APPENDIX ONE Some Facts About the Letters

Total number of letters surviving: 903
Number written by Van Gogh: 820
Number written to Van Gogh: 83

Approximately two-thirds are in Dutch and one-third in French. Six are in English. The actual correspondence perhaps comprises as many as two thousand items, approximately half of which have not survived. See Vincent van Gogh: The Letters, 6:41.

Number of letters to:

Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger: 659 (Theo: 651; Theo and Jo: 7; Jo: 1)

Anthon van Rappard: 58

Émile Bernard: 22

Willemien van Gogh: 21

Vincent’s parents (Theodorus van Gogh and Anna van Gogh-Carbentus): 17 (both parents: 5; mother: 8; mother and Theo: 1; mother and Willemien: 3)

Anton Kerssemakers (an amateur artist to whom Van Gogh gave lessons in Nuenen): 5

Paul Gauguin: 4

There are seventeen other recipients. See Vincent van Gogh: The Letters, 6:40.

Number of letters from:

Theo van Gogh and Jo van Gogh-Bonger: 46 (Theo: 39; Theo and Jo: 2; Jo: 5)

Paul Gauguin: 16

There are fifteen other senders. See Vincent van Gogh: The Letters, 6:41.

Van Gogh preferred to use sheets of paper folded in four, and on average, his letters consist of one sheet of four pages. The letters range in length from one to sixteen pages. Approximately 1,200 sheets survive, with approximately 3,800 pages. There are 242 letter-sketches, including sketches inserted into a letter, as an accompaniment.