let902

Metadata

• Source XML: let902.xml
• Title: To Theo van Gogh. Auvers-sur-Oise, Wednesday, 23 July 1890.
• Generated: 2026-01-16T18:45:25Z

Letter text (plain)

Mon cher frère, Merci de ta lettre d’aujourd’hui et du billet de 50 fr. qu’elle contenait _ Je voudrais peutêtre t’écrire sur bien des chôses mais d’abord l’envie m’en a tellement passée / puis j’en sens l’inutilité _ J’espère que tu auras retrouvé ces messieurs dans de bonnes dispositions à ton égard _ Pour ce qui est de l’état de paix dans ton ménage / je suis autant convaincu de la possibilité de la conserver que des orages qui la menacent _ Je préfère ne pas oublier le peu de francais que je sais et certes ne saurais voir l’utilité d’approfondir le tort ou la raison dans des discussions éventuelles de part ou autre _ Seulement cela m’intéresserait pas _ Ici les chôses vont vite – Dries / toi et moi n’en sommes nous pas un peu plus convaincus / le sentons nous pas un peu davantage que ces dames _ Tant mieux pour elles – mais enfin causer à tête reposée / nous n’y comptons même pas _ – En ce qui me regarde je m’applique sur mes toiles avec toute mon attention / je cherche à faire aussi bien que de certains peintres que j’ai beaucoup aimé et admiré _ – Ce qu’il me semble en revenant – c’est que les peintres eux mêmes sont de plus en plus aux abois _ – Bon – –. mais le moment de chercher à leur faire comprendre l’utilité d’une union n’est il pas un peu passé déjà _ D’autre part une union / se formerait elle / sombrerait si le reste doive sombrer _ Alors tu me dirais peutêtre que des marchands s’uniraient pour les impressionistes; ce serait bien passager. Enfin il me semble que l’initiative personnelle demeure inefficace / et experience faite / la recommencerait-on? J’ai constaté avec plaisir que le Gauguin de Bretagne que j’ai vu etait très beau et il me semble que les autres qu’il a fait là-bas doivent l’être aussi.– Peut-être verras tu ce croquis du jardin de Daubigny – c’est une de mes toiles les plus voulues – j’y joins un croquis de vieux chaumes et les croquis de 2 toiles de 30 représentant d’immenses étendues de blé après la pluie. Hirschig a demandé de te prier de vouloir bien lui commander la liste de couleurs ci jointe chez le même marchand des couleurs que tu m’envoies. Tasset peut les lui envoyer directement à lui contre remboursement mais alors il faudrait lui accorder les 20%. Ce qui sera le plus simple _ Ou bien tu les joindrais à l’envoi de couleurs pour moi en ajoutant la facture ou en me disant combien en est le montant et alors il t’enverrait l’argent à toi. Ici on ne peut pas en trouver de bonnes de couleurs. J’ai simplifié ma commande à moi jusqu’à un minimum bien raide _ Hirsching commence à comprendre un peu il m’a semblé / il a fait le portrait du vieux maitre d’école qu’il lui a donné, bien – et puis il a des etudes de paysage qui sont comme les Konink qui sont chez toi à peu près comme couleur. Cela deviendra peutêtre tout à fait comme cela ou comme les choses de Voerman que nous avons vues ensemble. à bientot _ Porte toi bien et bonne chance dans les affaires &c. bien le bonjour à Jo et poignées de main en pensée. b. à v. Vincent. le jardin de Daubigny avant plan d’herbe verte & rose / à gauche un buisson vert & lilas et une souche de plantes à feuillage blanchâtre _ Au milieu un parterre de roses. à droite une claie / un mur et au-dessus du mur un noisetier à feuillage violet. Puis une haie de lilas / une rangée de tilleuls arondis jaunes. la maison elle-même dans le fond / rose à toit de tuiles bleuatres. Un banc et 3 chaises / une figure noire à chapeau jaune et sur l’avant plan un chat noir _ Ciel vert pâle. se formerait < si formerait impressionistes; < impressionistes My dear brother, Thanks for your letter of today and for the 50-franc note it contained. I’d perhaps like to write to you about many things, but first the desire has passed to such a degree, then I sense the pointlessness of it. I hope that you’ll have found those gentlemen favourably disposed towards you. As regards the state of peace in your household, I’m just as convinced of the possibility of preserving it as of the storms that threaten it. I prefer not to forget the little French I know, and certainly wouldn’t see the point of delving deeper into the rights or wrongs in any discussions on one side or the other. It’s just that this wouldn’t interest me. Things go quickly here – aren’t Dries, you and I a little more convinced of that, don’t we feel it a little more than those ladies ? So much the better for them – but anyway, talking with rested minds, we can’t even count on that. As for myself, I’m applying myself to my canvases with all my attention, I’m trying to do as well as certain painters whom I’ve liked and admired a great deal. What seems to me on my return – is that the painters themselves are increasingly at bay. Very well. But has the moment to make them understand the utility of a union not rather passed already? On the other hand