Vincent van Gogh: letters, art, and context includes more than 1,200 objects from the letters and documents collection, part of the estate of the artist's brother Theo van Gogh and Theo’s wife Jo van Gogh-Bonger. This collection, as well as a large number of paintings and drawings by Theo’s son Vincent Willem van Gogh, was transferred to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. In 1973 the Van Gogh Museum opened its doors, with the world’s largest collection of works by Van Gogh on permanent loan from the Vincent van Gogh Foundation.

The centrepiece of this online collection for the Memory of the Netherlands is a large selection of letters, about 250 in all, from Vincent van Gogh’s correspondence. In total, 902 letters have been preserved, written in Dutch and French. About 800 are in the possession of the Van Gogh Museum. The museum’s collection also includes other correspondence, such as letters to and from Van Gogh’s friends and relatives. Because these letters are often difficult to read, transcriptions have been provided.
 
The collection also contains some 300 photographs, including some of the few remaining photos in which Vincent van Gogh is visible, as well as a variety of handwritten and printed materials: notebooks, visiting cards, exhibition notices, certificates, receipts, birth announcements (including one for Vincent Willem, the artist’s nephew), poetry albums, telegrams, and more. Along with the selection of letters and documents, this collection includes 100 works of art, both paintings and works on paper.

The entire letters and documents collection was digitised in 2008 with a grant from Metamorfoze, the Netherlands’ national programme for the preservation of paper heritage.