The French auction house Aguttes in Neuilly-sur-Seine is bidding on 5 April a letter from Vincent van Gogh for sale to† The letter sent on January 20, 1890 comes from a private collection and has a target price of 200,000 to 250,000 euros.
It is a well-known letter addressed to Maria and Joseph Ginoux, the owners of the café-restaurant in Arles where Van Gogh rented a room and had his meals. Of Maria, Van Gogh painted a total of six portraits in traditional costume, all of which L’Arlesienne (The woman from Arles) are called.
The letter was sent from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where Van Gogh had been admitted to an institution after a nervous breakdown in which he cut off part of his left ear.
In the letter he says that he is doing a little better. He also inquires about Mrs. Ginoux, who was ailing at the same time as her health. Van Gogh: “Diseases are there to remind us that we are not made of wood, I think that is the good side of all this.”
Van Gogh probably wrote more than two thousand letters in total. Of these, 819 have been preserved. These are all bundled and published online.
Correspondence
The Van Gogh Museum manages most of the surviving correspondence. It is not often that Van Gogh’s letters are offered for sale. Almost two years ago, the Van Gogh Museum acquired a joint letter from Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, in which they alternately reported on their stay in Arles, addressed to their artist friend Emile Bernard. The Vincent van Gogh Foundation bought that letter for 210,600 euros at an auction at Drouot in Paris.
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