoned like ...
...example, could do what he wanted, he would take Sien from me and throw her back into that accursed ol...
235 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Saturday, 3 June 1882.
in translation:
...ever, aren’t at all shoddy, because now I have Sien to keep check of them and make minor repairs.
...the family should not view my relationship with Sien as something of which there isn’t the slightes...
237 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Thursday, 8 June 1882.
in note 9:
For A.E. Simon Thomas, the doctor who treated Sien, see letter 224, n. 4.
in translation:
Sien comes to see me on visiting days and is keeping an eye on the studio. Now I must tell you that t...
Sien is getting ready to leave. I think of her a great deal — I expect her again later. May she com...
...t because I’m being treated by the former and Sien by the latter, it will only take a word from me ...
238 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Friday, 9 June 1882.
in note 1:
When exactly Sien left is not known. On Tuesday, 13 June she visited Vincent in the hospital, as show...
in translation:
Sien came to tell me that a package had arrived at my studio and I asked her to go and open it and se...
Sien will probably leave next Monday, for I believe that there’s no better place for her than in a ...
239 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Thursday, 22 June 1882.
in note 7:
...ow I heard from him that he had heard from his model about that package we had sent. He had got my l...
in translation:
Sien is in Leiden, but I won’t hear any news of her until she has given birth. What does what we me...
I’ve seen no one apart from Sien, her mother and Pa, which is in fact all for the best, though the ...
I believe that when Sien had to go I became too nervous and then broke down, but there are times when...
241 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Saturday, 1 July 1882.
in translation:
...egnancy and delivery — the latest letter from Sien was very melancholy. She hadn’t yet given birt...
If all goes well, though, Sien will be back this month, may that prove to be the case. But the prover...
...I didn’t want to take a decision because both Sien and I are sick. But I’ll take the matter up ag...
242 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 2 July 1882.
in note 1:
...red the birth of Willem Hoornik on 2 July 1882; Sien’s occupation was given as ‘seamstress’. Wh...
in translation:
As I wrote to you yesterday, I went to Leiden. Sien gave birth last night, had a very difficult deliv...
..., as you well know, if I hadn’t had your help Sien probably wouldn’t be here. Another thing — I...
243 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Tuesday, 4 July 1882.
in translation:
A message from Sien that all is going well, thank God. If that continues, she should leave a fortnigh...
...t the new house. And for what you’ll think of Sien when you see her, and of the new little clever-c...
244 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Thursday, 6 July 1882.
in translation:
...I didn’t immediately write to Pa and Ma about Sien or anything else, and only sent a brief word to ...
I want to show him Sien and her baby, which he won’t be expecting, as well as the house bright and ...
...n words or writing. I’ll tell him briefly how Sien and I struggled through her anxious pregnancy la...
...gh it’s difficult to express, what I feel for Sien. I have a sense of being at home when I’m with...
...passionate love I felt for her, unlike that for Sien. When I discovered in Amsterdam that she had a s...
...passion with others??? I think not. So at first Sien was a fellow human being to me, as alone and unh...
...nt to make clear is this: what there is between Sien and me is real; it’s not a dream, it is realit...
...A little longer in the hospital and then I’ll go back to work, and the woman and child will pose.
...sion or other. There you are. I think when the woman is back with her child, I fully recovered and b...
245 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Thursday, 6 and Friday, 7 July 1882.
in translation:
... paraffin stove, a big wicker armchair for the woman in the little corner by the window overlooking ...
...e very basic necessities, but such that if the woman recovers before me she can find all the essenti...
... it includes my entire move and settling in and Sien’s return after her confinement with all that t...
...flam involved — and whatever may have been in Sien’s past, I know no other Sien than the one of t...
... — and if you can, come and look soon — see Sien as I do, as a mother and an ordinary housewife a...
I’d like to go to see the woman on Sunday. I’ve had a note from her saying that yesterday she was...
...lan as to how to tell Pa and Ma. But first the woman must get stronger, because she mustn’t be sub...
246 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Saturday, 15 and Sunday, 16 July 1882.
in note 3:
The doctor who treated Sien was Prof. A.E. Simon Thomas: see letter 224, n. 4.
in note 10:
Sien’s figure could have been known to Theo from the two unknown versions of Sorrow which he had at...
in translation:
...message from the hospital in Leiden to say that Sien could go home on Saturday. So I went there today...
