39. Starry Night | Notes | Van Gogh: The Life Biography

Notes

Chapters

A Fanatic Heart

The Early Years

The Dutch Years

The French Years

Ici Repose

Chapters

744

1. "Pure Italy"

Edwards, p. 82: "[Charles] Gounod in his correspondence tells how they wandered about the countryside picking violets in a warm early spring, how they walked into the Alpilles, 'where is the most beautiful mountain valley that you could see anywhere; it is pure Italy; it is even Greece.'" No less than Frédéric Mistral, the great champion of the Midi, had taken Gounod on a tour of the region, a tour which included the valley and the old convent-turned-asylum (Edwards, pp. 148-149).

2. ancient Greece

Edwards, p. 82. (See Ch. 39, n. 1.)

3. a small resort city

Cook, pp. 116-117: "By the second century, at latest, the Roman character, long predominant, was well assured by Roman government and institutions. Judging from the area covered by the ruined remnants that have been found, Glanum cannot have held more than two thousand inhabitants at most." Cook, at least, is not impressed with the Roman determination to settle the valley permanently: "The little town that began as a market-place for Marius's [legionnary] camp was never destined for a long or an extensive existence, and was never even walled in" (ibid.). But the impressive relics that remain suggest otherwise. The Romans may have simply counted on the remoteness of the valley and on their control of the nearby heights, including Les Baux, to guard the city's only access, from the south.

4. dedicated entirely to health

L'Office du Tourisme de Saint-Rémy de Provence: "During that era [the Roman era], pilgrims who came to Glanum in spring to beg the goddess Valetudo to grant them good health."

5. burst into bloom

Leroy, p. 138: Leroy recounts the legend, as recorded in the Breviary of the Diocese of Aix: "Around the 5th century, the inhabitants of Reims, fleeing the invasion of the Vandals, came to settle at the foot of Mount Gaussier ... in the diocese of Avignon. A certain Paul, from a very respectable family, was one of these unfortunate refugees, with his mother and his wife ... Now one day, when Paul was working on the land, envoys from the church of Trois-Châteaux came to ask him to take over from their bishop, the blessed Terquatus, who was deceased. Paul rejects this high honour humbly but forcefully and, driving his stick into the ground ... declared, in the tone one might imagine, that he would become a bishop when this stick came into flower ... O wonder! The dry stick burst instantly into flower and Paul, obeying God's call ... made his wife enter a convent of holy nuns in Arles ... and then became the holy bishop who gave his name to the diocese and to the town of Trois-Châteaux: St-Paul Tricastin. A commemorative chapel was built in Paul's very own field and next to it, six or seven hundred years later, the Benedictines of Montmajour, no doubt finding the place propitious and the site admirable, built an extension to their abbey there, a priory which was called 'Sanctus Paulus a Mausoleo.'" Leroy claims the name honored the "Paul" whose stick bloomed, but more recent sources maintain that the monastery was dedicated to the apostle Paul (ibid.).

6. establishment of a monastery

L'Office du Tourisme de Saint-Rémy de Provence: The earliest chapel, dedicated to St. Peter and under charter to the bishop of Avignon, already existed on the site by 982 CE. The surviving monastery church was built in the eleventh century and dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle (not St. Paul Tricastin). At this time (1080 CE), the monastery acquired its distinctive appellation, "Saint Paul de Mausole."

7. funerary monument

The Mausolée des Jules (mausoleum of the Julii) is a fifty-foot high, tripartite monument that is dedicated to two members of a prominent Roman clan, father and son, who died in Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. It dates from about 30 BCE. Cook retells the legend that Caesar himself erected the monument "upon the spot where the Barbarians had first confronted the legions of Marius, and where Marius himself had dictated the whole strategy of his victorious campaign" (Cook, p. 26).

8. for troubled minds

L'Office du Tourisme de Saint-Rémy de Provence: "This pagan belief in the restorative powers [of the valley] has survived during the ages, up until the times when Christians of Glanum founded this priory which always had the task of providing succor to the rejected and especially the mentally ill."

9. survived all the waves

L'Office du Tourisme de Saint-Rémy de Provence: Jurisdiction of the monastery of Saint Paul de Mausole passed from the original Benedictine founders (who probably came from the abbey at nearby Les Baux), thence to the Franciscan order in the seventeenth century. In 1768, when the monarchy moved to do away with the monasteries, a special dispensation was given to St. Paul de Mausole apparently because of its indispensible mission of "welcoming [as] boarders into the Convent, people who have the misfortune to become insane" (ibid.). This included even some lunatics transferred from the King's prisons. During the Revolution, the monastery was sold and the monks dispersed (see Leroy, p. 139), but its function as an asylum for the insane continued uninterrupted: the Revolution, apparently, having no less need for a place to sequester lunatics than the monarchy.

10. plague

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148: According to the asylum's brochure, the "salubrious and pure climate ... preserved [Saint-Rémy] from the sicknesses and epidemics that flourished in the south of France."

