03/11/2025
After Van Gogh's bizarre behavior on the night of December 23, 1888 which culminated in his cutting off his ear lobe, his very presence in Arles became an issue that consumed the city's populace. When Vincent returned home to the "yellow house" briefly after a spell in the hospital to treat his wound, parents encouraged their children to follow the odd stranger around and taunt him. The authorities sealed off the yellow house and confined him in the publically-run asylum of Arles. In February 1889, under pressure from a near-hysterical citizenry, they began proceedings to declare him a "public menace" and permanently mandate him to an insane asylum.
The following incident gives a glimpse into Vincent's condition at the time. On March 23 the artist Paul Signac stopped in Arles to see how Vincent was doing. He persuaded the asylum authorities to let Vincent accompany him to the yellow house. There, Signac discovered, strewn about the room like so much refuse, dozens of the canvases that Van Gogh had done at Arles, some of the century's best works of art. During the course of the visit Vincent went from being quite calm and rational to a state of great agitation, perhaps brought on by the arrival of a mistral wind. When he suddenly grabbed a bottle of turpentine and started to drink it, Signac thought it prudent to bring him back to the asylum.
Further indication of Vincent's sudden mood swings occurs in an April 19 letter from the Reverend Salles, Vincent's caretaker at the asylum, to Theo Van Gogh: "He is entirely conscious of his condition and talks to me of what he has been through and which he fears may return, with a candour and simplicity which is touching. 'I am unable,' he told me the day before yesterday, 'to look after myself and control myself; I feel quite different from what I used to be." Salles then recommended that, since Vincent was no longer capable of living independently, he commit himself to the privately-run asylum of St. Paul-de-Mausole, near the small town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (north of Arles in the direction of Avignon), where "inmates are very well-treated." Vincent accepted the proposal willingly and on May 8th he formally entered the "Asylum for the Alienated" at Saint-Rémy under the supervision of a Doctor Peyron and the care of the nursing nuns of the Order of St. Joseph. Thus began the penultimate stage of Van Gogh's artistic odyssey.
According to other contemporary accounts, the asylum was somewhat of a dump. Patients were allowed private rooms (Theo paid for two so Vincent could have his own studio), but the rooms had all the features of prison cells, including barred windows and iron doors locking from the outside. Vincent's main concern, however, was that he be entrusted with painting materials and allowed to paint. This was soon granted and, in time, he was permitted to wander through the town and surrounding countryside under the supervision of his warder, Poulet.
Painting seemed to be the ideal therapy for Van Gogh. The inner turmoil got channeled onto his canvasses, where even the most peaceful rustic setting erupts into a frenzy of vivid color and turbulent line, yet one masterly contained within the confines of the composition. There were, nonetheless, three episodes that did not bode well for Vincent's ultimate recovery: one in July, after a visit to Arles, leaving him unconscious for a time with memory impaired; one in December, when he attempts to swallow paint; a final one in January, immediately after learning that someone has finally bought one of his paintings, which lays him up for a month. Somewhat ironically, it was during this period of confinement that Vincent received the only artistic recognition awarded him in his lifetime -- a showing of six of his pictures at an January 1890 exhibit of independent artists in Brussels.
In August Vincent wrote to his brother Theo that he wanted to come back to live in the north of France. In January he wrote him that he never felt better and was "cured." Intervening breakdowns made Theo hesitant to grant his wishes. Finally, in May 1890, Vincent made a trip to Paris and convinced Theo that a change of residence and more independence would be the best means of facilitating his recovery. Theo made arrangements for him to live on his own in Auvers-sur-Oise, a village near Paris chosen because Doctor Paul Gachet, a friend to many Impressionist painters, lived there and had agreed to look after Vincent's well-being.
Van Gogh was extremely productive while at St.-Rémy -- 143 paintings and close to 300 drawings date to this period. ALL the extant paintings are presented here, arranged by catalogue number, which roughly reflects the order in which they were executed. Included in this gallery are also 22 drawings and watercolors from the period, as well as forty "close-ups" of selected paintings. Most of the artworks are accompanied by commentary which should enhance the viewer's appreciation of the artist and his work .
SEE ALSO these MWW Van Gogh exhibits, all of which will be revised and expanded during the coming year:
* Van Gogh in Holland (Oct. 1881-Feb. 1886)
* Van Gogh in Paris (March 1886-Jan. 1888)
* Van Gogh at Arles (Feb. 1888 - April 1889)
* Journey's End: Van Gogh at Auvers (20 May-29 July 1890)