...is person telling me how things were going when Sien wasn’t allowed to write, I thanked her for tha...
I’ve been greatly entertained by what Sien has told me of her conversations with the professor. It ...
... back to that. I had been rather concerned that Sien might need things that would prove expensive, bu...
Sien was also told that for a period of 2 years she can consult the professor in Leiden free of charg...
... by little I’ll be able to resume posing the woman and child at home. My weakness is a disappointm...
...ing and I can now tell you that we, namely the woman and the two children and I, spent the night in ...
.... As for me, I don’t find the company of the woman and the children odd, but feel precisely as if ...
... all my energy into it. I believe that now that Sien and I are living together and are no longer two ...
For her part, Sien will start posing again seriously as soon as she has recovered, and I assure you h...
...that things are turning out so well as regards the improvement in Sien’s condition, and mine too.
...o you, as soon as I can save the money and the woman is better I even wanted to send some to Pa to p...
... imagine, there’s a lot to be done now. I let Sien potter about but I always have to keep an eye on...
247 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Tuesday, 18 July 1882.
in translation:
...Tersteeg. He came here this morning — and saw Sien and the children. I would have wished that he co...
What was the meaning of this woman and that child? Where on earth did I get the idea of living with a...
My dear Theo, for the woman’s sake, for my own sake, I restrained myself, I didn’t get angry. I g...
...ou know that I don’t want to hide it, but for Sien, for the baby, and for me too, it would be bette...
...teeg to be such a troublemaker. And to whom? — a poor, weak woman who gave birth a fortnight ago.
... and I asked him not to say such a thing again. Sien loves me and I love Sien. We want to and can liv...
...the process of recovering in body and soul, and Sien too, but it could be fatal if we were again hamm...
...ut the matter than Tersteeg, but you still know Sien too little to know how much we love each other a...
If Tersteeg had his way, and others too, they’d of course tear Sien and me apart.
...nt of view as Tersteeg. I don’t want to leave Sien in the lurch. If I don’t have her I’ll be br...
...rom you will make a capable painter of me. With Sien, I can make the effort and put all my strength i...
...Just excuse me for being rather upset. For the woman and me it was the first awful hour since we cam...
Otherwise I’m getting on well; the woman and the child are so sweet, so good and quiet that one can...
...n or to live well. The bare essentials for the woman are the only expenses she brings with her, and ...
...n. I believe he would very cold-bloodedly watch Sien drown or something, and then claim it was benefi...
Sien and I have an agreement, however, in the extreme event that force is used against us. This is th...
...ope he won’t devote his energy to persecuting Sien and me or anything. Perhaps he’ll realize that...
...ts or feelings. He comes in here, takes in the woman breast-feeding the baby with a look that makes ...
...doubt at all that few things can do either the woman or me more harm than visits like the one we’v...
Regards from Sien and a handshake in thought, and believe me
248 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Wednesday, 19 July 1882.
in translation:
...were here. I’ve told you that I want to marry Sien, and as soon as possible — note, though, that ...
...d, don’t marry her, &c., and you thought that Sien was making a fool of me, &c. I wrote to you ab...
What I want is to preserve the lives of Sien and her two children. I don’t want her to sink back i...
...and has no direct relation to civil marriage to Sien. Since one thing and another force me to write a...
...nversations like the one with Tersteeg put the woman and me further back than the cruellest north wi...
...our presence and after you had got to know the woman better — what I say now by letter. Then I mig...
Rest assured, the woman will soon be at ease with you. You, after all, won’t observe her and look ...
...with you sometime is the state in which I found her and things from her past. The poor creature has ...
250 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 23 July 1882.
in note 19:
... first wrote openly about his relationship with Sien in letter 224, on the basis of which the misunde...
in translation:
...�� act showed true humanity, and in relation to Sien I have done and will continue to do what I belie...
... and racket. Besides, it won’t be long before Sien is supporting herself entirely through posing. S...
... long — and I don’t know what else, and now Sien. But to this day I don’t believe that this was...
251 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Wednesday, 26 July 1882.
in translation:
...ery caught up in landscapes. The reason is that Sien can’t pose yet, but otherwise the figure must ...
... continue to do so, at least for some time yet. Sien and the child are also well; they’re getting s...