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11. sprawling complex

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 147-148: According to a brochure like the one Vincent and Theo saw, the "institution" included 54,000 square meters of land (about ten acres), of which 8,500 square meters (about 77,000 square feet) was "covered with buildings." The brochure goes on to inventory the buildings: the chapel, the "antique cloister, where are grouped the general services, kitchen, stores and offices, refectories of the sisters and the ladies, and a parlor for family visits"; two "single-story buildings set back at right angles [from the chapel and cloister]. These constitute the men's quarters -- at the head of which is the director's pavilion -- and that of the ladies." Presumably there were also ancillary service buildings not described in the brochure.

12. hardly mentioned

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148: The brochure does mention the "richly decorated chapel at the center" of the facility and assures devout families that "religious ceremonies are nobly observed." In its inventory of facilities, it lists the accommodations for "sisters" (ibid.), but does not name their order (which was Saint Joseph d'Aubenas, having replaced the earlier sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul [see Edwards, p. 149]). A sense of how peripheral its religious roots had become can be seen in this reassuring aside to brochure browsers: "On each side of the chapel and cloister in opposite directions to one another are single-story buildings set back at right angles. These constitute the men's quarters -- at the head of which is the director's pavilion -- and that of the ladies, completely separated from one another, yet permitting the sick to go under cover to the chapel in all seasons." (ibid.).

13. "jewel-enameled sky"

Quoted in Caird, p. 348: In an account from about 1900, one visitor wrote about a visit to the valley of Saint-Rémy: "From the windows of our rooms one can see above the trees the fantastic summits of the Alpilles. They are clear against a 'jewel-enameled sky.'"

14. "Air, light, space"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148.

15. two-hour train trip

b1054 V/1962, "Salles, Frederic" to "Gogh, Vincent van", 5/5/1889: On May 5, Reverend Frédéric Salles wrote a message for Vincent on a visiting card: "Between my absence tomorrow and being occupied after Tuesday, I put myself at your disposal to accompany you Wednesday [May 8] to St Remy. We will leave by train at 8:51, if that is convenient for you. Having already seen M. [Théophile] Peyron, it is appropriate for me to accompany you myself." A contemporary advertisement for the asylum informs prospective clients: "How to get there: Railway Paris-Lyon Mediterranean. Tarascon station, from where a branch line reaches Saint-Remy in 80 minutes" ("Advertisement for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 151). Vincent may have taken a diligence as far as Tarascon, or, since he was traveling with Salles and luggage, just taken the train to Tarascon and changed to the Saint-Rémy spur. In any event, Clébert and Richard's account of a dramatic stagecoach ride into the mountains is at least half wrong: "The route des Alpilles which led from Arles to Saint-Rémy, a place some 25 kilometres away to which van Gogh travels in the jolting stagecoach on May 8 1889 was white and very dusty. But in his unhappiness he has the pleasure of discovering the magnificent chain of the Alpilles, one of the finest little mountains in Provence, whose jagged yet sublime look is quite appropriate to his mind, which is tormented by the inaccessibility of pure beauty." (Clébert and Richard, p. 93.)

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16. Hell's Gate

Cook, pp. 74-75: Cook refers to the "Vallon d'Infer" without translating the term. Later, he translates it as "Gorge of Hell" (ibid., p. 126).

17. tended gardens

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148: From the brochure: "Shady, well-planted gardens and parks, provided with fountains and maintained with care, surround the buildings and provide diversions."

18. shared mealtimes

Coquiot, p. 217: "Meals at fixed times, surveillance by the warders and chief warders; baths and showers. That was deemed to be a full schedule." Vincent confirms that food was offered in "regulated quantities and at fixed times" (JLB 776, 5/23/1889).

19. left on their own

Coquiot, p. 216: Coquiot reports that because "there was no fear of receiving an inspection visit ... the asylum ran itself."

20. watchful supervision

Coquiot, p. 217. (See Ch. 39, n. 18.)

21. Saint Paul lured

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 149-150. (See Ch. 39, n. 22.)

22. repugnant public asylums

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 149-150: This was, of course, one of Saint Paul's selling points, as is made clear in their brochure: "Because of the low-priced board, this beautiful institution is a resource for numerous families whose finances prevent them from placing their sick in very high-priced private asylums and yet who find the public asylums greatly repugnant."

23. hygienic conditions

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 148-149: "Good hygiene, a comfort many wrongly think these sick people do not perceive, always lends great power to the treatment."

24. "abundant, varied"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 148-149: "A skillful kitchen chef is charged with preparing choice, first-quality foods. The sick are guaranteed healthy food -- abundant, varied, and even rare -- according to the class of boarders to which they belong. The institution's Swiss cow barn provides plentiful natural dairy foods. These are the means by which we have so often obtained satisfactory results."

25. frequent outings

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 147-148: The brochure's sales pitch combines the homespun wisdom of fresh-air therapy with notions of Romantic Nature as well as Classical edification: "[The asylum] is bounded on three sides by the grounds of a farm belonging to the same owner. The Alps rise above it in the south, ending in strange crests that leave between them and the asylum a very uneven ground interspersed with small picturesque valleys, in which the infirm are often taken on walks. In the west, at the gates of the institution, there stand a triumphal arch and a mausoleum, antique monuments sufficiently well-preserved, the glorious remains of Roman grandeur. ... The asylum dominates a rich, spacious, and pleasant countryside; in the north, one kilometer lower, is the city of Saint-Remy, the ancient city of Glanum, well-known for its salubrious and pure climate, which preserved it from the sicknesses and epidemics that flourished in the south of France. ... The horizon extends up to the mountains of the Card and the Vaucluse and forms a magnificent panorama in which Avignon on one side and Tarascon on the other can be distinguished."

