Jan wrote throughout his life. Much that was published was about his life with the gypsies and you can find those writings here. Beyond that we know he planned to write an autobiography. We have writings about his childhood experiences with his parents and his aunt at Longueville. We also have a selection called Youth that talks about the pull between the two worlds of the gypsy and his aspirations. It offers insights into why he made decisions to leave the gypsies.
In the section called Reflections there is also other writings that includes one right before his death and one that talks about the influence of Amazonia and the feminine figure.
The archive holds a collection of diaries and notecards that Jan used to jot dawn his never-ending flow of ideas. We have shared an assortment of this process under the heading of Diaries/Daily Journals.
Lastly there are a few selections of what Jan wrote about his art and tapestry weaving. We don’t have much on this subject matter not because Jan wasn’t thinking and evolving throughout his career but primarily because he thought the art spoke for itself he didn’t feel he needed to write about it.
What is not included, as of yet, are examples from the thousands of pages of correspondence. This is partly due to the fact that they are often written in multiple languages being that Jan was fluent in Dutch, French, English and Spanish. As scholars work more to flesh out these materials, more will be shared.
