Van Gogh’s Letters

An unbelievable online project, something I have barely dipped my toe into it’s so overwhelming: 902 of Van Gogh’s letters online – translated, with notes, sketches included, and also facsimiles – which is something I love beyond measure. To actually see what the letter LOOKS like. Kind of like wandering through the Alexander Hamilton exhibit at the New York Historical Society and peering at his writing, his actual writing, under glass. It’s a spectacular project, and quite artfully done. There’s an intuitive nature to the website (whoever designed it? Hats off). You can search the archive by correspondent, or by date. Some of the letters have sketches included, and you can go straight to those letters, or you can read them all the way through. The letters are reproduced, with the original line endings (ah, I love obsessives) in translation – because there may be some golden psychological nugget in where Van Gogh ended a line – who knows. It’s gorgeous, not to be missed.