Letter from Vincent to Theo 28 October 1883 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Van Gogh had a very close and intense relationship with his younger brother Theo. One of its most remarkable aspects was their correspondence, preserved in various publications, which provides nearly a day-by-day account by the artist of what he was doing in his art. These letters are notable not only for their sheer number (at least nine hundred) but for the sophistication of the thoughts and ideas they express. They shed light on his art in a way that is rare among artists' documents, and they are deeply moving in the way they reveal his emotional commitment to his art. He talks about everything in his letters -- what he is seeing, what he is feeling -- but primarily about his art.

Theo provided his brother with vital emotional and financial support and served as his artistic sounding board. Van Gogh worked out his ideas about his art in writing to Theo. Many of his letters contain exquisite pen-and-ink drawings, which complement his articulate and insightful correspondence. Theo, in return, often offered advice about art based on his knowledge as a dealer who organized exhibitions of modern painters, including Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. He directed his brother to contemporary French artists and later collected art with him.

The letter illustrated here includes a sketch of a man tilling a field, drawn with great linear richness and variety. Van Gogh used dense hatching to create the foreground field, while he defined the background with much looser and more open pen strokes. He was as taken with peasant themes as was Millet, whom Van Gogh highly admired, particularly for his sincerity.

Van Gogh himself would become one of the foremost nineteenth-century painters of peasants, producing numerous works on the theme that displayed his affinity with the people. His empathy for his subjects is part of what makes his paintings so moving. He is not an objective viewer, standing outside and studying the people; he feels what they feel and experiences their lives alongside them.

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