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A Note on Locations

The locations as displayed in these charts reflect each individual location that van Gogh wrote from, in order of earliest appearance. For example, the first letter comes from the Hague, which is therefore displayed first, even though he returns later. Similarly, since he first writes from Paris in 1875, Paris appears fourth even though he returns sporadically throughout his life.

As a result, it should be noted that, since he spent more time in (and wrote more letters from) some locations compared to others, some of the data displayed is less the result of different language on his part than a lack or abundance of available text. What we would consider "notable locations" include:

• The Hague, for which there are 51 letters. Van Gogh lived here from 1872 to 1873 and again from late 1881 to 1883, so the values reflected span two distinct periods. He also spent time on-again and off-again in Paris and Etten.
• Helvoirt, for which there is only one letter. Van Gogh appears to have spent no more than about a week here in July of 1874.
• Holme Court, for which there is one letter, is a Boy's school where van Gogh taught while living in Isleworth in 1876. It could have been lumped in with the other Isleworth letters, but since we know where he was with greater specificity at this time, we thought it best to treat it as its own location.
• Welwyn also only contains one letter, written during a visit to his sister Anna in 1876.
• Laken, Wasmes, Petit-Wasmes, Cuesmes, and Brussels are all in Belgium. Van Gogh spent short periods of time in each.