Letters from Vincent. 900+ of them.

http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/
Annotated, illustrated with transcriptions and translations.

Van Gogh’s letters

The artist speaks
9 October 2009 - 3 January 2010
From 9 October 2009 to 3 January 2010 Van Gogh's letters will take centre stage in the exhibition Van Gogh's letters: The artist speaks. More than 120 original letters will be on show alongside the works that Van Gogh was writing about. These important documents have seldom or never been shown to the public due to their extreme fragility and sensitivity to light.
The combination of more than 300 works from the museum's own rich collection, including paintings, drawings, letters and letter sketches, offers a penetrating and comprehensive insight into Van Gogh as letter writer and as artist.

Especially for this exhibition the Van Gogh Museum has been able to secure the loan of three special letters from Vincent van Gogh to the artist Emile Bernard (1868-1941) from The Morgan Library & Museum in New York.

‘There are so many people, especially  among our pals, who imagine that words are nothing. On the contrary, don’t you think, it’s as interesting and as difficult to say a thing well as to paint a thing.’
Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard, 19 April 1888

Fascinating artistic correspondence
Vincent van Gogh was not only a ground-breaking artist, but also an ardent letter writer, who left to the world one of the most fascinating and multi-faceted bodies of artistic correspondence that we know. The 902 letters, of which more than 800 are held in the Van Gogh Museum, chronicle in direct and compelling style the story of his eventful life, the close bond with his brother and confidant Theo and the development of his work. These documents of more than 120 years ago with their many wonderful letter sketches unite the artist with the letter writer.
In the exhibition quotations from the letters guide the visitor through Van Gogh's paintings and those of his contemporaries, offering insights into his views on art and the role of the artist. The reader is witness to his dreams and disappointments, his passions and tribulations, friendships and quarrels, the battle with his illness and his all-encompassing desire to create art that would live on.
The letter sketches
Van Gogh's correspondence has a special bearing on his art because of the sketches of his own work that he included in his letters. These sketches served no artistic purpose but were made with the sole intention of showing Theo and his other correspondents what the paintings or drawings he was working on or had completed actually looked like. Visitors will be able to view a large number of letter sketches and enjoy the unique opportunity of being able to compare them with the paintings and drawings on which they are based.
Van Gogh Letters Project
October 2009 sees the culmination of the extensive and prestigious Van Gogh Letters Project. Fifteen years of research into the correspondence of Vincent van Gogh by the Van Gogh Museum and the Huygens Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences will be crowned by this special exhibition, the launch of a website encompassing the complete research results and the publication of a six-volume book in three languages.
Web edition: vangoghletters.org
The English-language web edition www.vangoghletters.org contains all 902 letters to and from Van Gogh in their original languages (Dutch and French) with new English translations and images of the authentic manuscripts. The letters are furnished with extensive annotations and illustrations of all works of art mentioned in the correspondence. The web edition also offers extensive search possibilities and will be freely accessible from 8 October 2009.

You can also read Vincent's blog at http://www.vangoghsblog.com/