685

Br. 1990: 689 | CL: 540
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Theo van Gogh
Date: Arles, Friday, 21 September 1888
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1. See letter 682, n. 13 and 685, for Milliet and the Japanese prints.
2. The Matsumotorō theatre in the Tokyo pleasure district (Tōkyō Matsumotorō) by Utagawa Kunisada ii, 1870. Ill. 2250 [2250], Ill. 2285 [2285], Ill. 2286 [2286]. The print survived as a triptych in the family estate. See cat. Amsterdam 1991, pp. 228-231, cat. no. 318. The package of Japanese prints probably also included Geishas in a landscape by Sato Torakiyo, c. 1870-1880, since this woodcut is pictured in Self-portrait with bandaged ear (F 527 / JH 1657 [2764]) which Van Gogh painted in January 1889. See also Douglas Cooper, ‘Two Japanese prints from Vincent van Gogh’s collection’, The Burlington Magazine 99 (June 1957), no. 651, p. 204.
[2250] [2285] [2286] [2764]
3. It is not possible to identify the print Van Gogh means here; there are several heads of women in the family collection.
4. Cf. letter 681, n. 6, for the term ‘artist’s house’.
5. See letter 623, n. 16, for Russell’s house.
6. See letter 637, n. 10, for the magazine Le Japon Artistique. The leading article of the first issue (May 1888) was ‘Programme’ by Siegfried Bing (pp. 1-10).
7. See letter 628, n. 20, for Loti’s Madame Chrysanthème.
8. See letter 678, n. 16, for this photograph of Mrs van Gogh.
9. Self-portrait (F 476 / JH 1581 [2715]).
[2715]
10. See letter 574, n. 5, for the novel Germinie Lacerteux by Jules and Edmond de Goncourt. By ‘Germinie Lacerteux’s colour’ Van Gogh means Germinie’s ‘pale look’, which he talks about in a later letter. See letter 804, n. 12.
11. Van Gogh had written about his first attempt to paint a Christ in the Garden of Olives in letter 637.
12. Theo must have visited Charles Maurin in his studio at 18 rue de Chabrol – this address is given in the catalogue of the Indépendants’ fourth exhibition (1888). On 17 September, Maurin wrote to Félix Vallotton about this visit from Theo: ‘Boussod et Valadon called on me today – he wants to exhibit my work, I told him that it’s unsaleable, they’re not fancy goods, but all the same, he insists.’ (Venu aujourd’hui chez moi Boussod et Valadon – il veut m’exposer, je lui dis que ça n’est pas vendable, pas article de Paris; mais quoique, et il insiste.) See G. Guisan, D. Jakubec, Félix Vallotton: documents pour une biographie et pour l’histoire d’une oeuvre. Lausanne and Paris 1973-1975. Vol. i: Lettres 1884-1889, p. 44.
13. See letter 682, n. 1, for Maurin, Before the accident [2245].
[2245]