a union, if it were formed, would go under if the rest went under. Then you’d perhaps tell me that dealers would unite for the Impressionists; that would be very fleeting. Anyway it seems to me that personal initiative remains ineffective, and having done the experiment, would one begin it again? I noted with pleasure that the Gauguin from Brittany that I saw was very beautiful, and it seems to me that the others he’s done there must be too. Perhaps you’ll see this croquis of Daubigny ’s garden – it’s one of my most deliberate canvases – to it I’m adding a croquis of old thatched roofs and the croquis of 2 no. 30 canvases depicting immense stretches of wheat after the rain. Hirschig asked me to ask you please to order the attached list of colours for him from the same colourman you send me. Tasset can send them directly to him, cash on delivery, but then he would have to be given the 20%. Which would be simplest. Or you’d put them into the consignment of colours for me, adding the invoice or telling me how much they cost, and then he’d send you the money. Here one can’t find anything good in the way of colours. I’ve simplified my own order to a very bare minimum. Hirschig is beginning to understand a little, it has seemed to me, he’s done the portrait of the old schoolmaster, which he gave him, good – and then he has landscape studies which are a little like the Koning s at your place as regards colour. It will become completely like that, perhaps, or like the things by Voerman that we saw together. More soon. Look after yourself, and good luck in business &c. Warm regards to Jo , and handshakes in thought. Yours truly, Vincent. Daubigny ’s garden Foreground of green and pink grass, on the left a green and lilac bush and a stem of plants with whitish foliage. In the middle a bed of roses. To the right a hurdle, a wall, and above the wall a hazel tree with violet foliage. Then a hedge of lilac, a row of rounded yellow lime trees. The house itself in the background, pink with a roof of bluish tiles. A bench and 3 chairs, a dark figure with a yellow hat, and in the foreground a black cat. Sky pale green. This was letter 901 . On 25 July 1890, Theo wrote to Jo about this letter: ‘There was a letter from Vincent which again I find incomprehensible. We’ve not fallen out, either with him or with each other. He wasn’t even aware that Dries had refused to enter into a joint venture. His letter included a couple of sketches of paintings he’s working on, which look very nice. If only he could find someone to buy a couple from him, but I’m afraid this could still take a very long time. But one cannot drop him when he’s working so hard and so well. When will a happy time come for him? He’s so thoroughly good and helped me so much to keep going.’ Jo answered on 26 July: ‘What might be the matter with Vincent? Did we go too far the day he came? My dearest, I have firmly resolved never to squabble with you again – and always do what you wish’ (FR b2063 and b4241; Brief happiness 1999, pp. 261-264). Theo’s employers at Boussod, Valadon & Cie. During his visit to Theo and Jo ( see letter 898 ), Vincent had apparently insisted on speaking French instead of Dutch, and this idea must have met with resistance from Jo and Andries . This refers to Jo and Annie (Andries’s wife). It cannot be ascertained which ‘ Gauguin from Brittany’ Vincent is referring to here. Theo had various works of his on consignment which Vincent could have seen during his visit to Paris. See letters 799 and 813 . Vincent means that Theo will one day see the painting after which the letter sketch F - / JH 2106 was made. Van Gogh painted two large canvases of Daubigny ’s garden: Daubigny’s garden ( F 776 / JH 2104 ) and Daubigny’s garden ( F 777 / JH 2105 ). In letter 898 he mentioned the first version of the painting, F 777 / JH 2105 . The letter sketch in the present letter was made after Daubigny’s garden ( F 776 / JH 2104 ), as is clear from the dots used to indicate the path in the lower left corner and the diagonal lines on the roof of the church at top right. The sketch is more elongated than the painting, which accounts for some differences in the composition. The black cat was painted out later. The letter sketch Thatched cottages and figures ( F - / JH 2116 ) was made after the painting of the same name ( F 780 / JH 2115 ). The letter sketch Wheatfields ( F - / JH 2100 ) was made after the painting of the same name F 782 / JH 2099 . Wheatfields ( F - / JH 2103 ) was made after the painting of the same name F 781 / JH 2102 . The paint orders for Hirschig and Vincent (l. 67) have not been preserved. These works by Hirschig are not known. For the paintings by Arnold Koning in Theo’s collection, see letter 666, n. 9. In mid-May, meaning the time when Vincent was in Paris, H.G. Tersteeg had sent Theo on consignment a watercolour by Jan Voerman Sr . It is not known which watercolour, however. See Anna Wagner, Jan Voerman. IJsselschilder . Zwolle 1991, p. 54.