Letter T 37 Paris, 15 June 1890
My dear Vincent,
I am very pleased to see that the news about yourself goes on being good, and that the courage to do your work is far from leaving you.
Today Tasset is going to send you the paints you ordered. The other day Tangui told me that Tasset’s tubes were much shorter and therefore contained less paint than his. If this should be the case, please tell me, for then I could make use of it to get a reduction in price. It will be much easier for you when your furniture has arrived, for then you might be able to get a comrade to stay with you too. There is a Dutchman who is going to call on you; he was recommended by De Bock 1, who had advised him to go to Fontainebleau, but he doesn’t like it. I don’t know if he has any talent; he had nothing to show me.
Lauzet came yesterday morning to see your pictures; he is very busy with his Monticellis, which are to appear within some ten days. He likes the “Portrait of a Woman�[F 489, JH 1625] which you did at Arles very much. As regards his [Gauguin’s] project with reference to Martinique, perhaps it is what he needs, but if it depends wholly on a payment to be made to an inventory, it is not very certain yet. Herewith enclosed you will find a letter from him,
which he asked me to send on to you. Staying with Schuffenecker doesn’t do him any good; he is hardly doing any work, whereas Brittany inspires him. So it is right that he should go away.
I give you Jo’s greetings; I must hurry to finish this letter, otherwise it will not go off today. She is a little indisposed, but I hope it is nothing serious.
Cordial handshake.
Theo 1. Theophile Emile Achille de Bock (1851-1904), Dutch painter and graphic artist, and admirer of the Barbizon school.