26. scenic views

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148: "The changing terrain offers up a variety of scenic views." (Also see Ch. 39, n. 25.)

27. radiator heat

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148: This was not only considered a modern form of heating "which provide[s] a gentle, uniform heat," but also, as the brochure discreetly reminds, "always safe for the boarders" -- that is, for patients who could not be trusted with the flame of a conventional gas or wood stove.

28. modern medical treatment

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 148-149: The brochure is vague on the treatments offered, ostensibly out of discretion: "We cannot discuss here the subject of the medical care or treatment except in generalities concerning those illnesses falling under the name of mental alienation; these evidence among them such differences that it would be very difficult to describe the treatments."

29. "gentleness and benevolence"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 148-149: The brochure both apologizes for past abuses in the treatment of the mentally ill and distances itself from that legacy: "Let us say only that since founding the institution, the cruelty with which we once treated the mentally ill has been replaced by humane understanding. Moreover, incomparably superior treatments, without constraints but by means of gentleness and benevolence, were put into practice in this asylum well before we published their fine results."

30. without resort

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 148-149. (See Ch. 39, n. 29.) Note that Leroy translates one of Vincent's letters (JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889) to suggest that, in cases of extreme agitation, straitjackets were used (Leroy, pp. 157-158). The Bonger translation says merely that the patient in question "smashes everything and shouts day and night, he wildly tears his shirts, too." JLB translate the term "les camisoles de force" as "straitjackets": "A new person has arrived who is so agitated that he breaks everything and shouts day and night, he also tears the straitjackets ..." (JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889).

31. "manual work"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 148-149: "The use of medications, whose efficacy has been demonstrated, and variety in works of the spirit, including manual work and amusements; such are the customary means to which we have recourse."

32. "according to"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148: Most of the population occupied the dormitories -- male and female separate, of course -- which are described thus: "rooms and bathrooms provided with showers, spacious dormitories, a long series of rooms and private apartments, and common living rooms."

33. "plentiful natural dairy"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., pp. 148-149.

34. Rooms were set aside

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148: "The ladies' parlors are provided with lateral workrooms; those of the men, with billiard rooms, music, and a bureau for writing or drawing. Illustrated journals, books, and various games fit for recreation are at their disposal." Apparently, the privileges of music, writing, and drawing were available only to the male patients.

35. A library

Vincent complains that his fellow inmates don't read, but he acknowledges that books are available in his report from January the next year (1890) of having recently seen a book by his old favorite, Jules Michelet: "I've just seen a volume of Michelet's (illustrated) Histoire de France. I saw admirable drawings in it by [Daniel Urrabieta] Vierge which were completely like something by Victor Hugo, astonishing things." (JLB 834, 1/3/1890; emphasis in original.)

36. "illustrated journals"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148. (See Ch. 39, n. 34.)

37. music, write, or draw

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148. (See Ch. 39, n. 34.)

38. "higher social rank"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148.

39. "domestics dedicated"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 150: This comes from the contemporary description of "first class" accommodations at the asylum: "Finally, those admitted under the title of higher boarders are furnished apartments of several rooms with luxury; their food is not only complete and varied but even rare. Moreover, they enjoy several special privileges; some have a male or female domestic designated to their service, who sleeps next to the sick person." This latter privilege was available for an additional fee, "established amiably with the director."

40. tall, knotty pines

Rewald, pp. 303-304.

41. pathways bordered

Rewald, pp. 303-304.

42. iris and laurel

Rewald describes "a beautiful alley of pine trees and a path profusely bordered by irises and laurels" leading to the director's residence (Rewald, pp. 303-304). Clébert and Richard mention paths bordered in "iris and lilac" (Clébert and Richard, p. 56).

43. Fewer than half

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. Vincent reports: "there are more than 30 empty rooms" but this undoubtedly refers just to the men's dormitory (JLB 776, 5/23/1889). We have assumed that the asylum's overall capacity was around eighty (although the women's dormitory occupied a larger building than the men's dormitory) and have accepted the various accounts that the asylum was, over all, about half-full at the time Vincent was admitted (Clébert and Richard, p. 56). That would put the total patient population somewhere around forty, of which about a third were men and two thirds women. Druick and Zegers put the number of patients at forty-five (Druick and Zegers, p. 273).

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "With this -- as there are more than 30 empty rooms -- I have another room in which to work."

44. twice that number of women

See Ch. 39, n. 43.

45. female affliction

The classic text on the subject is Veith's Hysteri. For a more recent and comprehensive study, see Michale, Approaching Hysteria. See also Gilman et al., Hysteria Beyond Freud.

46. "first-quality foods"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148.

47. "well-planted gardens"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148.

48. "a bit musty"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "The food is all right as far as it goes. It tastes a bit musty, of course, as in a cockroach-infested restaurant in Paris, or in a boarding-house."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "The food is so-so. It smells naturally a little musty, as in a cockroach-ridden restaurant in Paris or a boarding school."

