Reading Van Gogh’s Letters in the Amsterdam Museum – A Guide

If you’re the kind of person who keeps journals, letters, or long messages, you’ll probably fall hard for Vincent’s writing. The Van Gogh Museum lets you meet his words and images together.

Why the letters matter

Vincent wrote hundreds of letters, especially to his brother Theo.

Through them you see:

• Daily worries about money and health.
• Technical thoughts about colour and composition.
• Small joys: new paints, books, walks.

✉️ Think of the museum as a double exhibition: one in paint, one in ink.

How to build a letters‑focused route

1. In each section of the museum, look for displayed letters or excerpts on walls.
2. Give yourself permission to stand and read slowly, even if others rush by.
3. Whenever a letter mentions a painting you can see nearby, move back and forth between them.

Mini ritual:

• For one letter, read it out loud in a whisper (if the room is quiet enough) — it lands differently than in your head.

Themes to watch for in the letters

Use these lenses:

• Work and routine – how many hours he paints, how he structures days.
• Money and dependence – honesty about needing Theo’s support.
• Hope and doubt – oscillation between grand plans and exhaustion.
• Nature notes – small observations about fields, trees, and skies.

You can even make a simple two‑column note in your phone:

After the museum: continuing with the letters

If the written voice grabs you, consider:

• Getting a selected letters book from the shop or a bookstore.
• Reading one letter per week at home, slowly.
• Pairing each letter with an online reproduction of the work it mentions.

📖 Suggestion:
Don’t binge the letters like a novel. They work well as a long‑term companion, almost like an ongoing conversation.

When you combine paintings and letters, the Van Gogh Museum shifts from being a place about an artist to a place where you meet a working person — one worried, stubborn, hopeful voice speaking across time.