253 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Saturday, 5 August 1882.
in note 11:
...ently included the fact that he was living with Sien: it was to be six months before she was mentione...
271 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 8 October 1882.
in note 4:
... 269. The ‘warm lady’s coat’ was a sign that they did not entirely deny the presence of Sien.
301 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Saturday, 13 January 1883.
in note 4:
Several drawings with Sien from this period are known; it is impossible to say which woman this is.
in note 2:
For the first time in six months Sien is mentioned again (on this, see letter 253, n. 11). Now that T...
in translation:
The woman and the children are with me at the moment. There’s a big difference when I think back to...
... now reflect, would it have been better if the mother had had a miscarriage, or if the child had with...
... my part, last year I knew of only one home for her, namely with me, and if I could have done someth...
.... Just now I did another drawing for which the woman posed. Listen, old chap, to put it briefly, it ...
...haven’t spoken further of that, but also that she and I have remained true to each other. And prec...
307 To Anthon van Rappard. The Hague, on or about Sunday, 4 February 1883.
in translation:
... that when you visited me last summer we met a woman and I told you that she was a model I’d found...
Soon after that I fell ill myself. She was then in the hospital in Leiden, and in hospital I got a le...
... the doctor’s advice in fact, and went to see her. I saw her in the hospital in Leiden on 1 July. ...
...me?’ is criminal? At any rate, I said to the woman, when you’re better, move in with me. I’ll ...
...ou, my dear friend Rappard, I live with a poor woman and two children, and there are so many who wil...
...you mustn’t think that it’s because of the woman that they don’t visit me; that’s one thing,...
...But there was something that struck me in this woman, that as a mother she was so alone and abandone...
308 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Monday, 5 February 1883.
in translation:
...nce, would find anything picturesque about the woman I am with — in her everyday actions. But Daum...
309 To Anthon van Rappard. The Hague, on or about Thursday, 8 February 1883.
in note 1:
...ogh had written candidly to Van Rappard about the fact that he was living with Sien: see letter 307.
in translation:
...onestly and in good faith. I am dealing with a woman who had one foot in the grave when I met her, a...
...at I don’t consider my relationship with the woman in question to be ephemeral in nature but for e...
Although as a result of taking in the woman and her two children I experienced some unpleasantness, r...
...at struck me because of the resemblance to the woman as I found her. There was a scene in the same b...
311 To Anthon van Rappard. The Hague, on or about Saturday, 10 February 1883.
in translation:
...to you as regards Irish Emigrants by Holl. The woman I wrote to you about is, as a type, rather like...
I can give you no better description of her.
312 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 11 February 1883.
in translation:
...reets and alleys where I often walked with the woman last year in the beginning. It was wet weather ...
...fference between the woman you’ve met and the one I’ve been with for a whole year now, but they ...
I sometimes regret that the woman I’m with can understand as little of books as of art. But (althou...
And through the children, especially, she’s in touch with reality and learning by herself. Books an...
313 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Monday, 12 February 1883.
in note 1:
Sien had given birth to a son on 2 July 1882; see letter 242.
in translation:
...his about the case I was involved in. When the woman had given birth and had survived the extremely ...
12 hours after the birth I was with her and found her utterly exhausted. When she saw me she sat up a...
But — a few days later I had a letter from her that I didn’t rightly understand and that disappoi...
...ted by something else and as if blind, and the woman, who did not have jaundice, looked withered, ye...
What to do? How did it happen and what to say? She herself told me she could not rest and was evident...
...overed rapidly, and soon afterwards I collected her and the child from the hospital. The child conti...
...em without a special reason) only because I see this resemblance between your patient and mine then:
...ou to hear how that became very serious in my patient, and very threatening and dangerous within a f...
...e that time I, for my part, had already assured her with all the strength in me that I wouldn’t ab...
316 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Thursday, 15 February 1883.
in note 10:
Sien had given birth on 2 July 1882: see letter 242.
in translation:
...about the operation I thought back to last summer when I visited the woman the day she gave birth.
322 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Friday, 2 March 1883.
in translation:
...e already sought this with the orphan man, the woman and the children — I’m getting splendid thi...
327 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 11 March 1883.
in note 9:
...rt to the drawing under discussion, which shows Sien and probably her daughter. This could mean that ...