49. heavy on beans

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "As these unfortunates do absolutely nothing (not a book, nothing to distract them but a game of boules and a game of draughts) they have no other daily distraction than to stuff themselves with chickpeas, haricot beans, lentils and other groceries and colonial foodstuffs by the regulated quantities and at fixed times."

50. "as in a cockroach-infested"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "The food is all right as far as it goes. It tastes a bit musty, of course, as in a cockroach-infested restaurant in Paris, or in a boarding-house."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "The food is so-so. It smells naturally a little musty, as in a cockroach-ridden restaurant in Paris or a boarding school."

51. "neglected gardens"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889: By "outside," Vincent means outside the asylum enclosure.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "Since I've been here, there's been enough work for me to do, what with the neglected garden with its tall pines and long, unkempt grass mixed with all sorts of weeds, and I haven't even been outside."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "Since I've been here, the neglected garden planted with tall pines under which grows tall and badly tended grass intermingled with various weeds, has provided me with enough work, and I haven't yet gone outside."

52. Dr. Théophile Peyron

Leroy, p. 139: Leroy quotes from an angry letter sent to Peyron by a former patient: "I squint almost as much as you do, and that's saying something," and "depicted him with a huge stomach, half Silenus, half Falstaff." Silenus was a satyr and mythological companion of Bacchus, the god of drink and, more generally, overindulgence. Silenus was usually depicted as a fat old man with a bald head and pug nose, not unlike Shakespeare's famous avatar of excess, Falstaff.

53. fat, bespectacled widower

BVG 593, 6/2/1889: Vincent describes Peyron as " un petit homme goutteux -- veuf depuis quelques années et qui a des lunettes très noires [a little gouty man -- widowed a few years ago -- who has very dark spectacles]" (JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889). He continues: "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" (ibid.). There is disagreement in the literature about Peyron's age. Lubin refers to him as "the fifty-year-old doctor" (pp. 186-187), apparently relying, like much of the literature, on Gastaut, Morin, and Lesèvre (ibid., p. 24), who in turn relied vaguely ("[Peyron] must have been born around 1839") on Leroy's unsupported statement in his 1926 report that Peyron was "then about fifty years old" (Leroy, p. 139). Without sourcing, Arnold supplies dates for Peyron (1827-1895) that would make him at least sixty-one, however, not fifty, when Vincent arrived at Saint Paul (Arnold, p. 212). The older age is more consistent with his status as both widower and retired naval officer, although the gout may have precipitated the latter. JLB give the same dates (1827-1895) as Arnold.

Context:
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "He's a little gouty man -- widowed a few years ago -- who has very dark spectacles."

54. a quick temper

BVG 639, 5/25/1890: On his departure from Saint Paul in May 1890, Vincent wrote about a final argument with the director.

Context:
JLB 878, 6/5/1890: "I decided that it was time to change surroundings, if I wanted to preserve my capacity for work, such as it is, and what remains to me of common sense. I wrote that to Dr. Peyron this very day. I'd had words with him about it, but we still parted on good terms."

55. gouty leg

BVG 593, 6/2/1889.

Context:
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "He's a little gouty man -- widowed a few years ago -- who has very dark spectacles."

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56. "mental alienation"

Quoted in Goldstein, p., 98-99.

57. an ophthalmologist

Leroy, p. 140: Leroy quotes Peyron joking: "Before, I used to care for the eyes of the body; now I care for the eyes of the soul; it is still the same job." The quote is a telling insight into the old-fashioned, moralistic/religious way in which Peyron viewed mental illness -- a paradigm that the great French psychiatrists of the nineteenth century (of which there were many) had spent decades trying to dismantle. With the exception of the lower classes and the devoutly religious (and, apparently, the older medical establishment), this effort had largely succeeded by the time Vincent entered the asylum at Saint-Rémy. Still, Leroy insists that Peyron "whilst not a psychiatrist, he nevertheless kept abreast of what was then known about mental illness" (ibid.).

58. retirement sinecure

BVG 593, 6/2/1889. Coquiot reports that, "there was no fear of receiving an inspection visit ... And so the asylum ran itself, Doctor Peyron being a paternal sort of doctor, a good-hearted man, but one to whom nervous and mental illness, in all their various forms, remained a complete mystery" (Coquiot, p. 216).

Context:
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "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."

59. rigorous log

Leroy, p. 182: Leroy reported Peyron's Queeg-like meticulousness in his 1926 report: "He guarded his authority so jealously that he required the concierge to give him a list of the day's comings and goings every evening: the butcher arrived at such and such a time, the baker left at such and such a time, a nun entered or left, the chaplain, or the gardener, or a warden came or went."

60. squeezed the budget

Rewald, pp. 303-304: "Dr. Peyron ran the establishment on an extremely parsimonious budget and seems to have been concerned mainly with keeping his patients alive rather than with treating their afflictions by the best means science could afford in those days." According to Gastaut, Peyron's "parsimonious budget" favored building upkeep over patient comfort: "He gave more time for the maintenance of his buildings than to his patients" (Gastaut, "Mémoires Originaux," p. 199).

