Notes: The Barbizon School
Notes for the Text
“Heartbreaking”: BVG 593, 6/2/1889. Context: BVG 593, 6/2/1889: “Daubigny and Rousseau have done just that, expressing all that it has of intimacy, all that vast peace and majesty, but at the same time adding a feeling so individual, so heart-breaking.” JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: “Daubigny and Rousseau did that, though, with the expression of all the intimacy and all the great peace and majesty that it has, adding to it a feeling so heartbreaking, so personal.” Michel forced to auction; Dupré and Jacque: https://www.schillerandbodo.com/artists/michel/artworks/windmills-at-montmartre
Landscape of unremitting bleakness: BVG 325, 9/16/1883: Even in his rapture, Van Gogh cannot avoid complaining about the bleakness of the countryside, although he strains to portray it in a positive light. In his description, one can hear pre-echoes of his complaints about the tropical sun and heat in Provence. Context: JLB 387, 9/16/1883: “The heath is much vaster than it is in Brabant, near Zundert or Etten at least—rather monotonous, particularly when it’s afternoon and the sun’s shining, and yet it’s that very effect, which I’ve already vainly tried to paint several times, that I shouldn’t want to miss. The sea isn’t always picturesque either, but one has to look at those moments and effects as well if one doesn’t want to deceive oneself as to its true character. Then—the heath is sometimes far from pleasant in the heat of midday. It’s as irritatingly tedious and fatiguing as the desert, just as inhospitable, and as it were hostile. Painting it in that blazing light and capturing the planes vanishing into infinity is something that makes one dizzy.”
“The heath is magnificent”: BVG 324, 9/14/1883. Context: BVG 324, 9/14/1883: “The heath is magnificent. I’ve seen sheepfolds and shepherds more beautiful than those in Brabant.” JLB 386, 9/14/1883: “The heathland is rich. I saw sheepfolds and shepherds that were more attractive than those in Brabant.” “Everything is beautiful”: BVG 325, 9/16/1883. Context: JLB 387, 9/16/1883: ”Everything is beautiful here, wherever one goes.” “Miles and miles”: BVG 330, 10/3/1883. Context: BVG 330, 10/3/1883: “I don’t think I shall be able to do justice to the countryside because words fail me, but imagine the banks of the canal as miles and miles of, say, [Georges] Michels or Th. Rousseaus, Van Goyens or Ph. [Phillips] de Konincks.” JLB 392, 10/3/1883: “I see no way of describing the countryside to you as it should be done, because words fail me. But imagine the banks of the canal as miles and miles of Michels or Theo. Rousseaus, say, Van Goyens or P. de Koninck.”
Koninck: BVG 330, 10/3/1883. Philips Koninck. Context: JLB 392, 10/3/1883: “I see no way of describing the countryside to you as it should be done, because words fail me. But imagine the banks of the canal as miles and miles of Michels or Theo. Rousseaus, say, Van Goyens or P. de Koninck.” Michel: BVG 330, 10/3/1883. Georges Michel. Context: JLB 392, 10/3/1883: “But what tranquillity, what breadth, what calm there is in nature here, one doesn’t feel it until one has miles and miles of Michels between oneself and the everyday.” (Emphasis in original). Dupré: BVG 324, 9/14/1883. Jules Dupré. Van Tilborgh and Vellekoop identify the Dupré painting Van Gogh mentions as Evening (c. 1875–80), which Van Gogh had seen at an exhibition in The Hague in 1882 (Van Tilborgh and Vellekoop, p. 44-46, also p. 46, n. 9). The painting is still in the collection of Hendrik Willem Mesdag, now the Museum Mesdag. Context: JLB 386, 9/14/1883: “I can’t more accurately describe the way the exterior looks in the twilight or just after sunset than by reminding you of a particular painting by Jules Dupré which I think belongs to Mesdag, with two huts in it on which the mossy roofs stand out surprisingly deep in tone against a hazy, dusty evening sky. That is here.” (Emphasis in original.) Rousseau: Théodore Rousseau. BVG 326, 9/21/1883. “I see no way of describing the countryside to you as it should be done, because words fail me. But imagine the banks of the canal as miles and miles of Michels or Theo. Rousseaus, say.” (JLB 392, 10/3/1883.) In the same letter, Van Gogh invokes another Barbizon painter that he and Theo admired, Charles-François Daubigny: “The heath was extraordinarily beautiful this evening. There’s a Daubigny in one of the Albums Boetzel that expresses that effect precisely.” Context: JLB 388, 9/21/1883: “The heath is rich, and there are marshy meadows that often remind me of Theo. Rousseau.”