330 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 18 March 1883.
in translation:
...irl at the cradle, done in the same way as the woman and the child you wrote about. This natural cha...
338 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Monday, 30 April 1883.
in note 10:
...tter) contain the first signs of conflicts with Sien’s family, which become exacerbated in the comi...
in translation:
...u that 9/10 of the difficulties I had with the woman had their origin there, directly or indirectly....
...n herself. In my case she’d be much better if she was in my house rather than in the houses of the...
339 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Wednesday, 2 or Thursday, 3 May 1883.
in note 3:
... ff. Tersteeg’s disapproving attitude towards Sien and her children during a visit in July 1882 (he...
in translation:
...n you yourself could really go without — the woman and I have the devil’s own job to keep going ...
340 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Monday, 7 May 1883.
in translation:
...ou in more detail about a few things soon. The woman appears to have something that’s connected to...
341 To Anthon van Rappard. The Hague, on or about Wednesday, 9 May 1883.
in translation:
...ason for that is also because I’ve taken the woman and her two children into my house, and they th...
342 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Thursday, 10 May 1883.
in translation:
...who delivered her that the complete cure of my woman would take years. That is, the nervous system r...
...mes I despair. It passes — and more than once she has said to me later — I DON’T MYSELF KNOW W...
...bstructs more than she helps. Anyway, when the woman does something wrong it’s sometimes the mothe...
My woman has certain faults and defects in the way she acts — that’s bound to be the case. THAT D...
...stalks. Way of flowers, way of tears. Well, my woman no longer walks on a way of flowers as she did ...
... I venture to raise the matter of some fault of hers that I’ve been quietly observing for a long ti...
...uch in myself too, but I must ensure that in me she has an example of working and of patience, and t...
344 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Monday, 21 May 1883.
in translation:
...tle concerned about what I wrote regarding the woman — it has remedied itself once again, and ther...
348 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 3 June 1883.
in translation:
...e spoke disapprovingly about my being with the woman. I said then that I didn’t refuse to marry he...
...to come out with it and say that I should abandon her, but regretted that I had relations with her.
... there’s no reason to be concerned about the woman. Well, there isn’t immediately, inasmuch as I...
349 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 3 June 1883.
in note 1:
...self used the term ‘tame dove’ in connection with Sien in letters 224 and 225 of early May 1882.
in translation:
...normal state of affairs. Thus, for example, my woman now seems much more like a brood hen, for examp...
...t after all there’s a difference between the woman with whom I live as she is now and as she was a...
...it certainly has a very good side in that both woman and children learn to be thrifty and the man le...
... children, so that the path of duty could be more clearly discerned, both for the woman and for me.
351 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Thursday, 7 June 1883.
in translation:
...r Pa was pretty much against my being with the woman just as much as now, yet he sent a warm coat �...
...at in any case Pa objects to my being with the woman, MUCH MORE SO indeed than with you, and despite...
356 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Friday, 22 June 1883.
in note 2:
... between Van Gogh and Tersteeg had deteriorated because he was living with Sien; see letters 208 ff.
in translation:
...worried this time, I was absolutely broke. The woman had no milk left recently, and I felt weak too....
...mount up quicker than I can keep up with, although I cut down on everything, and the woman no less.
357 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Wednesday, 27 June 1883.
in note 10:
...d Mauve had deteriorated since early March 1882 because he was living with Sien; see letters 209 ff.
358 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Monday, 2 July 1883.
in translation:
... regards the recovery and complete cure of the woman herself that this child is doing well and keeps...
361 To Theo van Gogh, The Hague, on or about Wednesday, 11 July 1883.
in note 36:
...ons between Van Gogh and Mauve had deteriorated because he was living with Sien; see letters 209 ff.
362 To Theo van Gogh, The Hague, on or about Friday, 13 July 1883.
in translation:
...ard about ‘misconduct’, that I live with a woman and children without being married. For a time ...
363 To Theo van Gogh, The Hague, Sunday, 22 July 1883.
in translation:
...more meagre situation from the outset. And the woman must breastfeed the child, and the child is str...
364 To Theo van Gogh, The Hague, Sunday, 22 July 1883.
in translation:
...nly I was alone, but it’s the thought of the woman and the children, those poor lambs, whom one wo...