61. secluded courtyard

Coquiot, pp. 215-216: Coquiot reports that while interviewing a former staff member of the asylum, Madame Deschanel (Sister Épiphane), who had been there during Vincent's stay, she "showed me the grassy courtyard where they used to put the patients who were agitated. Behind a wall pines, and poplars, and cypress trees swayed against each other and sang their song of human misery."

62. briglike ward

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "It's true that there are some who are in a more serious condition, whether they be filthy, or dangerous. These are in another courtyard."

63. "boarders"

"Brochure for the Asylum," in Stein, ed., p. 148: This the word repeatedly used in the asylum's literature to refer to the patients or inmates.

64. "I think I have done well"

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889.

Context:
BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889: "I wanted to tell you that I think I have done well to come here; first of all by seeing the reality of the life of the various madmen and lunatics in this menagerie, I am losing the vague dread, the fear of the thing. And little by little I can come to look upon madness as a disease like any other. Then the change of surroundings does me good, I think."
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "I wanted to tell you that I think I've done well to come here, first, in seeing the reality of the life of the diverse mad or cracked people in this menagerie, I'm losing the vague dread, the fear of the thing. And little by little I can come to consider madness as being an illness like any other. Then the change of surroundings is doing me good, I imagine." (Emphasis in original.)

65. "I have never been"

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889.

Context:
BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889: "It may well be that I shall stay here long enough -- I have never been so peaceful as here and in the hospital in Arles -- to be able to paint a little at least."
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "It's possible that I'll stay here for quite a long time, never have I been so tranquil as here and at the hospital in Arles to be able to paint a little at last."

66. "I have a small room"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: " I have a small room with greenish-gray paper with two sea-green curtains with a design of very pale roses, brightened by touches of blood-red. These curtains, probably the legacy of some deceased and ruined rich person, are very pretty in design."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: " 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."

67. "[It] is covered"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "A very worn armchair, probably from the same source, is covered with a tapestry speckled like a [Narcisse Virgile Diaz] Diaz [de la Peña] or a [Adolphe] Monticelli in brown, red, pink, white, cream, black, forget-me-not blue and bottle green."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "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."

68. "a prospect"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "Through the iron-barred window I can see an enclosed square of wheat, a prospect like a [Jan] Van Goyen, above which, in the morning, I watch the sun rise in all its glory."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "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."

69. "in the morning"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "Through the iron-barred window I can see an enclosed square of wheat, a prospect like a Van Goyen, above which, in the morning, I watch the sun rise in all its glory."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "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."

70. "Where I must"

BVG 589, 5/2/1889 and JLB 767, 5/2/1889: We combined elements from both translations.

Context:
BVG 589, 5/2/1889: " Where I have to follow a rule, as here in the hospital, I feel at peace."
JLB 767, 5/2/1889: " Where I must follow a rule, like here at the hospital, I feel more tranquil" (emphasis in original).

71. eat regularly

As Rewald points out, Vincent's later reports appear to turn his early, light-hearted criticism of the food at the asylum into a worrisome hint of self-starvation (Rewald, p. 310, n. 33). Four months later (in September 1889), he writes Theo: "And I'll tell you now that from the first day I refused to take this food, and until my crisis I ate nothing but bread and a little soup, which I'll continue to do as long as I remain here" (JLB 801, 9/10/1889). Unlike Rewald, we do not take this as an accurate report. It comes in a long postscript to a very long letter following a month of severe psychotic attacks. The entire letter is consumed by desperate arguments for leaving the asylum and returning north, to, for example, live with Camille Pissarro. Vincent even entertains the possibility of moving in with Paul Gauguin in Pont-Aven.

He blames his worsening condition on the asylum, of course, heaping calumny on its religious culture, its director Peyron, its failure to treat his illness, and, of course, its food. So fevered and incoherent is the letter that, while the postscript indicts the food, earlier in the body of the letter, Vincent admits eating the same food "ravenously" -- enough for two. Not only is this testimony unreliable, but we have Peyron's letter written about two weeks after Vincent's admission, in which he reports that Vincent "has a more peaceful and restoring sleep; he also eats with better appetite" (b1058 V/1962, ''Peyron, Th.'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 5/26/1889). The two accounts might be reconcilable if one assumes Vincent's later account exaggerates a brief introductory period at the asylum in which he disdained the food. This would be the same early period in which Peyron reports, in the same letter, "[Vincent] was subject to painful nightmares which upset him" (ibid.). It should also be noted that, in the intervening four months between these two very different reports, Vincent says repeatedly how much he is enjoying life at the asylum, reports that his stomach is feeling "infinitely better" (JLB 776, 5/23/1889) and his "health is good" (JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889), and insists (as late as mid-June) that, on account of better eating, more moderate drinking, and smoking, "[a]s for me, it's going well" (JLB 782, 6/18/1889).

