Return to the main Vincent van Gogh Gallery page

874 letters now online

Dr. Jan Hulsker, one of the world's foremost authorities on the letters of Vincent van Gogh, once wrote of them:

"[His letters] enable us to know more about Van Gogh's life and mentality than we do of any other artist. The letters form a running commentary on his work, and a human document without parallel."
The completion of the Letters section marks a major milestone for The Vincent van Gogh Gallery. After four years of ongoing effort I'm now proud to present 100% of the 874 Van Gogh letters (more than 850,000 words in total). The vast majority of these letters are from Vincent to his friends and family (his brother, Theo, for the most part), but there are also many curiosities (Theo to Vincent, Joseph Roulin to sister Wilhelmina, etc.) which offer interesting insights into the rich tapestry of Vincent van Gogh's life and works.

For the first time, the complete letters of Vincent van Gogh are accessible online in a format which is easy to navigate, easy to search and freely available to anyone in the world. Many people consider the Van Gogh letters to be an art form just as important as his paintings and drawings. Within these pages is a rich chronicle of an extraordinary human life.

Finally, I'd like mention the huge debt of gratitude that I owe to Bob Harrison whose contribution to this section continues to astonish me. This complete online collection of the Van Gogh letters would never have been possible without Bob's unending enthusiasm and tireless support.

From Vincent to Theo | From Theo to Vincent
From Vincent to Wil | Other Letters

Combined listings

Note:   The complete letters of Vincent van Gogh included on this website are the result of countless hours of work. For many years they were the first and only source of Van Gogh's complete letters online. In 2010, however, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam published its newly revised Van Gogh letters both as a web resource and as an outstanding six volume set of books. The Van Gogh letters project is the culmination of years of dedicated work and I would highly recommend exploring this wonderful resource at:

Vincent van Gogh: The Letters (Van Gogh Museum)

Return to main Van Gogh Gallery page