Selected correspondence · 1888–1889
Four letters show weather changing how Van Gogh worked and how he later understood a painting. This page reads what he says. The weather he describes is tested, claim by claim, against the rain gauges, thermometers and wind records of those days in the weather study.
Tested against the records
Saint-Rémy’s own rain gauge stayed dry from 5 to 30 September 1889, the weeks letter 806 remembers as “days of mistral and rain”. At Arles, June and July 1888 were the wettest of 17 summers on record, 1882–1898.
Read the weather study →Compare two ways of securing a painting in wind →
Letter 633 · 27 June 1888 · Arles
Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard
“I deliberately went outside to make it, out in the mistral.”
English translation, Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING. Read the full letter and original text ↗
Van Gogh describes deliberately painting outdoors in the mistral and completing his summer-evening canvas in one sitting. Weather enters his explanation of working speed and handling.
Evidence role: the artist’s account. Letter dates do not establish the exact dates of all events described.
Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard, 1888-06-27, letter 633. Vincent van Gogh — The Letters, Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING, English translation.
Cited excerpts and source receiptsLetter 653 · 31 July 1888 · Arles
Vincent van Gogh to Willemien van Gogh
“I lay my canvas flat on the ground and work on my knees. Because the easel doesn’t stand firm.”
English translation, Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING. Read the full letter and original text ↗
Van Gogh describes changing his working position because wind made the easel unstable. This is evidence of how he says he worked, not a measurement of wind speed.
Evidence role: the artist’s account. Letter dates do not establish the exact dates of all events described.
Vincent van Gogh to Willemien van Gogh, 1888-07-31, letter 653. Vincent van Gogh — The Letters, Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING, English translation.
Cited excerpts and source receiptsLetter 806 · 28 September 1889 · Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh
“when the days of mistral and rain came, I preferred the canvas done from life”
English translation, Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING. Read the full letter and original text ↗
Van Gogh writes that once “the days of mistral and rain came” he preferred the version of the Reaper painted from life. He describes cold weather bringing back the heat of the wheat field: weather shapes his later reading of the painting as well as its making.
Evidence role: the artist’s account. Letter dates do not establish the exact dates of all events described.
Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, 1889-09-28, letter 806. Vincent van Gogh — The Letters, Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING, English translation.
Cited excerpts and source receiptsLetter 809 · On or about 8 October 1889 · Saint-Rémy
Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard
“bury your easel in the stones so that the wind doesn’t send everything flying to the ground.”
English translation, Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING. Read the full letter and original text ↗
Writing about work on a ravine, Van Gogh describes securing an easel among stones against wind. The letter supplies a physical working constraint; its date is approximate and is not an exact execution date.
Evidence role: the artist’s account. Letter dates do not establish the exact dates of all events described.
Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard, 1889-10-08, letter 809. Vincent van Gogh — The Letters, Van Gogh Museum / Huygens ING, English translation.
Cited excerpts and source receiptsSelection: four passages chosen for concrete connections between weather and artistic practice. Brief quotations are retained; full letters and images remain with the scholarly edition. They raise a different question from the Constable records.
Continue with Turner: sketches, atmosphere and the choices between them →