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Did Vincent van Gogh have friends? Who were they? What did they mean to him? Many people think of Vincent as someone who had difficulty maintaining friendships. Someone who was lonely in life. But was this really the case?
Not exactly. As an artist, Vincent was at the centre of things. He was always in touch with his fellow artists. He even worked together with some of them, with varying degrees of success. Even in Vincent’s darkest days, his friends were there for him.
‘Like everyone else, I have need of relationships of friendship or affection or trusting companionship, and am not like a street pump or lamp-post, whether of stone or iron…’
To Theo from the Borinage, 11–14 August 1879
When Vincent decided to become a painter, at the age of 27, he reached out to other artists. But Vincent was not easy to get along with. Friendships involved a lot of push and pull. His headstrong behaviour sometimes led to heated arguments.
In this story, we introduce you to Vincent’s most important friendships.
Vincent’s oldest and most important friend was his younger brother Theo. Once they had both left the parental home, they started communicating by letter. Most of Vincent’s letters have survived. They tell us a great deal about how Vincent felt, and what he thought. Vincent initially took the role of the older, wiser brother, offering Theo advice. But their relationship later became more balanced. Theo worked as an art dealer. He supported Vincent both financially and emotionally. Theo ultimately proved to be the ‘emotional anchor’ in Vincent’s life, the person he could always count on.
Theo van Gogh, 15 years old.
Vincent van Gogh, 19 years old.
In 1880, Vincent took Theo’s advice and visited the young Dutch painter Anthon van Rappard, who was studying at the art academy in Brussels. Their first meeting was a bit awkward, but they became friends. Vincent and Van Rappard stayed in touch for five years, mostly by letter. They encouraged each other, but also criticised each other’s work.
In 1885, it all went wrong. Vincent had just completed his Potato Eaters, which he considered a masterpiece. He proudly sent Van Rappard a lithograph of the painting.
Anton van Rappard (1858-1892) in c. 1880
Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885
Lithograph of The Potato Eaters, 1885
Van Rappard was critical: ‘You’ll agree with me that such work isn’t intended seriously. You can do better than this – fortunately; but why, then, observe and treat everything so superficially? […] That coquettish little hand of that woman at the back, how untrue! […] And why must the woman on the left have a sort of little pipe stem with a cube on it for a nose?’
His friend’s criticism really stung. Vincent was furious, and wrote: ‘I’ll stick to my guns a bit, though, because I don’t want the thing to keep dragging on, and I don’t want a grudging friendship. Either cordial or over.’
Vincent and Van Rappard did set their differences aside in their letters, but neither felt the need to visit the other in person. After Vincent’s death in 1890, Van Rappard wrote to Van Gogh’s mother: ‘Although Vincent and I were separated from each other during the last few years as a result of a misunderstanding, which I often regret, I have nevertheless thought about him and our dealings together with nothing other than very great friendship.’
Vincent van Gogh, Boulevard de Clichy, 1887
Like all of us, Vincent needed friends to feel supported. With some, he would discuss important issues in his life, with others, he’d go out for a few drinks.
In Paris (1886–1887), Vincent met young painters from the artistic vanguard. He met them in the studio of the respected artist Fernand Cormon, where he took lessons. Or at the paint shop, or at the café. Vincent always maintained intense ties with his artistic friends.
After two years in Paris, the hectic city life became too much for Vincent. In early 1888, he left for Arles in the South of France. Vincent now missed the encounters with his artistic friends. They continued their passionate discussions about art in letters.
Julien ‘Père’ Tanguy’s shop was a meeting place for avant-garde artists, where friendships also formed. This sympathetic paint trader displayed their work in his shop, including that of Vincent. He also offered painting materials on credit – until his wife put a stop to it, much to Vincent’s annoyance.
In 1887, he wrote about this to Theo: ‘[...] Tanguy was very good to me. He still is, when it comes down to it, but his old witch of a wife noticed what was going on and objected to it. Now I gave [her] a piece of my mind and said it was her fault if I wouldn’t buy anything else from them. Père Tanguy’s wise enough to keep quiet, and he’ll do what I ask of him all the same.’
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Julien Tanguy, 1887, Musée Rodin, Paris
While in Paris, Vincent also got to know Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He often took his work to show Lautrec in his studio, which was just around the corner from Vincent’s brother Theo’s apartment. Influenced by Lautrec, Vincent experimented briefly with diluted oil paint. The two painters had many artistic discussions in the café. And this is where Lautrec made this portrait of Vincent, seated with a glass of absinthe, in Café Le Tambourin.
The contact between the two faded somewhat during the time that Van Gogh lived in the South of France. And yet the friendship was important to both men. After Vincent’s death, Lautrec wrote to Theo: ‘You know what a friend he was to me and how eager he was to demonstrate his affection.’