“That vast sun-scorched earth”: BVG 325, 9/16/1883. The translation has been slightly altered and the emphasis in original has been removed. Context: BVG 325, 9/16/1883: “In the evening when a poor little figure is moving through the twilight—when that vast sun-scorched earth stands out darkly against the delicate lilac hues of the evening sky, and the very last little dark-blue line at the horizon separates the earth from the sky—that same aggravating, monotonous spot can be as sublime as a Jules Dupré. ... It is very beautiful to see the real heather on the graves. The smell of turpentine has something mystical about it, the dark stretch of pine wood border separates a sparkling sky from the rugged earth, which has a generally ruddy hue—fawn—brownish, yellowish, but everywhere with lilac tones.” JLB 387, 9/16/1883: “That same irritatingly tedious spot—in the evening as a poor little figure moves through the twilight—when that vast, sun-scorched earth stands out dark against the delicate lilac tints of the evening sky, and the very last fine dark blue line on the horizon separates earth from sky—can be as sublime as in a J. Dupré. ... It’s a beautiful sight to see the real heather on the graves, the scent of turpentine has something mystical about it. The dark band of pines that encloses it separates a shimmering sky from the rough ground, which is generally a reddish colour—tawny—brownish—yellowish, but with lilac tints everywhere.” (Emphasis in original.)
“The spirit of Michel”: BVG 339, 10/15/1883. (The emphasis in original has been removed.) Van Gogh readily acknowledges that his images are inspired by Michel: “I would like you to get down straightaway to landscapes conceived in the spirit of Michel which I see over and over again, ... I believe I’d be able to help you on the way because I’ve been tackling things in that genre myself in the last few days” (JLB 396, 10/15/1883). (Emphasis in original.) Context: BVG 339, 10/15/1883: “I should like you to try your hand at landscape at once, in the spirit of Michel, which I see here all the time. It is absolutely Michel, that’s what it is here.” JLB 396, 10/15/1883: “I would like you to get down straightaway to landscapes conceived in the spirit of Michel which I see over and over again, wholly and utterly Michel, that is absolutely what it is here.” (Emphasis in original.) “What tranquility”: BVG 330, 10/3/1883. Context: BVG 330, 10/3/1883: “But what tranquility, what expanse, what calmness in this landscape; one feels it only when there are miles and miles of Michels between oneself and the ordinary world.” JLB 392, 10/3/1883: “But what tranquility, what breadth, what calm there is in nature here, one doesn’t feel it until one has miles and miles of Michels between oneself and the everyday.” (Emphasis in original.) Michel collaborating: https://www.schillerandbodo.com/artists/michel/artworks/windmills-at-montmartre The two artists he collaborated with most often were Jean-Louis Demarne and Jacques-François Swebach.
“Wandered and wandered”: BVG 329, 9/28/1883. Context: BVG 329, 9/27/1883: “I did not see any good at the time, nor do I now, in reaching such a point of destitution, in literally having no roof over my head, in having to wander and wander forever like a tramp, without finding either rest or food or covering anywhere—besides, without any possibility of working.” JLB 391, 9/28/1883: “I take no pleasure in it, I saw no good in it then and see even less now in reaching a point of destitution such that one doesn’t even have a roof over one’s head and must tramp on and tramp on like a vagabond into infinity without finding either rest or food or shelter anywhere, moreover without the possibility of doing any work.”
He stopped briefly: BVG 136, 9/24/1880: Van Gogh never went in and did not see Breton. Context: JLB 158, 9/24/1880: “I saw Courrières and the outside of Mr. Jules Breton’s studio.” Loved Breton’s poetry: BVG 48, 12/10/1875. Context: JLB 61, 12/10/1875: “You’ll like the book by Jules Breton. There’s one poem of his that I found especially moving: ‘Illusions’.” And paintings: BVG 27, 5/31/1875. Context: JLB 34, 5/31/1875: “He has a beautiful painting at the Salon, ’The feast of St John’, peasant girls dancing on a summer evening round the St John’s bonfire, in the background the village with its church and the moon above it.” Met the artist: BVG 27, 5/31/1875: It is not clear from this if Van Gogh actually was introduced to the Bretons, attended on them at Goupil, or just saw them in public or at a gathering. Context: JLB 34, 5/31/1875: “I recently saw Jules Breton with his wife and two daughters.” “I haven’t been to Barbizon”: BVG 136, 9/24/1880. Context: BVG 136, 9/24/1880: “I haven’t been to Barbizon, but though I haven’t been there, I did go to Courrieres last winter.” JLB 158, 9/24/1880: “I haven’t seen Barbizon, but although I haven’t seen it, last winter I saw Courrières.” “Walking tour”: BVG 136, 9/24/1880. Context: BVG 136, 9/24/1880: “I went on a walking tour in the Pas-de-Calais, not the English Channel but the department, or province.” JLB 158, 9/24/1880: “I made a trip on foot mainly in the Pas de Calais, not the Channel but the department.”
