The Letters: A Culmination of the Van Gogh Museum's Fifteen-Year Project

The newest edition of Vincent Van Gogh's letters is a pinnacle of achievement for Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum. The 15-year project, which includes almost one-million words, over 4,000 illustrations and has been published in six volumes, has trumped earlier editions by putting the letters in correct chronological order. The new edition includes more accurate translations and detailed annotations, and it truly transforms our current knowledge and understanding of the famed artist.

With almost all of Van Gogh's illustrations now identified (unlike previously, when the lesser known works had remained unidentified), full annotations - with footnotes and references, as well as the inclusion of other important details - like topography, customs, and historical context - The Letters are remarkably detailed and chillingly revealing.

As an article from The Art Newspaper states,

Although most letters were published in earlier editions, some lines were left out for a variety of reasons. For instance, one delightful and telling phrase was omitted simply because it had been crossed out by Van Gogh. On 7 December 1883, while living with his parents in Nuenen, he had written: “People are like brushes—the ones that look the best do not work the best.” This very much reflected his philosophy, and his family often criticised his scruffy clothes.

Sometimes details were withheld, even as late as in the 1958 edition, because they were still sensitive to the family. For instance, in Van Gogh’s unsent letter to Theo and his wife Jo of 7 July 1890, in the last month of his life, the words “while there are disagreements between you” were omitted...

...The most important completely new discovery is a letter from Van Gogh to his former boss at Goupil’s gallery in The Hague, where he had his first job. Van Gogh is said to have eventually written up to 300 letters to Hermanus Tersteeg, but all were apparently thrown into the fire late in his life when he wanted to warm his room. Recently, one letter surfaced, which had been given by Mrs Tersteeg to an autograph collector in around 1900 (it remains with the collector’s descendants). Sent on 3 August 1877, after the death of Tersteeg’s infant daughter Marie, it is a rambling condolence letter, peppered with Biblical quotations, and written at a time when Van Gogh had a deep religious fervour.

As such, the letters reveal a lot about the various aspects of Van Gogh's life - both personal and professional, as well as what it was like to live and work in Europe during the nineteenth century.

Perhaps most compelling, The Letters allow us to grasp a clearer understanding of Van Gogh's tragic death.

On 10 July 1890 he wrote about his latest picture (possibly Wheatfield with Crows), saying he was painting “immense stretches of wheatfields under turbulent skies, and I made a point of trying to express sadness”. Before posting it, he added to the letter the phrase “extreme loneliness”. Since it was in the wheatfields above Auvers-sur-Oise that he shot himself just 17 days later, these additional two words could well have had a deep significance.

The newest edition of the Letters is on display at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from October 9 through January 2010.