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008 To Theo van Gogh. The Hague, Friday, 9 May 1873.

metadata
No. 008 (Brieven 1990 008, Complete Letters 8)
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: The Hague, Friday, 9 May 1873

Source status
Original manuscript

Location
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b8 V/1962

Date
Letter headed: ‘den Haag 9 Mei 1873’.

original text
 1r:1
den Haag 9 Mei 1873

Waarde Theo,
Maandag morgen vertrek ik van Helvoirt naar Parijs & passeer Brussel om 2 uur 7 min.─1 Als je kunt kom dan aan ’t station, dat zal mij veel genoegen doen.
Voor ik het vergeet; gisteren  1v:2 heb ik aan Mevr. Tersteeg je portret laten zien2 & die zou er zoo heel graag een hebben. Zou je soms kans zien er nog een te krijgen & mij te sturen.
Als het nu niet kan denk er dan later eens om.─
Theo je kunt niet begrijpen hoe lief allen hier voor mij zijn;3 dat het mij spijt van zooveel vrienden te moeten scheiden kan je wel denken.─
 1v:3
Adieu kerel, groet Oom & Tante4 hartelijk voor mij. tot ziens.

Vincent.

Informeer eens of je aan ’t Station du Nord of du Midi moet wezen.─5

translation
 1r:1
The Hague, 9 May 1873

My dear Theo,
On Monday morning I’ll leave Helvoirt for Paris, passing through Brussels at 2:07.1 Do come to the station if you can; it would give me great pleasure.
Before I forget, yesterday  1v:2 I showed your portrait to Mrs Tersteeg,2 and she would like very much to have one. Would you have a chance to get another one and send it to me?
If you can’t do it now, try to think of it some other time.
Theo, you have no idea how kind to me they all are here;3 you can imagine how sorry I am to have to part from so many friends.  1v:3
Adieu, old chap, give my warm regards to Uncle and Aunt.4 Goodbye for now.

Vincent.

Find out whether you have to be at the Station du Nord or du Midi.5
notes
1. Van Gogh was planning to be in Helvoirt by Saturday evening, 10 May to take leave of his parents (FR b2626); he left Helvoirt on Monday, 12 May. On his way to London he stopped off in Paris, where he spent nearly a week.
2. Maria Magdalena Alida Tersteeg-Pronk, wife of Van Gogh’s superior Hermanus Gijsbertus Tersteeg. For this portrait, cf. letter 5, n. 5.
3. Mrs van Gogh wrote to Theo on 11 May, when Vincent was in Helvoirt: ‘It’s wonderful to hear Vincent telling about how kind everyone was to him and about his leave-taking from The Hague. He was given an album and so many little presents and portraits, two very large, splendid portraits of Uncle and Aunt Haanebeek, Mr and Mrs Tersteeg and Betsy, Aunt Fietje and the girls, and others’ (FR b2626).
4. Uncle Hein and Aunt Mietje in Brussels.
5. Van Gogh took the train that went to Paris via Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels. According to the 1873 timetable, the train arrived at 14.06 at Brussels North; the connection to Paris left from Brussels South at 14.35 and arrived in Paris at 21.05 (Brussels, Archives of the Belgian Railways).