1. Sans-culottes is the sobriquet of the revolutionaries in the French Revolution.

2. This comic spelling was probably prompted by Mourier-Petersen’s accent, which Van Gogh joked about; see letter 623.

3. A reference to Theo’s stay in the Netherlands in the second half of July 1887. At the time Vincent wrote in a letter to Willemien that Theo’s family and friends in Amsterdam and The Hague had not received him very warmly. He attributed this attitude to ‘professional jealousy’, because Theo was still selling pictures despite the difficult times. See letter 574.

4. Pink peach trees (‘Souvenir de Mauve’) (F 394/ JH 1379 ).

5. Basket of apples (F 378 / JH 1340 ).

6. Reid had Basket of apples (F 379 / JH 1341 ).

7. Basket of oranges (F 395 / JH 1363 ) of early March 1888 (see letter 583). Breitner never had this study in his possession, nor was it dedicated to him.

8. Van Gogh had promised Sprig of almond blossom in a glass with a book (F 393 / JH 1362 ) to Willemien. See letter 590.

9. Since 1884 the Hague museum had been housed in a building in Korte Vijverberg and collected, among other things, paintings by contemporary (mainly Hague) artists. The gift of the two paintings, Vegetable gardens in Montmartre (F 350 / JH 1245 ) and The gardens of Montmartre (F 316 / JH 1246 ), did not go ahead.

10. For the consignment of paintings to Tersteeg, see letter 589, n. 4. Theo had included Vincent’s The Seine with the Clichy bridge (F 303 / JH 1323 ) in the consignment.

11. See for the ‘Petit Boulevard’: letter 584, n. 6.

12. The Langlois bridge with washerwomen (F 397 / JH 1368 ). Van Gogh dedicated the painting to Tersteeg, but in the end he did not get it; the dedication was removed. See letter 608, n. 3.

13. We do not know whether The Langlois bridge with washerwomen (F 397 / JH 1368 ) was framed in the way Van Gogh suggested. He painted a blue border around the second version (F 571 / JH 1392 ). See exhib. cat. Amsterdam 1995-2, pp. 166-169.

14. In the spring and summer of 1887 Van Gogh painted a great deal in the neighbourhood of Asnières to the north of Paris. See for the works from this period: Hulsker 1996, pp. 280-285.

15. By Reid’s inexplicable behaviour Van Gogh was probably referring to his view that Reid had paid Guillaumin too low a price for a painting. See letter 591.

16. The proposed letter to Russell is letter 598, of 19 April.

17. The progressive Théâtre Libre in Paris, founded by André Antoine (96 rue Blanche), opened on 30 March 1887. Van Gogh’s Couples in a Montmartre garden (F 314 / JH 1258 ) hung in the rehearsal room. Seurat and Signac also exhibited there. See exhib. cat. Paris 1988, p. 34.

18. The frame maker Jean-Marie Boyer had his shop at 38bis rue Fontaine in Paris (Almanach du commerce de Paris 1887, and AP, Liste électorale 1889, 9e arr.). The lithograph was ‘At eternity’s gate’ (F 1662 / JH 268 ).

19. No work with apple trees in blossom from this period is known. The beginning of April is early for apple trees to come into flower, although it is not impossible in the warm south (with thanks to Hans den Nijs, Experimental Plant Systematics, University of Amsterdam). Van Gogh probably did not mean a specific painting here, but rather a subject he was planning to paint (some time later he mentions paintings of an orchard with ‘poiriers et pommiers’ (pear trees and apple trees)); see letter 597), or else he was using the word ‘pommiers’ here for orchards in blossom in general.

a. Read: ‘vives’.

20. It has not been possible to ascertain which question (or questions) Vincent is talking about here – evidently discussed by Theo in his previous letter. Pierre Firmin Martin, an art dealer and business contact of Theo’s, handled Victor Vignon’s work. See also letter 634, n. 9. Mr Gendre has not been identified.

b. Read: ‘probablement’.