368 To Theo van Gogh, The Hague, on or about Friday, 27 July 1883.
in translation:
And it’s just like that with the woman and the children. When I’m with them and the little fellow...
372 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 12 or Monday, 13 August 1883.
in translation:
...posing you come to see me while I’m out, the woman can tell you where I am because, so as not to m...
375 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Saturday, 18 August 1883.
in note 8:
...tter 376, the brothers had discussed whether or not the relationship with Sien should be continued.
in note 5:
...he idea; cf. also letter 376. In addition, Theo must have suggested he should consider leaving Sien.
in translation:
...t find there. Of course I was already with the woman then and said, ‘Pa, since I don’t blame any...
As for the woman, I don’t doubt that in any event you’ll understand that for my part I shan’t r...
376 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 19 August 1883.
in note 4:
...ad written about this moment, which occurred when Sien was giving birth in July 1882, in letter 313.
in note 3:
Theo had suggested that Vincent and Sien should separate, on the grounds that this would be better bo...
in note 1:
...81 that Vincent explained his relationship with Sien to his father, and intended to marry her. After ...
in translation:
...follow my feelings as regards staying with the woman. I’d like that to be possible, because then, ...
This morning she says this to me, ‘As for what I used to do, I don’t even think about it and I ha...
I can’t say exactly what her expression was like, but something like a sheep wanting to say, if I...
...theless I’ve kept all this to myself and made her promise various things — to be more orderly, h...
But knowing now how she was often upset by her family last year, and fearing that she may relapse, I ...
...ust as bad and as indisputable as those of the woman, for instance, then I would like someone to do ...
... can’t say anything different. If I left the woman, she might go mad, but because I for my part ha...
She has been told things such as that I would leave her because of the children, for example. This is...
Theo, the fact is that she does learn, but one has to point out the same thing to her many times, and...
And her expression in those rare moments is like that of a Mater Dolorosa by Delacroix or certain hea...
378 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Tuesday, 21 August 1883.
in note 2:
In connection with the remark about ‘the woman’: in letter 376 Vincent had written to Theo, ‘If...
in translation:
....M., send him some studies, otherwise, especially about the woman, nothing. But just one more thing.
But my intention would then be to go with the woman and children.
379 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, between about Thursday, 23 and about Wednesday, 29 August 1883.
in note 7:
At the University Hospital in Leiden, where Sien was nursed in June-July 1882 before she gave birth.
in note 5:
Sien had foreseen her fate correctly: on 12 November 1904 she was to commit suicide by jumping into t...
in translation:
...can see a small indication of how unstable the woman is in her character when I tell you this, that ...
For I find this very wicked of her, and am almost forced to conclude that she belongs more with that ...
When I made her promise, I said to her: if you go there it’s associated with whoring in three ways,...
... even now it isn’t absolutely impossible that she might turn out all right, for instance after bei...
... resemblance between how I stand in relation to her now and the passage in L’assommoir in which th...
I feel more compassion for the woman than ever before because I see that she’s very unsettled. I be...
...hrough the period when I got angry about things she did wrong. When I now see her lapsing into the s...
What you said — that you thought it would do her good if she was away from me — is something I wo...
...t’s a situation in which one sees no way out. She frets inwardly about many things, I know that, s...
... it, but this is the position — fundamentally she wants to be with me and is attached to me, but s...
...the bad moods are is still more desperate. Then she says frankly, well, yes, I am indifferent and la...
...gh the sewer — then I for one say, in the end she cannot be other than she is, and I would find it...
...ht about it — given my intention to stay with her if possible, namely if she herself doesn’t mak...
...ght up to the last, very last moment of leaving she can come up with this or that, which she doesn�...
But if she wants to come, well, let her come. To abandon her would be to drive her back into prostitu...
... think that you see it that way too. So however she may be for the moment, we’ll press on with car...
If she comes, then I believe I’ll have more influence over there, and be able to make her stronger....
380 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Sunday, 2 September 1883.
in translation:
...ce, both before and since then — that if the woman were obliged to do without me — to stand on h...
... what I’ve done? Today I had a quiet day with her — talked with her about it at great length —...
So in short she and I must be sensible and part as friends. That she’d have to get her family to ta...
... it’s impossible for me to carry on here that she too understands. And so our agreement is that, b...
...we have reasons for having to live nonetheless, she in her children and I in my work, and shall have...
