van Gogh’s Letters

A visualization of Vincent van Gogh’s nearly 700 letters to his brother Theo, written between 1872 and 1890.

Rendered as a time-based animation in Google Earth, the program draws a white line on the globe for every letter, revealing the brothers’ locations at that moment and their movements around Europe over time. Clicking a point opens the full text of the letter in an overlay.

Built with PHP and XML/KML. Created with data from the van Gogh’s Letters WebExhibit, generously provided by Michael Douma at idea.org

Download the Google Earth files:
vangogh1.kml (points rise over time)
vangogh2.kml (paths rise over time)

van Gogh's Letters Overview
van Gogh's Letters Oblique View
van Gogh's Letters Connections
van Gogh's Letters Letter Detail