From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Paul Gauguin
Date: Arles, probably September or October 1888
Source status
Original manuscript
Location
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b598 b V/1962
Date
On the verso of the sketch Starry night over the Rhône (F - / JH 1594 ), enclosed with letter 693 to Eugène Boch, appears this crossed-out, unsent fragment of a letter written by Van Gogh to Gauguin. This fragment was thus the beginning of a letter, and although the text continued, it was lost when a piece of the paper was cut off.
Because the text is to be found on the sketch enclosed with letter 693 of 2 October 1888 and is an answer to letter 688, written about 26 September 1888, this fragment probably dates from September-October 1888.
Additional
Jansen et al. 2000. The version of the text published there differs in certain details from the present text.