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) in c. 1889
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1887
John Peter Russell was an Australian painter who worked in France for a long time. Famous artists such as Monet and Matisse appreciated his work, but worldwide recognition was lacking. Vincent met Russell in Cormon's studio and appreciated his work. But Vincent also saw Russell as an important contact. Russell was wealthy...
In the summer of 1888, Vincent sent Russell twelve drawings of his paintings from Arles. With these, he tried to keep his friend interested in his work.
John Peter Russell (1858-1930), in c. 1888
Russell asked Vincent to pose for him. This portrait, which Vincent was very fond of, was the result. A friend of Russell said that this was the most accurate portrait of Vincent. In large red letters, which have faded, Russell wrote on the portrait: Vincent. J.P. Russell, pictor. Amitié. Paris 1886 (Vincent. J.P. Russell painted this. In friendship). The portrait was probably swapped for a still life of shoes that Vincent had painted.
One of the twelve drawings that Vincent sent to Russell.
Vincent van Gogh, Three Pairs of Shoes, 1886-1887 Harvard Art Museums. Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, USA. Probably exchanged for the portrait of Vincent that Russell had painted.
Paul Gauguin is probably Vincent’s best-known friend. Vincent got to know him in Paris in late 1887. The French painter had just returned from his trip to Martinique. The two artists swapped paintings with each other. Vincent’s brother Theo exhibited Gauguin’s paintings and ceramics in his art gallery on the Boulevard Montmartre. Theo also purchased a work by Gauguin: The Mango Trees, Martinique.
Vincent saw Gauguin as a worldly-wise artist, someone to look up to. He thought that he could learn a lot from Gauguin.
Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait with Portrait of Emile Bernard (Les misérables), 1888
When Vincent lived in Arles in the South of France, he asked his friends Gauguin and Bernard to paint portraits of each other. Vincent hoped that this would give him a better idea of how their art was developing. Instead of a portrait, Gauguin sent a self-portrait, with Bernard as a ‘sketch’ on the wall. Van Gogh didn’t think much of the painting: ‘Not a hint of cheerfulness. It’s not flesh in the very least, but we can boldly put that down to his intention to make something melancholy; the flesh in the shadows is lugubriously tinged with blue.’
To his brother Theo from Arles, 4–5 October 1888
Self-portrait as a Bonze, 1888, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, bequest from the collection of Maurice Wertheim, graduating year 1906.
Gauguin sent Vincent a painting as requested, a self-portrait. In exchange, Van Gogh sent him a self-portrait as a bonze, a Buddhist monk − ‘in the Japanese manner’, as he put it. Vincent wrote to Theo: ‘And now at last I have a chance to compare my painting with that of the pals. […] And when I put Gauguin’s conception and mine side by side, my portrait is equally serious but less desperate.’
To his brother Theo from Arles, 4–5 October 1888
In Arles, Vincent had rented four rooms in the Yellow House with the green shutters. He knew that Gauguin liked his paintings of sunflowers. In Paris, he had swapped two small paintings of sunflowers for one of his friend’s paintings. While he waited for Gauguin to arrive, he now painted several large bouquets of sunflowers with which to decorate the Yellow House.
Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1889
Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888. Collection: Neue Pinakothek, München
Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888. Private collection.
Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888. National Gallery, London.
Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888. Lost during WOII.
Vincent’s dream was to establish an artists’ studio where like-minded artists could live and work together. People like Gauguin, Bernard and himself. Vincent’s brother Theo would look after their interests. In the end, only Gauguin went to Arles – and only once Theo had agreed to pay him. Gauguin got things organised straight away. He cooked for them both, and kept track of household expenses.
The collaboration in the Yellow House turned into an artistic battle. Vincent and Gauguin disagreed about almost everything. Their discussions became ever more heated. Vincent increasingly sensed the threat of Gauguin’s departure. He was thinking about returning to the tropics…
Shortly before Christmas, they had a massive row. Vincent became very confused and seriously injured himself. He cut off his left ear. Gauguin left Arles two days later. Vincent, who had been admitted to hospital, would never see him again.
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Gauguin, 1888
‘Gauguin and I talk a lot about Delacroix, Rembrandt etc. The discussion is excessively electric. We sometimes emerge from it with tired minds, like an electric battery after it’s run down.’
To his brother Theo from Arles, 17 or 18 December 1888
Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers, 1888
‘He’s working on a portrait of me which I don’t count as one of his undertakings that don’t come to anything,’ wrote Vincent to his brother Theo about Gauguin. He was referring to this painting, which shows him at work on a still life of sunflowers. When the portrait was finished, Vincent wrote: ‘My face has lit up after all a lot since, but it was indeed me, extremely tired and charged with electricity as I was then.’