While it is true, as we argue elsewhere, that Vincent often consciously misled his brother in order not to worry him, and one could view his months of glowing reports from the asylum in that light (as Rewald does), in this case we think Rewald undervalues the true relief Vincent felt at having the heavy responsibilities of Arles lifted from his shoulders -- at least temporarily -- and overvalues the histrionic complaints of September. Rewald, like many commentators, may have drunk too deeply from the well of Jo Bonger's bourgeois horror at Vincent's confinement in a mental asylum -- a fate in which she clearly could not imagine any decent person finding comfort. Her account of Vincent's entrance into Saint Paul is a study in nineteenth-century clichés of mental institutions as anterooms to Hell: "[Salles's] leave-taking broke the last tie that united Vincent with the outer world; he stayed behind in what was worse than the greatest loneliness, surrounded by neurotics and lunatics, with nobody to whom he could talk, nobody who understood him. ... Vincent spent a full year in these cheerless surroundings, struggling with unbroken energy against the ever-returning attacks of his illness but continuing his work with the old restless zeal which alone could keep him living now that everything else had failed him. ... It was no longer the buoyant, sunny, triumphant work of Arles. There sounded a deeper, sadder tone than the piercing clarion of his symphonies in yellow during the previous year." (Van Gogh-Bonger, in Van Gogh, pp. xlix-l.) One has only to recall the horrors of Vincent's time in Arles, and the freely-brushed, carefree landscapes from Saint-Rémy, to see the meaningless tropes at work in Bonger's summation.

72. "one can see"

BVG 598, 7/2/1889.

Context:
BVG 598, 7/2/1889: "Besides, the hills full of thyme and other aromatic plants are very nice here, and because of the clearness of the air, from the heights one can see so much farther here than at home."
JLB 788, 7/8/1889-7/12/1889: "Then the hills here, full of thyme and other aromatic plants, are very beautiful, and because of the clarity of the air one can see from the heights so much further than at home."

73. "I never get tired"

BVG 598, 7/2/1889.

Context:
BVG 598, 7/2/1889: "Then I never get tired of the blue sky."
JLB 788, 7/8/1889-7/12/1889: "Then I never tire of the blue sky."

74. Twice a week

BVG 595, 6/17/1889-6/18/1889.

Context:
JLB 782, 6/18/1889: "As for me, it's going well -- you'll understand that after almost half a year now of absolute sobriety in eating, drinking, smoking, with two two-hour baths a week recently, this must clearly calm one down a great deal."

75. "steadies me a lot"

BVG 595, 6/17/1889-6/18/1889.

Context:
BVG 595, 6/17/1889-6/18/1889: "Things are going well with me. You will understand that after almost half a year now of absolute frugality in eating, drinking, smoking, with two-hour baths twice a week of late, it's evident that it should steady me a lot."
JLB 782, 6/18/1889: "As for me, it's going well -- you'll understand that after almost half a year now of absolute sobriety in eating, drinking, smoking, with two two-hour baths a week recently, this must clearly calm one down a great deal."

76. read a book

BVG 621, 1/3/1890. (See Ch. 39, n. 35.)

Context:
JLB 834, 1/3/1890: "In your previous letter you talk of Hugo's drawings -- I've just seen a volume of Michelet's (illustrated) Histoire de France. I saw admirable drawings in it by Vierge which were completely like something by Victor Hugo, astonishing things." (Emphasis in original.)

77. newspaper

BVG 597, 7/2/1889.

Context:
JLB 784, 7/2/1889: "In a newspaper I was reading a letter from a collector of Greek objects to one of his friends, which contained this phrase 'you who love nature, I who love all that the hand of man has made, this difference in our tastes deep down creates the unity in it.'"

78. smoke in peace

BVG 594, 6/9/1889: Despite some accounts to the contrary, smoking was allowed -- or, to be more precise, Vincent did smoke.

Context:
JLB 779, 6/9/1889: "Thanks very much for the consignment of canvases, colours, brushes, tobacco and chocolate, which reached me in good order."

79. The great weights

See Ch. 39, n. 71.

80. "We don't have to"

BVG 590, 5/3/1889.

Context:
BVG 590, 5/3/1889: "Now that you are married, we don't have to live for great ideas any longer, but, believe me, for small ones only. And I find that a wonderful relief, and don't complain of it at all."
JLB 768, 5/3/1889: "Now that you're married we no longer have to live for great ideas but, believe it, for little ones only. And I find that a real relief which I don't complain about at all."

81. "grinding daily task"

BVG 478, 4/21/1888: In this comment from a year earlier in Arles, one can hear the relief that Vincent must have felt, but dared not admit, as he entered his new "prison" in Saint-Rémy.

Context:
BVG 478, 4/21/1888: "When a man comes out of prison after having been there a long time, there will be moments when he will even miss his prison, because he finds himself at a loss now that he is at liberty -- so called, I suppose, because the grinding daily task of earning your living hardly leaves any liberty at all."
JLB 600, 4/20/1888: "When a man comes out of prison after having spent a long time there, there are times when he even misses prison, because he feels disoriented once he's at liberty, probably so called because the exhausting daily task of earning one's living leaves one hardly any liberty."

82. "crushing feeling"

BVG 589, 5/2/1889. (See Ch. 38, n. 350.)

Context:
BVG 589, 5/2/1889: "But the money painting costs crushes me with a feeling of debt and worthlessness, and it would be a good thing if it were possible that this should stop."
JLB 767, 5/2/1889: "But the money that painting costs, that crushes me under a feeling of debt and of cowardice, and it would be good for that to stop if possible."

