Welcome to the first digital collection review of 2010. "Vincent van Gogh: The Letters," sponsored by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, includes a total of 902 digitized and translated letters, both to and from van Gogh. Most of the correspondence is between Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo. The letters show that van Gogh painted with words as well as he painted pictures. His vivid and lyrical descriptions of people, places, and even the weather, give us insight into his inner life, his art, his relationships, and the places where he lived and painted.
The database is free and very easy to use, despite its large volume of material that includes digitized versions of the original letters, translations into English, annotations, and bibliographical sources. The letters are searchable and browsable by time period, correspondent, or place. Browsing can also be limited to the letters that have sketches. Advanced searching allows the viewer to limit by source, including any combination of the original letters, the English translations, the annotations, and the bibliographical references. Hyperlinks within the letters provide easy access to cross-referenced terms. Clicking on a hyperlinked word or phrase in a letter brings up a list of additional letters that include that term.
This collection is a fantastic resource for anyone with an interest in van Gogh, from high school students to adults. For patrons looking for additional resources, the Van Gogh Museum maintains both a blog "written by" van Gogh that draws on the museum's materials, and an iPhone application called "Yours, Vincent" that provides access to van Gogh's letters on the iPhone or iPod Touch.
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