Vincent van Gogh was more than just a painter - he was a keen wordsmith too. Now everybody can read some 819 of the letters written by the great Dutch artist. They have been published in six volumes and there's a specialist website too.

"There are so many people, particularly among our friends, who believe words don’t matter. Wouldn’t you agree that, on the contrary, it is just as interesting and as difficult to say something properly as it is to paint something?"

Vincent van Gogh to Emile Bernard, 19 April 1888

 
This is a quote from one of many letters that Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) wrote in French - in this case to his artist friend Emile Bernard. The letters included in the new books and website were written between 1872 and 1890, the year of his death. There are also 83 letters written to Van Gogh. Researchers say hundreds of other letters were lost.
 

 
Rational and structured
Leo Jansen, curator of the Van Gogh Museum and one of the compilers of 'Vincent van Gogh – The Letters', says:
 

"He had a way with language. He wrote well, in an easy, evocative style. Accurate too. If you look at how he phrases his thoughts, how he tried to take his art to a higher level, you will find that he goes about it in a very rational, structured way.  So he was not some whimsical genius, working more or less at random, simply using his limitless creativity to fling his art on a piece of canvas. He had a well-organised mind, and knew very well what he was doing."

Result
Some of Vincent van Gogh’s letters were published in Dutch in 1990, but, it soon became clear that there was a great need for an English-language edition, including additional information and illustrations of the works the artist wrote about in his letters. The Van Gogh Museum eventually decided to meet that demand.

Working together with the Huygens Instituut – of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences – the van Gogh Museum spent the better part of 15 years working on this project. The most extensive, academic version can be found online at www.vangoghletters.org. The six books have been published in Dutch, English and French.
  
 
The letters have been placed in chronological order; and information can be found on all correspondents. All works of art Van Gogh wrote about in his letters, both his own and those of others that he studied – are included. The website features a detailed photograph of each letter, which allows the visitor to see the many sketches Van Gogh included in his letters.

 
Thinking on paper
"Writing is really an inferior way of explaining things to one another," Vincent wrote to his younger brother Theo. And yet he maintained an extensive correspondence, mainly with Theo - but also with others - and mostly in French. He wrote primarily about art, about the subjects that occupied him as an artist.
 
 
After 15 years of research, curator and researcher Leo Jansen concludes that: "In addition to communicating about essential issues, writing became a way of thinking on paper. The Potato Eaters is a case in point. He intended it as a test of his mastery, to prove that he could make a composition on the basis of earlier studies. He systematically made preparations for the final piece and the whole process can be followed in his letters."

 
Most of Vincent van Gogh’s letters are the property of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. A selection of these letters is on display at the museum until 3 January 2010. 
 

The Dutch version of 'Vincent van Gogh – The Letters' is published by Amsterdam University Press and will be sold at a reduced price of 325 euros until 3 January, after which date the price will be 395 euros.
The English-language edition is published by Thames & Hudson; the French-language edition by Actes Sud.
 
The website www.vangoghletters.org is in English.