“When I entered the room”: BVG 29, 6/29/1875. Context: “There was a sale here of drawings by Millet, I don’t know whether I’ve already written to you about it. When I entered the room in Hôtel Drouot where they were exhibited, I felt something akin to: Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. You know that Millet lived in Gréville. Well, I don’t know whether it was Gréville or Granville where the man I once told you about died. At any rate, I looked at Millet’s drawings of ‘The cliffs at Gréville’ with redoubled attention” (JLB 36, 6/29/1875). “Father Millet”: BVG 161, 11/23/188: Van Gogh first uses the term in November 1881, in a context that suggests Van Gogh had some knowledge of the Millet “legend,” as broadcast by Sensier, as early as the year of the book’s publication, 1881: “Père Millet! Would he have had greater expenses than so many Italians and Spaniards who ‘live in the desert where the sky is of brass and the earth of iron’? Is a wife more expensive than a mistress? You pay the mistresses anyway, gentlemen art buyers, and those ladies laugh at you behind your back. Who is it who’s cheating you, Messrs Goupil & Cie? The immoral women or the chaste women?” (JLB 189, 11/23/1881). (Emphasis in original.)
By the following year, having read the book, Van Gogh is fully in its spell: “At that time there was a sense of inexpressible melancholy in me which I find impossible to describe. I know that I then thought very, very often of a manly remark by père Millet: ‘It has always seemed to me that suicide is the act of a dishonest man’” (JLB 244, 7/6/1882). He quotes “père Millet” again the next month (JLB 257, 8/14/1882), and refers to him by his title in JLB 258 (8/20/1882). The following year, 1883, after Van Gogh returned to Nuenen and began arguing with his own father, Millet fully achieved his place as the other, greater Father: “I don’t differ with Pa when I consider Pa in himself, but I do differ with Pa when I compare Pa with the great père Millet, say” (JLB 414, 12/16/1883). By 1885, Van Gogh’s respect for Millet has become almost what he would have called, in his religious period, idolatry: “I say again—Millet is—PÈRE Millet, that is, counsellor and guide in everything, for the younger painters” (JLB 493, 4/13/1885). (Emphasis in original.) Context: BVG 161, 11/23/1881: “Do you think father Millet had more expenses than so many Italians and Spaniards who ‘live in the desert where the sky is of brass and the soil of iron’?” JLB 189, 11/23/1881: “Père Millet! Would he have had greater expenses than so many Italians and Spaniards who ‘live in the desert where the sky is of brass and the earth of iron’?” (Emphasis in original.)
“Truth”: BVG 418, 7/1/1885: Van Gogh calls Millet, like Michelangelo, one of the “true painters” because “they don’t paint things as they are, examined drily and analytically, but as they, Millet, Lhermitte, Michelangelo, feel them” (JLB 515, 7/14/1885). (Emphasis in original.) Van Gogh describes these “inaccuracies, such variations, reworkings, alterations of the reality,” as “lies if you will—but—truer than the literal truth” (ibid.). He reiterates the point, which is as much defense of his “technical” mistakes in The Potato Eaters (F 82 JH 764) as a coherent philosophy of art (and perhaps more so): “In the work of Millet, of Lhermitte, all reality is also symbolic at the same time. They’re something other than what people call realists” (JLB 533, 10/4/1885). Soon after he arrived in Nuenen, Van Gogh quoted a passage from Sensier that no doubt informed his notion of “truth”: “Millet says to me: put your life straight (at least try to do that first, and to wrestle with the naked truth)” (JLB 403, 11/5/1883). (Emphasis in original.) A few years later, in Arles, Vincent (and more especially Theo) will reject the “de tête” Symbolist images of colleagues like Bernard and Gauguin, dismissing them as mere “abstractions.” Context: BVG 418, 7/1/1885: “Tell him that I long most of all to learn how to produce those very inaccuracies, those very aberrations, reworkings, transformations of reality, as may turn it into, well—a lie if you like—but truer than the literal truth.” JLB 515, 7/14/1885: “Tell him that my great desire is to learn to make such inaccuracies, such variations, reworkings, alterations of the reality, that it might become, very well—lies if you will—but—truer than the literal truth.”