83. "Because there are mountains"

BVG 593, 6/2/1889.

Context:
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "The mistral (since there are a few mountains here) appears far less annoying than in Arles, where you always get it at first hand."

748

84. "They say we must"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: " They say we must tolerate others so that the others may tolerate us, and other very sound arguments, which they put into practice, too. And we understand each other very well. Sometimes, for instance, I can talk with one of them who can only reply in incoherent sounds, because he is not afraid of me."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: " They say, one must suffer others for the others to suffer us, and other very true reasonings that they thus put into practice. And between ourselves we understand each other very well, I can, for example, chat sometimes with one who doesn't reply except in incoherent sounds, because he isn't afraid of me."

85. spent most of his time

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "When I send you the 4 canvases of the garden I have on the go you'll see that, considering that life happens above all in the garden, it isn't so sad."

86. peace he needed to work

BVG 579, 3/19/1889.

Context:
JLB 750, 3/19/1889: "If -- let's say -- I were to become definitively insane -- certainly I don't say that it's impossible, in any case they should treat me differently, give me back the fresh air, my work &c. Then -- my word -- I would resign myself. But we aren't even there yet, and if I'd had my tranquillity I'd have been back on my feet long ago."

87. games of boules

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

88. "the good people"

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889: We have reordered Bonger's translation.

Context:
BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889: "When I am working in the garden, they all come to look, and I assure you they have the discretion and manners to leave me alone -- more than the good people of the town of Arles, for instance."
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "They all come to see when I'm working in the garden, and I can assure you are more discreet and more polite to leave me in peace than, for example, the good citizens of Arles."

89. "It has always been"

BVG W11, 4/30/1889: This echoes Vincent's previous, more extended argument -- also directed to Wil -- that the impressionists' picture-making constituted an entertainment that deserved an audience in its own right: "There are at least a score of fellows who in an hour or so can paint a portrait with character in it -- people hardly ever ask for one -- 20 or so fellows who can do whatever landscape you please, at whatever hour of the day, with whatever colour effect you please, on the spot, without hesitation -- nobody looks on, they always work alone. If only everyone knew this, though -- but you see the circumstances are so little known." (JLB 626, 6/16/1888-6/20/1888.) For a fuller discussion of this strain in Vincent's thinking (and in his art), see Ch. 32, n. 137.

Context:
BVG W11, 4/30/1889: "It is probable that people here won't see very much in it, but nevertheless it has always been my great desire to paint for those who do not know the artistic aspect of a picture."
JLB 764, 4/28/1889-5/2/1889: "The people here probably don't see much in it, but however it has always been so much my desire to paint for those who don't know the artistic side of a painting."

90. victim of a family quarrel

Clébert and Richard, p. 53: According to Clébert and Richard, the asylum at Saint-Rémy "quickly won great critical acclaim ... because in contrast to ordinary asylums this former monastery offered its (wealthy) inmates a level of comfort worthy of a tourist hotel, pleasant grounds and constitutionals to strengthen not only the unsteady physical state but also the attenuated aesthetic sense of the unfortunate souls whom various incidents and family quarrels had caused to be detained here, often for life." The asylum's decline, according to Clébert and Richard, was due in part to the increasing difficulty of disposing of unwelcome family members due to changes in the law working in tandem with improvements in the science of mental illness: "Middle class families who have particular problems with their offspring, situations which need to be hushed up or an inheritance problem to be put conveniently out of the way no longer have lettres de cachet or medical certificates issued by obliging doctors at their disposal." (ibid.)

91. "ruined rich person"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "These curtains, probably the legacy of some deceased and ruined rich person, are very pretty in design."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "These curtains, probably the leftovers of a ruined, deceased rich man, are very pretty in design."

92. insisted on dressing

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "The room where we stay on rainy days is like a 3rd-class waiting room in some stagnant village, all the more so since there are honourable madmen who always wear a hat, spectacles and travelling clothes and carry a cane, almost like at the seaside."

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93. "greatly overtired"

Leroy, pp. 156-157.

94. accused pedophile

Leroy, pp. 156-157.

95. "idiot"

Leroy, p. 156: Leroy identifies the fellow patient Vincent mentions "who doesn't reply except in incoherent sounds" (JLB 776, 5/23/1889): "Here the painter is clearly referring to the idiot, then aged 23, who according to the register of admissions 'only uttered inarticulate words … He has never been able to learn anything and sometimes presented with a state of nervous agitation which leads him to commit acts of violence for the most trivial reasons … '"

96. "I can talk"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "And we understand each other very well. Sometimes, for instance, I can talk with one of them who can only reply in incoherent sounds, because he is not afraid of me."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "And between ourselves we understand each other very well, I can, for example, chat sometimes with one who doesn't reply except in incoherent sounds, because he isn't afraid of me."

97. There were shouters

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "There's one person here who has been shouting and always talking, like me, for a fortnight, he thinks he hears voices and words in the echo of the corridors, probably because the auditory nerve is sick and too sensitive, and with me it was both the sight and the hearing at the same time which, according to what [Dr. Félix] Rey said one day, is usual at the beginning of epilepsy" (emphasis in original).

