Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (9 October 1888) ... My dear Theo,
Yesterday I sent you a wire asking you for another 20
francs, I shall have nothing but that for my food all the week,
but I have my frames at last and some stretchers.
Only don't let the next letter come later than Sunday, for
it is a close, very close siege these days. But we will hold
out, and I feel quite calm amid all the commotions we are
passing through.
At the very moment I was writing these words, I received
notice of the arrival of Tasset's canvas. Great!
The walnut frames go well with the studies. And I think that
the next batch will be decisive, and that as for selling, we
are getting very hot.
Let's be sensible, and not forget for a minute that not only
for our own sake but also for the success of this studio, we
must get back the money spent during the unproductive years. We
shall if we keep calm; besides, it is our due and we have
suffered enough for it.
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (13 October 1888) ...
He will need time to recover, I tell you. I assure you, I
believe that if ideas for my work come swarming over me now,
and more clearly too, eating decent cooked food has a lot to do
with it, and that is what everyone who paints ought to
have.
What a lot of things there are that ought to be changed.
Isn't it true that all painters ought to live like workmen? A
carpenter or a blacksmith is accustomed to producing infinitely
more than they do. And in painting too we should have large
studios where each man would work with greater regularity.
Letter from Theo van Gogh to Vincent van Gogh (27 October 1888) ... enough to live on than when you
were alone. Why don't you try to get credit with some purveyor
of food in case I am not there, as happened a short while ago,
or if it is impossible for me to send the money at once? I am
very happy that Gauguin is with you, for I was afraid that he
had encountered some obstacle which prevented him from coming.
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 6 November 1888) ... certainly find some interesting things.
Gauguin and I are going to have our dinner at home today,
and we feel as sure and certain that it will turn out well as
that it will seem to us better or cheaper.
So as not to delay this letter I will finish up for today. I
hope to write again soon. Your arrangement about money is quite
right.
I think you will like the fall of the leaves that I have
done.
It is some poplar trunks in lilac cut by the frame where the
leaves begin.
These tree-trunks are lined like pillars along an avenue
where to right and left there are rows of old Roman tombs of a
blue lilac. And then the soil is covered, as with a carpet, by
a thick layer of yellow and orange fallen leaves. And they are
still falling like flakes of snow. And in the avenue little
black figures of lovers. The upper part of the picture is a
bright green meadow, and no sky or almost none .
The second canvas is the same avenue but with an old fellow
and a woman...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 12 November 1888) ... He
is very interesting as a friend, I must tell you that he knows
how to cook perfectly; I think I shall learn from him,
it is very convenient. We find it very easy to make frames with
plain strips of wood nailed on the stretcher and
painted, and I have begun doing this.
Do you know that Gauguin is really partly the inventor of
the white frame? But the frame of four strips nailed on the
stretcher costs 5 sous, and we are certainly going to
perfect it. It does very well, because the frame has no
projection, and is one with the picture.
Good-by for now, a handshake for you, and my compliments to
the Dutchmen.
Ever yours, Vincent
Gauguin sends his greetings, and asks you to keep, out of
the price of the first picture you sell, the amount necessary
for the stretchers with screws that he wants, and also what
Bernard will be asking you for a commission he gave him.
...
