ill. He saw Gauguin as both a friend and a symbol for the artist’s life ofsacrifice and ill-health. He believed that he had a responsibility to help hisfriend regain his health; all the more reason, in Van Gogh’s mind, to haveGauguin come to Arles. He went on, in the same letter:Poor Gauguin has no luck. I am very much afraid that in his case con-valescence will be even longer, and I am heartily sorry for his plight,especially now that his health is shaken. He hasn’t the kind of temper-ament that profits by hardships; on the contrary, this will only knockhim up, and that will spoil him for his work. My God! Shall we see ageneration of artists with healthy bodies? (Stone, 1937, p. 332.)Van Gogh continued to think about having Gauguin come and livewith him. He convinced Theo to send money to help Gauguin in Paris.The ever-supportive Theo was thus not only sending money to Vincentbut now also to Gauguin. In the summer of 1888, van Gogh wrote to hisbrother:I have had a letter from Gauguin who says he has got from you aletter enclosing fifty francs, which touched him greatly. He seems tobe very depressed . . . he readily agrees to the advantages there wouldbe in living together...Ithink a society of impressionists could becreated, and while it lasted we could live courageously and produce,and that the gains as well as the losses should be taken in common. Iam hoping to maintain my argument of last winter, when we talkedof an association of artists...The great revolution: art for the artists!(Stone, 1937, pp. 350–351.)Van Gogh dreamed of an artists’ colony where ideas and art couldflourish. Although he fervently hoped Gauguin would come, he also didnot want to pressure him to move if Gauguin really hoped to do somethingbetter in Paris. Van Gogh wanted companionship for artistic, spiritual,and practical reasons. The cost of keeping a household could be defrayedby sharing those costs with another person.2He had always thought it“idiotic” for a painter to live alone and, in practical terms, the money hespent could stretch to profit someone else. There would be satisfaction insharing the daily chores and keeping two or three people going instead ofone. All this would serve as the beginning of an association in which thecollective would manage and sell their own work rather than putting it allinto the hands of unscrupulous dealers. The plan to establish a painters’2Van Gogh also liked women and would have liked to live with a woman he loved. Based onprevious failed relationships, however, he believed that he was unsuited to meet the needsof a woman, not to mention the fact that such an arrangement would have interfered withhis ideas of an artists’ colony.