Errant, luxury-loving artist: BVG 400, 4/13/1885. Context: JLB 493, 4/13/1885: “That’s what Millet did—and—didn’t want anything else anyway—and in my view this means that as a human being he has shown painters a way that Israëls and Mauve, say, who live quite luxuriously, do not show.” (Emphasis in original.) Back to the humble: Van Uitert, p. 23: “Millet was invariably described as serious and full of compassion, searching for ‘la grandeur dans 1’humilite’ [majesty in humility].” The infinite in art: BVG 423, 9/1/1885-9/15/1885. Context: JLB 531, 9/2/1885: “When I think about Millet or about Lhermitte—then—I find modern art as great—as Michelangelo and Rembrandt—the old infinite, the new infinite too—the old genius, the new genius.” (Emphasis in original). “Millet is father Millet”: BVG 400, 4/13/1885. (Emphasis in original.) Van Gogh’s word for Millet is “leidsman,” with connotations not only of leadership, but also wisdom and inspiration. Context: BVG 400, 4/13/1885: “That is what Millet did and indeed he wanted nothing else—and to my mind this means that he set an example to painters as a human being, which Israëls and Mauve, for instance, who live rather luxurious lives, have not, and I repeat Millet is father Millet, that is, counsellor and mentor in everything to the younger painters.” JLB 493, 4/13/1885: “That’s what Millet did—and—didn’t want anything else anyway—and in my view this means that as a human being he has shown painters a way that Israëls and Mauve, say, who live quite luxuriously, do not show, and I say again—Millet is—PÈRE Millet, that is, counsellor and guide in everything, for the younger painters.” (Emphasis in original.)
“Just like a figure painting”: BVG 299, 7/11/1883 | JLB 361, 7/11/1883. Context: JLB 361, 7/11/1883: “Israëls put it perfectly in the case of a Jules Dupré (Mesdag’s large one): ‘It’s just like a figure painting’. It’s that dramatic quality that causes one to find a je ne sais quoi in it that makes one feel what you say, ‘It expresses that moment and that place in nature where one can go alone, without company.’” (Emphasis in original.) “Every tree-trunk”: BVG 239, 10/29/1882; JLB 277, 10/29/1882. “The secret of beautiful landscape”: BVG 251, 12/3/1882-12/5/1882. The translation has been slightly altered. Context: BVG 251, 12/3/1882-12/5/1882: “Hardly anyone knows that the secret of beautiful work lies mainly in truth and sincere sentiment.” JLB 291, 12/4/1882-12/9/1882: “Almost no one knows that the secret of beautiful work is to a large extent good faith and sincere feeling.”
“Yourself into the heart of the country”: BVG 596, 6/25/1889. Context: JLB 783, 6/25/1889: “But whatever the case, outside Paris one quickly forgets Paris, by throwing oneself into the heart of the country one changes one’s ideas. But I for one couldn’t forget all those beautiful Barbizon canvases then, and it seems unlikely and anyway unnecessary to do better than that.” “A corner of nature”: BVG 299, 7/11/1883. Context: JLB 361, 7/11/1883:”The dramatic effect of these paintings is something that helps us to understand ‘a corner of nature seen through a temperament’ and that helps us understand that the principle of ‘man added to nature’ is needed more than anything else in art, and one finds the same thing in Rembrandt’s portraits, for example — it’s more than nature, more like a revelation. And it seems good to me to respect that, and to keep quiet when it’s often said that it’s overdone or a manner.” “A splendid symphony”: BVG 371, 6/1/1884-6/15/1884. Context: JLB 450, June 1884: “Dupré is perhaps even more of a colourist than Corot and Daubigny, although they both are too, and Daubigny really is very daring in colours. But with Dupré there’s something of a magnificent symphony in the colour, carried through, intended, manly. I imagine Beethoven must be something like that. This symphony is surprisingly CALCULATED and yet simple and infinitely deep, like nature itself. That’s what I think about it — about Dupré.” (Emphasis in original).
“Their warmth”: BVG 247, 11/24/1882. Context: BVG 247, 11/24/1882: “Those crammed studios, those smaller show windows, but above all, la foi de charbonnier of the artists—their warmth, their fire, their enthusiasm—how sublime they were.” JLB 286, 11/24/1882: “Those crammed studios, those smaller shop windows, collier’s faith of the artists above all, their warmth, their fire, their enthusiasm—what sublime things they were.” (Emphasis in original.) The Michel-like vista: BVG 646, 7/2/1890: Van Gogh makes this connection. He refers to Wheat Fields near Auvers (F 775 JH 2038, June 1890, oil on canvas, 19.7 x 39.8 in., 50 x 101 cm., Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna). The French landscapist Georges Michel had been a favorite shared by both Van Gogh brothers since their early years. Context: JLB 896, 7/2/1890: “It’s a no. 30 canvas but it’s really a little coarse, I fear. Then the horizontal landscape with the fields, a subject like one of Michel’s—but then the coloration is soft green, yellow and green-blue.”
