Chapter 8: A Friend in Need

  1.       Émile Bernard, French artist (1868–1941).

  2.       Émile Bernard, La Mercure de France, Paris, April 1893, pp. 328–9.

  3.       (Claude) Émile Schuffenecker (1851–1934) met Paul Gauguin in 1872 when they both worked on the stock exchange. Gauguin encouraged him to become a painter. He became Gauguin’s great friend. The artist stayed with Schuffenecker in Paris after returning from his trip to the Caribbean in 1887, and fled to his home after returning to the capital from Arles in late December 1888.

  4.       Mette-Sophie Gad (1850–1920).

  5.       Alphonse Portier (1841–1902), Parisian art dealer.

  6.       From April to October 1887 Gauguin travelled to the Caribbean with the painter Charles Laval (1861–94).

  7.       Vincent organised an exhibition in Le Grand Bouillon Restaurant du Chalet in November–December 1887.

  8.       Letter 576, Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh, December 1887 (VGM). Cluzel’s store was at 33, rue Fontaine Saint-Georges, Montmartre, Paris.

  9.       Paul Gauguin’s painting is called Among the Mangoes, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum.

  10.     Letter 581, Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh, 29 February 1888 (VGM).

  11.     The accepted dates for the trip to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer are 30 or 31 May to 4 or 5 June. I suggest that these dates may be incorrect. While on this trip Van Gogh painted a seascape showing a fairly strong wind whipping across the waves. The mistral blew at Les Saintes-Maries on 27 May and again on 7 June. Marie Julien-Ginoux had her fortieth birthday on Friday 8 June – Vincent may have had to give up his room at the Café de la Gare where he was staying in May 1888, if she was putting up friends and family for a few days. This would explain why he planned his return from Saturday, the day after her birthday. As this is only a hypothesis, I have chosen to maintain the dates for this trip and the letters put forth by the Van Gogh Museum. Carriages left for Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer every day at 6 a.m. from rue Saint-Roch. L’Homme de Bronze, 30 May 1888 (MA); Annales Arles mai et juin 1888, Météo-France, Région Sud-Est.

  12.     Letter 619, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, Arles, 3 or 4 June 1888 (VGM).

  13.     The gypsies camping in allée de Fourques on the opposite side of the river were moved by the police on 21 and 22 August. L’Homme de Bronze, 26 August 1888, p. 3 (MA).

  14.     Letter 619, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 3 or 4 June 1888 (VGM).

  15.     Émile Bernard, Paul Gauguin, Louis Anquetin, Armand Guillaumin were amongst the painters that Van Gogh admired in Brittany.

  16.     Letter 616, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 28 or 29 May 1888 (VGM).

  17.     The fellow artist was Auguste Joseph Bracquemond, called Félix Bracquemond (1833–1914), painter and ceramist. Letter from Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) to his son Lucien Pissarro, 23 January 1887. Janine Bailly-Herzberg (ed.), Correspondance de Camille Pissarro, 1886–90, Vol. 2 (Editions du Valhermeil, Paris: 1986), pp. 120–2.

  18.     Letter 646, Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh, 22 July 1888 (VGM).

  19.     Letter 653, Vincent van Gogh to Willemien van Gogh, 31 July 1888 (VGM).

  20.     Letter 672, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 1 September 1888 (VGM).

  21.     Letter 674, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 4 September 1888 (VGM).

  22.     Letter 682, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 18 September 1888 (VGM).

  23.     For confirmation that Gauguin was the artist Van Gogh intended to paint, see note 8 of Letter 663, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 18 August 1888 (VGM).

  24.     Letter 693, Vincent van Gogh to Eugène Boch, 2 October 1888 (VGM).

  25.     L’Homme de Bronze, 30 September 1888 (MA). On 6 January 1884 the town newspaper had reported that the level of illumination in front of the café was the equivalent of thirteen Carcel lamps or fifteen ordinary gas jets. L’Homme de Bronze, 6 January 1884 (MA).

  26.     Letter 688, Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh, on or about 26 September 1888 (VGM).

  27. 27    The surimonos tradition was explained in L’Art japonais by Louis Gonse, Paris, 1883. See note 16, Letter 695, Vincent van Gogh to Paul Gauguin, 3 October 1888 (VGM).

  28.     Letter 692, Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh, 1 October 1888 (VGM).

  29.     Letter 697, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 4 or 5 October 1888 (VGM).

  30.     Letter 701, Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 10 or 11 October 1888 (VGM).

  31.     Letter 706, Vincent van Gogh to Paul Gauguin, 17 October 1888 (VGM).