To his brother Theo from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 10 September 1889
Vincent became friends with Emile Bernard, fifteen years his junior, at Tanguy’s paint shop in the autumn of 1886. He had met him previously at Cormon’s studio. Emile Bernard later remembered: ‘When he emerged from the back shop, with his high, broad forehead, he was so striking I was almost frightened; but we soon made friends.’
They sometimes worked together in Bernard’s parents’ garden in Asnières, not far from Paris. They both experimented with Pointillism, the new painting style using individual dots and dashes. They also shared a fascination with Japanese prints. When Vincent left Paris in 1888, a lively correspondence developed between the two. Vincent became something of a father figure to the fifteen-year-younger Emile Bernard.
Émile Bernard (1868-1941), c. 1887
Vincent (seen from the rear) and Emile Bernard by the River Seine at Asnières, near Paris, c. 1886
Emile Bernard, Self-Portrait with Portrait of Gauguin, 1888
Bernard made this self-portrait in Pont-Aven, Brittany. Gauguin was there too. Bernard included his portrait as a sketch in the background. He sent the self-portrait to Vincent in Arles. Van Gogh liked the work – ‘some cursory tones, some blackish lines, but it’s as stylish as real, real Manet.’ On the painting that he sent to Vincent, Bernard wrote: ‘Emile Bernard, à son copaing Vincent’. The ‘g’ after copain (friend) was a joke about the accent of Provence, where Van Gogh was living.
Envelope with the handwriting of Émile Bernard, addressed to Albert Aurier. Source: New York Public Libraries
‘Our dear friend Vincent died four days ago. He finally died on Monday evening, still smoking his pipe which he refused to let go of, explaining that his suicide had been absolutely deliberate and that he had done it in complete lucidity. You know how much I loved him and you can imagine how much I wept.’
Emile Bernard to poet, painter and art critic Albert Aurier, 2 August 1890
After Vincent moved to Arles, he became friends with the local postman Joseph Roulin. Painting portraits was important to Vincent. He didn’t try to achieve photographic precision; he wanted to use bright, intense colours to capture the character of his subject. Models cost money, so Vincent was very happy that he was allowed to paint the entire Roulin family. ‘[…] the man, his wife, the baby, the young boy and the 16-year-old son, all characters and very French.’
After the episode in which Van Gogh became confused and cut off his ear, he was admitted to the hospital in Arles. While he was there, his neighbours petitioned the mayor to have the painter forcibly committed to the hospital. Joseph Roulin was one of the few people who continued to support Vincent following the drama. He also wrote to Theo in Paris to update him on how Vincent was doing.
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Joseph Roulin, February-March 1889. Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo.
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Marcelle Roulin, 1888
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Camille Roulin, 1888
Vincent van Gogh, Augustine Roulin (La berceuse), 1889. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Armand Roulin, 1888 © Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Madame (Marie) Ginoux proved to be a friend in difficult times. Before he rented the Yellow House, Vincent stayed in a room above Café de la Gare (‘The Night Café’), which Marie ran with her husband. When Vincent admitted himself to the asylum in Saint-Rémy, he stored his belongings in their café.
Vincent van Gogh, L'Arlésienne (portrait of Madame Ginoux), 1890. Collection Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
Vincent van Gogh, Terrace of a Café at Night (Place du Forum), 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
‘It’s still good that if necessary I can go and lodge in that night café here, and even board there, for those people are friends of mine – naturally also because I have been and am their customer.’
To his brother Theo from Arles, 2 May 1889
In May 1890, Vincent left the asylum in the South of France and moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, close to Paris and Theo. He entrusted his care to Paul Gachet, a homeopathic doctor and amateur painter. The doctor often kept Van Gogh company and encouraged him to keep working. The fact that he also painted, and even had an etching press in his house, strengthened their relationship. But at the end of July, Vincent shot himself in the chest. He died two days later. At his side was Theo, his brother and best friend. About twenty artist friends and acquaintances attended the funeral.
‘The following morning eight friends came from Paris and elsewhere, and they decorated the room where the coffin stood with his paintings, which looked so beautiful. There were many bouquets and wreaths. Dr Gachet was the first; he brought a large bouquet of sunflowers because he loved them so much [...].’
Jo Van Gogh-Bonger in Letters to his Brother, 1914.
Vincent van Gogh, Doctor Paul Gachet, 1890, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
‘The best consolation, if not the only remedy, is, it still seems to me, profound friendships […]. Thank you again for your visit, which gave me so much pleasure. Good handshake in thought. Yours truly, Vincent’
To Paul Signac from Arles, 10 April 1889