His studio barge, Le Botin: There were actually two studio barges, both with the same name but with different spellings: the first was “Le Botin” (1857) and the second was “Le Bottin” (1868). The painter’s great grandson, Daniel Raskin, made models of both boats which are now on exhibit at the Atelier Daubigny (correspondence with Isabelle Taudiere, April 29, 2011). Succession of houses: Monneret, p. 100: According to Monneret: “In 1860 Daubigny, who was being asked for more and more Oise landscapes, had a first and then a second house built on chemin des Vallées (Valley Way) by their friend Achille Oudinot. He would acquire a third near the church in 1875.” The last was the one that Van Gogh painted. The trail of Daubigny’s real estate ventures and actual habitations in Auvers is a twisted one. The house he actually spent time in, with his family and painter friends, is the one on the hill, the “Maison atelier,” built in 1861. This is the house with the wall paintings by Corot, Oudinot, Daubigny, and his family members. This is not the pink house close to the Oise River, described in the text, whose garden Van Gogh visited and painted. Daubigny had the latter built around 1876-1877 across from the train station, probably as a retirement house. He died before he could move into it and only his widow Sophie lived in it thereafter. As far as is known, Van Gogh never visited the Maison atelier or its garden (the view of which is blocked from the street), but undoubtedly knew about its interior and its previous inhabitants from local rumor. Thanks to Isabelle Taudiere for helping to straighten out the history of Daubigny’s domiciles in Auvers. Hillside paradise: BVG 651, 7/23/1890: The description of the house and the garden in the text is based on Van Gogh’s account. Context: JLB 902, 7/23/1890: “Daubigny’s garden ... Foreground of green and pink grass, on the left a green and lilac bush and a stem of plants with whitish foliage. In the middle a bed of roses. To the right a hurdle, a wall, and above the wall a hazel tree with violet foliage. Then a hedge of lilac, a row of rounded yellow lime trees. The house itself in the background, pink with a roof of bluish tiles.” (Emphasis in original.)
“I was downcast”: BVG 120, 3/3/1878. Context: BVG 120, 3/3/1878: “Uncle [Cor] told me that Daubigny had died. I freely confess that I was downcast when I heard the news, just as I was when I heard that Brion [Gustave Brion, 1824-1877; French artist] had died (his Bénédicité hangs in my room), because the work of such men, if it is understood, touches us more deeply than one realizes. It must be good to die in the knowledge that one has done some truthful work and to know that, as a result, one will live on in the memory of at least a few and leave a good example for those who come after.” JLB 142, 3/3/1878: “Uncle told me that Daubigny has died, I freely admit that b>it made me sad to hear it, just as it did to hear that Brion had died (his Saying grace is hanging in my room), because the work of such men, if one understands it, moves one more deeply than one is aware of, it must be truly good, when one dies, to be conscious of having done a thing or two in truth, knowing that as a result one will continue to live in the memory of at least a few, and having left a good example to those who follow.” “It must be good”: Ibid.
Notes for the Plates
I saw an effect: BVG 331, 10/7/1883 | JLB 393, 10/7/1883. These days Montmartre: BVG 266, 2/11/1883 | JLB 312, 2/11/1883. What tranquility: BVG 330, 10/3/1883 | JLB 392, 10/3/1883. Speaking of Rousseau: BVG 299, 7/11/1883 | JLB 361, 7/11/1883. In Dupré’s color: BVG 371, 6/1/1884-6/15/1884 | JLB 450, mid-June 1884. Israëls says it perfectly: BVG 299, 7/11/1883 | JLB 361, 7/11/1883. Diaz is a painter to the core: BVG 427, 10/1/1885 | JLB 535, 10/13/1885. You know, whatever becomes: BVG 519, 8/8/1888 | JLB 657, 8/8/1888. Corot’s figures: BVG 340, 11/2/1883 | JLB 402, 11/2/1883. Superb: BVG 215, 7/15/1882-7/16/1882 | JLB 246, 7/15/1882, 7/16/1882. [Concerning Daubigny] it must be truly good: BVG 120, 3/3/1878 | JLB 142, 3/3/1878.