Letters of Van Gogh

 

 

 Vincent van Gogh was an avid letter writer. He had a great need to share his ideas and feelings. After he and his siblings had left home, they wrote to each other and their parents regularly. Many of Vincent's letters were preserved, and sometimes the answers to them. The correspondence consists of a total of 903 letters, of which 820 from Van Gogh and 83 to him. Most of the letters are addressed to his brother Theo, his best friend and confidant. Theo kept Vincent's letters carefully. Vincent was less precise – many letters were thrown away or burned by him. Van Gogh wrote many more letters, in total he probably wrote more than 2,000. We can calculate that based on comments in the letters such as 'I wrote to today...', and 'I just received a letter from...'.