Letter 17, page 3

(Continued from page 2)

In any event, I would like you to come enormously, and if Gauguin comes too, all that will be
left for us to regret will be that it's winter and not the warm season. I'm beginning to believe more
and more that food has something to do with our power to think and to make paintings; as for me,
it doesn't contribute to the success of my work if my stomach's bothering me. Anyway, I believe
that if your father wanted quietly to keep your paintings and to fund you fairly generously, on balance
he'll lose less than by doing otherwise. In the south, the senses are elated, the hand becomes
nimbler, the eye livelier, the brain clearer, on one condition, though: that dysentery or something
else does not spoil all that by debilitating you too much. On that point, I really dare to take my
stand in believing that he who loves artistic work will see his productive capacities develop in the
south, but watch your blood, and watch everything else.

© 2007 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam