Van Gogh in

Furnée

Hendrik Jan Furnée (1833–1894) was a chemist who sold paints and other artists’ materials. He kept a shop at Korte Poten 8 which Vincent visited at times. Vincent gave drawing lessons to Furnée’s son, Antoine Philippe Furnée (1861–1897). In July 1883, having received no compensation for his services, Vincent tried to strike a deal with Furnée to acquire a batch of old paint from him on the condition that he could continue to buy his paint from him at a discounted rate.

Later, when he was living in Drenthe and Nuenen, Vincent continued to have paint delivered from The Hague by Furnée and his other dealer, Leurs. In September 1883, Vincent owed Furnée 30 guilders, and Furnée demanded the money. Vincent wrote back that he was unable to pay, and he subsequently told Theo of his solution in a letter:

“in order to put a stop to it, I wrote to tell him that I put his paint in my studies, and that I asked him to take the trouble to sell something for me instead of nagging. That I’ll go through with it, and have to send him things.” Read the complete letter

Putting paintings up for sale was a solution Vincent had also proposed to his other creditor and supplier Leurs