828 (812, GAC 36): Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh. Le Pouldu, on or about Friday, 13 December 1889.

828

Br. 1990: 812 | CL: GAC 36
From: Paul Gauguin
To: Vincent van Gogh
Date: Le Pouldu, on or about Friday, 13 December 1889
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Source status:

Original manuscript

Location:

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. nos. b869 a-b V/1962

Date:

This letter was previously dated to about 20 October, but it must have been written two months later. Gauguin, who had wanted to answer a letter from Van Gogh ‘ages ago’ (l. 2), talks about the decoration he is making together with Meijer de Haan for an inn in Le Pouldu. In his letter of 22 October to Theo, De Haan makes no mention whatsoever of a decoration; on the contrary, he is planning to devote himself completely to studies in the coming year (FR b1042). Nor did Gauguin mention it in a letter he wrote to Vincent (letter 817) some time between about Sunday, 10 and Wednesday, 13 November. Robert Welsh therefore suggested another date, on the basis of a letter from De Haan to Theo of 13 December 1889 (FR b1319), in which De Haan writes that the four walls have been painted. This agrees with what Gauguin says in the present letter (see Welsh 1989, p. 37 and n. 20). According to Welsh, Gauguin and De Haan did not begin work on the decoration until mid-November.

Van Gogh says in letter 823 of 26 November that he has written to Gauguin; the present letter must be Gauguin’s reply, in which he says that it took him a long time to get around to answering it (l. 2). Moreover, Van Gogh says in letter 829 of about 19 December that he has received a letter from Gauguin: ‘a letter thoroughly impregnated with the proximity of the sea, I think he must be doing fine, rather savage things’; this, too, must refer to the present letter. Another argument for reversing the order of the letters is Gauguin’s reference to Christ in the Garden of Olives(see n. 7). All things considered, we have dated the letter to about Friday, 13 December 1889. Pickvance dated it to about Thursday, 12 December (see exhib. cat. New York 1986, p. 56).

Additional:

Gauguin enclosed a sketch with colour annotations, which is not known. Cf. n. 4.

Sketches

A. Breton woman, seen from the back, letter sketch
B. Face of a Breton, letter sketch

1. This was the (unknown) letter mentioned by Van Gogh in letter 823.

2. The decoration for the dining room of Marie Henry’s inn at Le Pouldu (Brittany) was a collaborative effort by Gauguin, De Haan, Paul Sérusier and Charles Filiger. For the decorative programme, see Welsh 1989 and Gauguin’s Nirvana: painters at Le Pouldu, 1889-1890. Ed. E. M. Zafran. Hartford and London 2001, pp. 61-101.

3. The window in the dining room, which Gauguin and De Haan painted with rustic motifs in oil paint, has not been preserved. Maxime Maufra recalled a decoration with white geese and blue and yellow ornaments, ‘imitating stained glass’. See Maxime Maufra, ‘Souvenirs de Pont-Aven et du Pouldu’, Bulletin des amis du Musée de Rennes. Numéro spécial “Pont-Aven”. Rennes 1978, p. 24.

a. Read: ‘Haan’.

4. De Haan’s fresco, transferred to canvas, is Breton women scutching flax: Labour, 1889 (private collection). Ill. 2295

. The sketch Gauguin made after it is not known. It emerges from Meijer de Haan’s letter of 13 December 1889 to Theo that Gauguin also wrote an ‘explanation of the colours’ on the sketch. De Haan, who remarks that Gauguin is very pleased with the mural, describes it as follows: ‘it is a depiction titled Labour, Pouldu at the height of the harvest, with many figures 1.25 metres high, the whole is 3 by 2 and I finished such a thing very quickly. Also 5 large, detailed still lifes. So that this little room looks truly cosy, since we’ve decorated all the walls with ornaments in character and style’ (FR b1319).

5. Paul Gauguin, Joan of Arc, 1889 (W329) (Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum). Ill. 2296

6. The two portraits are Self-portrait, 1889 (W323) (Washington, National Gallery of Art (Chester Dale Collection)), Ill. 2145

, and Meijer de Haan, 1889 (W317) (private collection). Ill. 2146

7. Gauguin’s previous letter contained a description and a sketch of this painting, Christ in the Garden of Olives . See letter 817, n. 10.

8. In 1889 Gauguin made several paintings of this subject, such as Breton girls in front of the sea (W340) (Tokyo, Museum of Western Art) and Cowherdess (W344) (Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek).

9. Paul Gauguin, Women collecting kelp ii, 1889 (W349) (Essen, Museum Folkwang). Ill. 111

b. Read: ‘Trophime’.

10. In a letter to Theo, Vincent compared this Romanesque portal to ‘a Chinese nightmare’. See letter 588, n. 8.

11. For Meijer de Haan’s Uriel Acosta , see letter 708, n. 2. Van Gogh had sent his letter to Isaäcson in care of Theo on about 8 October (see letter 810); apparently Isaäcson, who was staying in Paris, had sent it on to De Haan in Le Pouldu.

12. There is no known drawing by Van Gogh after Rembrandt. It is possible that Gauguin was mistaken, and that Van Gogh had suggested exchanging his painting Angel (after ‘Rembrandt’) (F 624 / JH 1778) for one of Gauguin’s works. Gauguin had written earlier about a reproduction of an angel by Rembrandt, of which Van Gogh had a copy (letter 817).

828

Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh. Le Pouldu, on or about Friday, 13 December 1889.

828

Original text

Translation

Notes

Artwork

828 Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh. Le Pouldu, on or about Friday, 13 December 1889.

828 Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh. Le Pouldu, on or about Friday, 13 December 1889.

Vincent van Gogh, The Letters

828

Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh. Le Pouldu, on or about Friday, 13 December 1889.

828

Original text

Translation

Notes

Artwork

828 Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh. Le Pouldu, on or about Friday, 13 December 1889.

828 Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh. Le Pouldu, on or about Friday, 13 December 1889.

Vincent van Gogh, The Letters

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