I said to her, you may not be able to manage by going entirely straight, but go as straight as possib...
...to say, I don’t know how it will turn out for her or for me if I keep on working hard, but it will...
...nd lodging. I would like to keep an eye on the woman in the beginning as far as I can, and contribut...
381 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Wednesday, 5 September 1883.
in note 8:
...he letter to Mr van Gogh about wanting to marry Sien is the one Theo had also read; it was sent with ...
in translation:
I spoke to the woman as I wrote to you — we felt that staying together in the future was ruled out,...
I must say that the woman is bearing up well. She feels sorrow and I do too, but she isn’t desponde...
...dy linen for myself, and now I’ve given it to her for vests for those scrawny children. And I’m ...
...at than I expected, because what was wrong with her was of such a nature that it would have been fat...
...of them. Yet I hope I’ll be able to give the woman a little more for the early days. But if I can ...
...you that for the time being I plan to help the woman a little, I may not and indeed cannot make it v...
You see, there’s something in her like the beginning of something more solid, and may that remain s...
... I wrote to you in a previous letter, that the woman had immediately broken certain promises, that w...
On this occasion, though, I saw something in her as if it had been a crisis — I hope a ‘thus far ...
...ause there’s an all too fatal rapport between her and her mother, those two must go together down ...
And I firmly recommend to her a marriage of convenience with a widower or someone, to which I add tha...
And that she herself knows well enough in what ways she fell short with me, that now she must be wise...
And she herself well understands these things for the present, and I hope to keep them alive. Becomin...
382 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, on or about Thursday, 6 September 1883.
in translation:
...nother that I already suspected as regards the woman is true — that recently she was negotiating a...
..., for my part, I really did have hope that the woman would turn out all right in Drenthe, and now ha...
...e, because every week of delay got me more entangled in thorns here, without any progress with her.
...s in recent days, a great melancholy about the woman and the children, but it couldn’t be otherwis...
...devoted a piece of myself, so to speak, to the woman, namely forgetting everything else and concentr...
383 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Friday, 7 or Saturday, 8 September 1883.
in translation:
... I do too, more or less, that it will make the woman change direction for the better. Yet I fear tha...
If I judge by my intimate knowledge of her, she’s too weak in spirit and willpower in particular to...
...ds, and the decision as to how depended more on her than on me. If she had definitely wanted to carr...
Why, why is the woman so unwise? She’s what Musset has called ‘A child of the age’ through and ...
...here was something elevated in Musset; well, in her there’s also a je ne sais quoi, although she�...
...hing for me that I assume that, once I am gone, she’ll regret a few things and want to be better a...
...hen I leave I shan’t leave feeling easy about her — on the contrary, uneasy — because I fear s...
When I see that sphinx-like quality in her, I recognize it of old both in her and in others, and it�...
You see, she’s on the edge, isn’t she?
...ater quietly does what he must and recovers. If she’s like that, then that’s fine and she’ll b...
...at deal then, even if the friend is poor. Well, she’ll continue to find that in me — even if now...
She’ll need a support, and I’ll still be that support even though I am gone, provided I see a lit...
That will be a sign for the woman that she must persevere. I’ll place more advertisements, but thes...
384 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Monday, 10 September 1883.
in translation:
...ve been the case had I been convinced that the woman would be energetic and that her good will wasn�...
... that work is more directly duty than even the woman, and that the former mustn’t suffer for the s...
385 To Theo van Gogh. Hoogeveen, Tuesday, 11 and Wednesday, 12 September 1883.
in translation:
The woman and her children were with me until the last minute, of course, and the parting wasn’t ve...
386 To Theo van Gogh. Hoogeveen, on or about Friday, 14 September 1883.
in translation:
...ometimes think with great melancholy about the woman and the children, if only they were looked afte...
...ms or at her breast my eyes become moist. I see her in them; her weakness and slovenliness, too, onl...
387 To Theo van Gogh. Hoogeveen, Sunday, 16 September 1883.
in note 14:
Van Gogh underlined ‘alone’ to stress that he was now living apart from Sien.
in translation:
...or myself, I would rather have stayed with the woman, although it would have been twice as hard, but...
And the way things are, each time I still see her in my imagination as a phantom, it’s not as a rep...
