Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
Autograph letter signed ('Paul Gauguin') to [Ambroise] Vollard, [Tahiti, c.November 1900]
In French. One page, 228 x 177mm, bifolium, on squared paper. Provenance: Sotheby's, 26 November 1980, lot 193.

Financial struggles in Gauguin's last year in Tahiti. Gauguin acknowledges receipt of 200 francs in Vollard's letter of October, adding with some irony 'you think without being sure that you can send me 400 francs by the next mail'. Vollard had however sent nothing in August and September, 'which is a body-blow for me. The rainy season has started and in order not to sleep underwater I was obliged to have my entire hut re-roofed, so here I am with creditors to whom I had made promises and who think that I lied to them'. He is therefore forced to take on some accountancy jobs 'which stupefy me' ('qui m'abrutissent'): 'So you cause me some regrets that I did not deal with someone else. If you don't have a strong enough constitution to advance me some money, you had better tell me'.

Août et Sep[tem]bre vous ne m’avez rien envoyé ce qui me donne un coup d’assommoir. La saison des pluies a commencé et pour ne pas coucher dans l’eau j’ai été obligé de faire recouvrir ma case en entier, me voilà donc des créanciers à qui j’avais promis et qui se figurent que je leur ai menti.

After the death of Gauguin's Paris dealer Georges Chaudet in September 1899, Gauguin entered into a contract with Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) under which in exchange for a regular monthly advance of 300 francs Vollard would make a guaranteed purchase of at least 25 paintings each year at 200 francs each, and would supply Gauguin with artist's materials. It was the financial security afforded by this arrangement which enabled Gauguin to resettle in the Marquesas Islands in 1901.