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The letter was bought in Paris on Tuesday by
the Vincent van Gogh Foundation which will display it in its
museum in Amsterdam. The artists wrote the letter to French
painter Emile Bernard in late 1888 during their stay in the
French city of Arles, where the foundation also has a museum.
The letter, written a week after Frenchman Gauguin joined Van
Gogh at the Dutchman's house in Arles, tells Bernard of their
discussions on art and their work.
"Now something that will interest you — we’ve made some
excursions in the brothels, and it’s likely that we’ll
eventually go there often to work," the letter says.
"At the moment Gauguin has a canvas in progress of the same
night café that I also painted, but with figures seen in the
brothels. It promises to become a beautiful thing."
The Vincent van Gogh Foundation said the letter was the most
important document by van Gogh not held by any museum, as it was
the only letter he wrote with Gauguin.
"Their artistic dialogue was unstoppable in those days and was
even continued in brothels and in this letter," it said, adding
that it "gives a visionary picture of their artistic cooperation
and the future of modern art."
In the letter, Van Gogh refers to Gauguin as "an unspoiled
creature with the instincts of a wild beast. With Gauguin, blood
and sex have the edge over ambition."
Gauguin spent about two months with Van Gogh in Arles but their
relationship soured. He left after Van Gogh suffered a breakdown
and cut off part of his ear.
($1 = 0.8860 euros)
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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