388 To Theo van Gogh. Hoogeveen, on or about Friday, 21 September 1883.
in translation:
... are really doing me good. Oh if only the poor woman could have had it — I think of her with such ...
Oh Theo, if she hadn’t had any family she’d have behaved herself so much better. Women like her r...
...ht again — but there was nothing like this in her with whom I was, although she was vain, just as ...
in note 24:
...ttitude to the relationship between Vincent and Sien – they supported Theo. In a letter of 2 August...
390 To Theo van Gogh. Hoogeveen, on or about Wednesday, 26 September 1883.
in translation:
...ith the work is at stake here. The fate of the woman, moreover, the fate of my sweet, poor little la...
... would have risked one more attempt by marrying her and going to live with her in the country, altho...
...again and getting on, because the little glimpse of my attic I’m giving you is drawn from life.she
...s in advance, I would have moved here with the woman last year when she came out of hospital, then t...
Now you understand that I’m concerned about her fate, although I believe that if she were simply in...
... present I’m still very, very concerned about her fate, precisely because she’s leaving me in th...
391 To Theo van Gogh. Hoogeveen, Friday, 28 September 1883.
in translation:
...nd that it would come to a separation from the woman after all, I would most probably have separated...
392 To Theo van Gogh. Nieuw-Amsterdam, on or about Wednesday, 3 October 1883.
in note 17:
...b2245). ‘That connection’ must refer to Sien Hoornik. From letter 395 it appears that Vincent sen...
395 To Theo van Gogh. Nieuw-Amsterdam, Friday, 12 or Saturday, 13 October 1883.
in translation:
...at I’ve heard something indirectly about the woman. After all, I couldn’t for the life of me und...
Then I wrote to her directly, although this wasn’t as good as my agreement, which was expressly mad...
And I sent her some money too — if this may have wretched consequences, I’m not responsible for t...
398 To Theo van Gogh. Nieuw-Amsterdam, on or about Monday, 22 October 1883.
in note 5:
Van Gogh says he has written to Sien in letter 395.
in translation:
Oh — I’ve had a letter from the poor woman — was glad I’d written to her, but is worried abou...
400 To Theo van Gogh. Nieuw-Amsterdam, Sunday, 28 October 1883.
in note 7:
...s that Mr van Gogh disapproved of Vincent’s ‘being with the woman’ (in other words with Sien).
in translation:
... people want to paint — buckle down to it. If the woman came, of course she’d have to paint too.
405 To Theo van Gogh. Nieuw-Amsterdam, Sunday, 11 November 1883.
in note 13:
Sien Hoornik.
in translation:
Theo, I’ve heard from the poor woman a few times since. She seems to be carrying on working, doing ...
407 To Theo van Gogh. Nieuw-Amsterdam, Monday, 26 November 1883.
in translation:
The woman I was with, who is she? — a whore, already marked by the pox, already withered and aged, ...
As for me, precisely because the woman I was with is someone who is unhappy through and through and s...
408 To Theo van Gogh. Nieuw-Amsterdam, Saturday, 1 December 1883.
in translation:
..., that I paid for my lodgings, that I sent the woman something, that I paid off some debts. All this...
416 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Friday, 21 December 1883.
in note 5:
Sien Hoornik.
in translation:
I’ve seen the woman again, which I very much longed to do.
...esn’t alter the fact that I don’t in any way want to act as if I didn’t know her or something.
...understood me in this. Given the circumstances, she has behaved bravely since then, a reason for me ...
...cisely because I can do almost nothing more for her now, I must at least try to put heart into her a...
417 To Theo van Gogh. Nuenen, on or about Wednesday, 26 December 1883.
in note 1:
...and the addition in brackets are to indicate that Sien had succeeded in keeping out of prostitution.
in translation:
Know also that I spoke to the woman and that it’s our decision, even more definitely, that she will...
Know that the woman has managed well, working (namely as a washerwoman) to keep herself and her child...
You know that I took her into the house with me because things happened during her confinement that m...
...f consumption, too. Well, as long as I was with her she didn’t get any worse, but stronger in many...
...l that is worse again, and I fear very much for her well-being; and the poor baby, which I cared for...
Brother, I found her in great wretchedness and I’m very sad about it.
...Now, too late, I understand better that some of her fits of temper, and some things that I thought s...
