Part 15 (1/2)

Gauguin responded to the call of his friend and came to join him in his work in sunny and gay-coloured Provence. A fit of insanity, however, seized Van Gogh and broke up the companions.h.i.+p of the two artists. From that time onward, Van Gogh lived in an asylum, where in his moments of lucidity he was still able to paint beautiful pictures.

Concerning the last days of his friend, Gauguin writes as follows: ”In his last letter from Auvers, near Pontoise, he said that he had always hoped that his health might so far improve as to permit him to paint with me in Brittany, but that he was then convinced that recovery was out of the question. 'My dear master, after having known you and grieved you, it is more dignified to die while I am fully conscious of what I am doing, than to take leave of this world in a state which degrades me.'

He fired a bullet at himself, and, a few hours later, while lying in bed smoking his pipe, with all his wits about him, full of pa.s.sionate love for his art, and without any feelings of resentment towards humanity, he quietly pa.s.sed away.?”

NOTES

NOTE {A}: page 39. The translation of the original French would be: ”without having recourse to the old dodges and delusions of intriguers?”

(_aux vieux trucs et trompe-l'il d?'intrigants_).

NOTE {B}: p. 44. The French is _boutons d?'or_ (b.u.t.tercups). The German translation has _Lowenzahn_.

NOTE {C}: p. 45. The German is, _Leute die auf Technik sehen_; but my rendering is more faithful to the French original.

NOTE {D}: p. 51. According to the French this should be: ”After many eccentricities you have succeeded in producing,?” etc. The German, however, is, _wirst Du dahin gelangen Sachen von agyptischer Ruhe_, etc.

NOTE {E}: p. 55. The French word is _b.e.s.t.i.a.les_, which the German translator rendered by _grausame_.

NOTE {F}: p. 55. The French is _crane_ (swaggering); the German translation has _elegant_.

NOTE {G}: p. 60. The French has, _your_ grandmother.

NOTE {H}: p. 61. The French is, _amours faciles_.

NOTE {I}: p. 62. The French is, _senti dans son animalite_.

NOTE {J}: p. 62. From this point the original French continues, ”is like the consummation of s.e.xual love--a moment of infinity.?”

NOTE {K}: p. 63. In his original publication of these letters in _Le Mercure de France_, E. Bernard inserts a note here to the effect that Van Gogh meant that Rembrandt used religious subjects only as a means of expressing philosophical ideas.

NOTE {L}: p. 64. The French is, _peint un ange surnaturel au sourire a la Vinci_.

NOTE {M}: p. 65. The French is, _folie contagieuse_.

NOTE {N}: p. 66. The French is, _sincerite et devotion_.

NOTE {O}: p. 68. The German translator took what I believe to be a justifiable liberty here; for the original French reads: _et il sagit de souffler de son souffle tant qu?'on a le souffle_.

NOTE {P}: p. 73. The French word is _renaissance_.

NOTE {Q}: p. 74. The German translation (_beim Fechten_) misses the point here; for the French original is not _l?'escrime_, but _l?'escrime a l?'a.s.saut_.

NOTE {R}: p. 77. In the German translation there are no dots here to show that a pa.s.sage has been omitted; as however, this pa.s.sage seems to me important, I thought it advisable to give the translation of it in these notes. After the word ”nature,?” the French original proceeds: ”in order to convert a study into a picture by arranging the colour, adding here, and simplifying there;...?”

NOTE {S}: p. 81. E. Bernard says that this refers to a caricature by Gauguin of Van Gogh sitting on a ledge of rock drawing the sun.