van Gogh's letters - unabridged and annotated
 
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Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
Auvers-sur-Oise, 24 or 25 June 1890
Relevant paintings:


"Still Life: Vase with Irises against a Yellow Background," Vincent van Gogh
[Enlarge]


"Still Life: Vase with Roses," Vincent van Gogh
[Enlarge]


"Still Life: Pink Roses in a Vase," Vincent van Gogh
[Enlarge]


"Green Wheat Fields," Vincent van Gogh
[Enlarge]


"Road with Cypress and Star," Vincent van Gogh
[Enlarge]


"Portrait of Adeline Ravoux," Vincent van Gogh
[Enlarge]


"Portrait of Adeline Ravoux," Vincent van Gogh
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"Wheat Fields near Auvers," Vincent van Gogh
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"Undergrowth with Two Figures," Vincent van Gogh
[Enlarge]


"Landscape with the Chateau of Auvers at Sunset," Vincent van Gogh
[Enlarge]

Letter 644
Auvers-sur-Oise, 24 or 25 June 1890

My dear Theo,

Many thanks for your letter and for the 50-franc note it contained. The exchange you have made with Bock is very good, and I am very curious to see what he is doing now.

I hope that Jo is better, as you say that she has been indisposed. Certainly you must come here as soon as possible; nature is very, very beautiful here and I am longing to see you all again.

M. Peyron wrote to me two days ago, enclosed is his letter. I told him that I thought about 10 francs for the servants would be enough.

The canvases have arrived now from there; the irises are quite dry and I hope you will find something in it, and there are also the roses, a field of wheat, a little canvas with mountains and finally a cypress with a star.

This week I have done a portrait of a girl of about 16, in blue against a blue background, the daughter of the people I am lodging with. I have given her this portrait, but I made a variant of it for you, a size 15 canvas.

Then I have a long canvas one meter by just 50 centimeters high, of wheat fields, and one which makes a pendant, of undergrowth, lilac poplar trunks and below them grass with flowers, pink, yellow, white and various greens. Lastly, an evening effect - two pear trees all black against a yellowing sky, with some wheat, and in the violet background the château surrounded by somber greenery.

The Dutchman works quite diligently, but still has many illusions about the originality of his way of seeing things. He is doing studies somewhat like those Koning did, a little grey, a little green, with a red roof and a whitish road.

What is one to say in a case like this? If he has money, then certainly he would do well to paint, but if he has to intrigue a lot to make sales, I pity him because he does paintings like the others because they buy them at a relatively excessive price. He will get there though, if only he works diligently every day. But alone or with painters who work little, he won't come to much, I think.

I hope to do the portrait of Mlle. Gachet next week, and perhaps I shall have a country girl pose too.

A little later on I should very much like to come to Paris for several days just to go and look up Quost and Jeannin and one or two others. I should very much like you to have a Quost, and there might probably be some way of exchanging one. Gachet came today to look at the canvases of the Midi. Good luck with the little one and a good handshake in thought to you and Jo.

[No signature]


At this time, Vincent was 37 year old
Source:
Vincent van Gogh. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Written 24 or 25 June 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise. Translated by Robert Harrison, edited by Robert Harrison, number 644.
URL: https://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/21/644.htm.

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