I didn’t want to get her hopes up though, and I encouraged her and tried to comfort her and strengt...
... when other people didn’t want to know me because I was with her, you helped me to keep her alive.
418 To Theo van Gogh. Nuenen, on or about Friday, 28 December 1883.
in translation:
...ow that I mean what I say to you regarding the woman. You must know that all the disappointment that...
... than to deprive such an unfortunate, withered woman and her little child of support? Don’t think ...
...l that time YOU never wrote a single word about her, and didn’t reply when I told you I’d heard ...
The time that I was parted from her has largely spoiled again what had been gained for her well-being...
...ly not a question of money alone, for the poor woman also misses me as I was for her and her childre...
...ou write in a certain letter ‘that I would do her and myself a disservice’; mindful of the servi...
...er — you presume that I would want to take ‘that person’, as you call her, to Drenthe with me.
...e at liberty to dismiss it, decide that for yourself), but it’s worse for the poor woman. Regards.
I’ve had news from her again, since I sent her to a doctor and have heard various details about it....
...at at the beginning you had compassion for the woman in question. But precisely because I myself was...
...ly, here you are. You say yourself that you wish I would leave the woman, yes, leave her completely.
...here you are then. For the sake of putting the woman back on her feet, I would even sacrifice my own...
And as for the woman and the children, she’s attached to me, and that even after the parting, and I...
419 To Theo van Gogh. Nuenen, on or about Friday, 4 January 1884.
in translation:
...tion I sometimes think about going back to the woman I lived with — yes, that I could go so far as...
... Pa about the question of marriage, taking the woman with whom I lived as an example of how it might...
...ave specific plans in this respect, and certainly not as far as the woman I lived with is concerned.
432 To Theo van Gogh. Nuenen, on or about Sunday, 2 March 1884.
in note 19:
Theo had urged Vincent to break with Sien.
in translation:
So you got your way regarding the woman, and it was finished, but — — — — — — what damn g...
446 To Theo van Gogh. Nuenen, between about Monday, 12 and about Thursday, 15 May 1884.
in note 9:
...is remark must refer to Van Gogh’s departure from The Hague and the parting of the ways with Sien.

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7 essay items found

Correspondents / Family members
in correspondents_2:
...teeg and Mauve, condemned his cohabitation with Sien a year later, Vincent did not conceal his contem...
Correspondents / Preservation of the letters
in correspondents_4:
...he autumn of 1881, and with his girlfriends Sien Hoornik and Margot Begemann, but nothing of this has...
...is back on Van Gogh when he started living with Sien. Vincent was constantly railing against Tersteeg...
...(in Mauve’s words), and his relationship with Sien.Van Gogh quotes these words of Mauve’s in lett...
Biographical & historical context / The financial backgrounds
in context_3:
...2.50 guilders each, and Vincent paid his model, Sien, 1 guilder a day. At the time, a good seamstress...
Van Gogh as a letter-writer / The letters: from conventional to personal
in letter_writer_2:
... with Theo. Something similar happened with Sien Hoornik, the prostitute with whom he lived in The Ha...
Van Gogh as a letter-writer / Strategies and rhetoric
in letter_writer_4:
...is worried that Theo will not allow him to keep Sien and her child in the house. He urges Theo to thi...
Van Gogh as a letter-writer / Manuscripts
in letter_writer_5:
...o that he was not acting lightly by living with Sien and was arguing ‘in damned earnest’. He wrot...
Biographical & historical context / The family and children of the Reverend and Mrs Van Gogh
in context_1:
...about Vincent living with the former prostitute Sien (which was regarded as a gross violation of the ...

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2 other items found

Overview of all the letters
in overview:
Sien Hoornik, girlfriend in The Hague
Chronology
in 1883:
... Decides to leave The Hague for the countryside, and ends his relationship with Sien (382, 383).
...in Utrecht. Travels on to The Hague to collect drawings and studies and to see Sien (416, FR b2250).
in 1882:
...of January Meets the pregnant ex-prostitute Sien Hoornik, who becomes his regular model (224, 228).
15 July Sien, her five-year-old daughter Maria and her newborn son Willem move in with him (246)...

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88 letters, 7 essay items and 2 other items found

88 letters found

7 essay items found

2 other items found

Vincent van Gogh, The Letters