Saint-RémyFrance The Saint Paul de Mausole Asylum Saint Rémy by VanGoghology September 10, 2026 177 views 7 minutes read 177 When Vincent arrived at the Saint-Paul Asylum on May 8, 1889, there were 42 patients; 10 of those were men. The following day, Doctor Peyron wrote a “twenty-four-hour” observation certificate:‘I the undersigned, Doctor of medicine, Director of the St Rémy mental home, certify that the man named Vincent van Gogh, aged 36, a native of Holland and at present domiciled in Arles (Bouches du Rhône), under treatment at this city’s infirmary, suffered an attack of acute mania with visual and auditory hallucinations that led him to mutilate himself by cutting off his ear. Today he appears to have regained his reason, but he does not feel that he has the strength or the courage to live independently and has himself asked to be admitted to the home. Based on all the above, I consider that Mr Van Gogh is subject to attacks of epilepsy, separated by long intervals, and that it is advisable to place him under long-term observation in the institution.There were four different accommodation levels at the institution. Theo financed Vincent’s confinement and asked Dr. Peyron to admit his brother at the third-class level.This level was 800 francs per year and included accommodation in a common dormitory and living room unless there was a need for isolation or incidental illness. It appears, however, that Vincent received the third-class level, which was 1200 francs per year and included a modestly furnished private room.The food was regarded as healthy, and the common lounges were more comfortable than third class, which frequently fostered social interactions with the first-class-level patients, unless a specific situation arose.We know from Vincent’s letters to Theo how his room was furnished.I have a little room with grey-green paper with two water-green curtains with designs of very pale roses enlivened with thin lines of blood-red. These curtains, probably the leftovers of a ruined, deceased rich man, are very pretty in design. Probably from the same source comes a very worn armchair covered with a tapestry flecked in the manner of a Diaz or a Monticelli, red-brown, pink, creamy white, black, forget-me-not blue and bottle green.Through the iron-barred window I can make out a square of wheat in an enclosure, a perspective in the manner of Van Goyen, above which in the morning I see the sun rise in its glory. With this — as there are more than 30 empty rooms — I have another room in which to work.The application of moral treatment had not progressed in decades, however. Despite the commitments made in successive bylaws and the promises laid out in information documents, the issue of the residents’ boredom remained problematic, and it seemed feasible that the nuns were again failing to administer medicines to the sick as they had in 1866, according to the director of the time, Director Arnoux. The director had a few words with me to say that he’d received a letter from you, and that he’d written to you. To me he says nothing and I ask nothing of him, which is simplest. He’s a little gouty man — widowed a few years ago — who has very dark spectacles. As the establishment is a little moribund, the man appears to take only a rather half-hearted enjoyment in this profession, and besides there’s reason enough for it. Clergyman and old fountain in the garden of the monastery Saint-Paul Asylum When Vincent transferred from the hospital in Arles, Dr. Salles accompanied him by train to Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy. Vincent was ready to face his illness and receive the treatment desperately needed. Dr. Salles wrote to Theo:Our journey to Saint-Rémy was completed under excellent circumstances. Mr Vincent was perfectly calm and explained his case to the director in person, like a man who is fully aware of his situation. He stayed with me until I left, and when I took leave of him, he thanked me warmly, and seemed somewhat moved at the thought of the entirely new life he was about to lead in this establishment’ Van Gogh painted around 143 paintings during his year at the Saint‑Paul-de‑Mausole asylum in Saint‑Rémy-de‑Provence (May 1889–May 1890).Several of his most renowned creations from this era encompass The Starry Night (which Vincent called the night study), Irises, and The Bedroom (second version). Mountainous terrains, wheat fields, cypress trees, the asylum gardens, olive groves, and more were part of this idyllic, picturesque landscape. These new surroundings gave Vincent much to explore and depict onto his canvas when his illness permitted. Thus providing plenty of distraction. Vincent felt content with his new surroundings at Saint-Rémy, with an eager anticipation to work again. He noted to Theo after one of his first painting excursions out into the gardens that he was “not too meloncholoy here.” He first produced the works Irises, Lilacs, Trees with Ivy in the Garden of the Asylum, and The Garden of the Asylum at Saint-Rémy.Occasionally, with supervision, Vincent was permitted to travel outside the asylum walls to paint. In July he writes to his mother, “There are very beautiful fields of olive trees here, which are grey and silvery in leaf like pollard willows. Then I never tire of the blue sky.” One of the first paintings Vincent created outside of the walls was Champ de blé vert avec cyprès / Green Wheat Field with Cypress. He shares with his mother that the sun is so much hotter there, and painting in the intense heat of the midday sun does not bother him. He contrasts the landscapes of Nuenen with those of southern France, observing the absence of heathland and birch trees, which were beautiful in Nuenen, and then goes on to describe the beautiful vineyards he has seen in Provence. It is these beautiful vineyards that Vincent speaks of that brought him his first exhibition sale of a painting. This was his first relevant sale, which is often regarded as his only one. This painting is the ‘Red Vineyard,’ which he describes in his own words as ‘all purple, crimson, and yellow and green and violet like the Virginia creeper in Holland.’For the first two weeks of September 1889, Vincent had worked all day and all night in his studio creating paintings, which he continues to find a great comfort in, doing so with perfect calm and sharing that his thoughts in this respect are entirely clear and self-assured.However, during his time at the asylum, Vincent experienced multiple episodes, some of which were more intense and incapacitating than others. In the midst of his attacks, he found it difficult to write, describing his condition as “so disturbed is my mind.” Of his attacks, he wrote to his sister Willemien, describing that he is unaware of what he says or does, occasionally passing out without plausible reason, while retaining no memory of how he felt.Vincent’s condition, like any form of mental ailment, could fluctuate daily and last for days, even weeks, and go from mild to aggressive to seemingly nonexistent. Perhaps his longer attack lasted from February 22, 1890, until the end of April. In his letters to family and friends, he openly unleashed his feelings and, with that, his paralyzing condition during which he was unable to paint, write, or read.On August 22, 1889, Vincent wrote to Theo: “For many days I’ve been absolutely distraught, as in Arles, just as much if not worse, and it’s to be presumed that these crises will recur in the future; it is ABOMINABLE. I haven’t been able to eat for 4 days, as my throat is swollen. It’s not in order to complain too much. In a letter to Theo dated September 19, 1889, Vincent wrote that he painted Entrance to a Quarry as he felt an attack coming on: “Myself I quite like the Entrance to a quarry, which I did when I felt this attack beginning, because to my taste the dark greens go well with the ochre tones; there’s something sad in them that’s healthy, and that’s why it doesn’t annoy me.”Van Gogh was formally discharged from the asylum on Friday, May 16, 1890. He departed on the same day and journeyed by rail to Paris, arriving the subsequent day. Following a three-day visit with Theo, Johanna, and “the little one,” he proceeded to Auvers-sur-Oise, where he was of course to live out his final days. 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