98. at night, howlers

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889. "One continually hears shouts and terrible howls as though of the animals in a menagerie" (JLB 772, 5/9/1889).

Context:
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "And although one continually hears shouts and terrible howls as though of the animals in a menagerie, despite this the people here know each other very well, and help each other when they suffer crises."

99. fits of paranoia

Leroy, pp. 156-157: According to Leroy's reading of the asylum records, this was the "overtired" law student: "we can be certain that [Vincent] cannot have paid much attention to this neighbor of his, who was at the time suffering from 'a persecution complex and hearing voices … He claimed he was being followed by the secret police.'" Leroy refers to "quite a little procession of rowdy maniacs at the asylum," describing one of them who "lives in constant fear 'of being poisoned or murdered. He shouts all the time: he puts clothes on all wrong in a quite ridiculous way. Generally he's pretty rowdy and causes violent scenes, smashing up furniture and mirrors.'" And another patient, transferred from the asylum at Vanves, who had "frequent fits of manic agitation." (ibid.)

100. "People get to know"

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889.

Context:
BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889: "And though here you continually hear terrible cries and howls like beasts in a menagerie, in spite of that people get to know each other very well and help each other when their attacks come on."
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "And although one continually hears shouts and terrible howls as though of the animals in a menagerie, despite this the people here know each other very well, and help each other when they suffer crises."

101. "smashes everything"

BVG 593, 6/2/1889. Based on his review of the asylum records, Leroy identifies the patient Vincent describes as a twenty-seven-year-old man "suffering from acute mania" (Leroy, pp. 157-158). We have combined elements from both translations.

Context:
BVG 593, 6/2/1889: "A new man has arrived, who is so worked up that he smashes everything and shouts day and night, he wildly tears his shirts, too, and up till now, though he is in a bath all day long, he is hardly getting any quieter; he destroys his bed and everything else in his room, upsets his food, etc."
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "A new person has arrived who is so agitated that he breaks everything and shouts day and night, he also tears the straitjackets and up to now he scarcely calms down, although he's in a bath all day long, he demolishes his bed and all the rest in his room, overturns his food &c." (emphasis in original).

102. "very sad"

BVG 593, 6/2/1889.

Context:
BVG 593, 6/2/1889: "It is very sad to see, but they are very patient here and will pull him through in the end."
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "It's very sad to see -- but they have a lot of patience here and will eventually get there, however."

103. especially the veterans

BVG 592, 5/22/1889: In Vincent's words: "Old regulars of the menagerie" (JLB 776, 5/23/1889).

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "If someone has some crisis the others look after him, and intervene so that he doesn't harm himself. The same for those who have the mania of often getting angry. Old regulars of the menagerie run up and separate the fighters, if there is a fight."

104. "intervene"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. We have combined elements from both translations.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "If someone has an attack, the others look after him and interfere so that he does not harm himself. The same for those whose mania is to fly often into a rage. The old inhabitants of the menagerie come running and separate the combatants, if combat there is."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "If someone has some crisis the others look after him, and intervene so that he doesn't harm himself. The same for those who have the mania of often getting angry. Old regulars of the menagerie run up and separate the fighters, if there is a fight."

105. "They will pull"

BVG 593, 6/2/1889.

Context:
BVG 593, 6/2/1889: "It is very sad to see, but they are very patient here and will pull him through in the end."
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "It's very sad to see -- but they have a lot of patience here and will eventually get there, however."

106. "By seeing the reality"

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889; emphasis in original JLB 772, 5/9/1889.

Context:
BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889: "I wanted to tell you that I think I have done well to come here; first of all by seeing the reality of the life of the various madmen and lunatics in this menagerie, I am losing the vague dread, the fear of the thing."
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "I wanted to tell you that I think I've done well to come here, first, in seeing the reality of the life of the diverse mad or cracked people in this menagerie, I'm losing the vague dread, the fear of the thing" (emphasis in original).

107. nursed each other

BVG 129, 4/1/1879: Vincent's description of the condition of the miners after a fire damp explosion prefigures his experience in the asylum at Saint-Rémy. (See Chapter 12.)

Context:
JLB 151, 4/1/1879-4/16/1879: "Did I tell you at the time about the miner who was badly burned by a gas explosion? Thank God he has now recovered and goes out and about and is beginning to take long walks as practice, his hands are still weak and it will be some time before he's able to use them for his work, yet he has been saved. But since then there have been quite a few cases of typhus and virulent fever, including what is known as 'foolish fever,' which causes one to have bad dreams such as nightmares and delirium. So there are again many sickly and bedridden people, lying emaciated on their beds, weak and miserable. In one house everyone is sick with fever, and they have little or no help, which means that there the sick are taking care of the sick."

108. "For though there are some"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889; emphasis in original JLB 776, 5/23/1889.

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "For although there are some who howl or usually rave, here there is much true friendship that they have for each other" (emphasis in original).

109. "acute mania"

Monroe, Creative Brainstorm, pp. 30-31.

110. "a kind of epilepsy"

Gastaut, "Mémoires Originaux," p. 200.

111. "the falling sickness"

Temkin, pp. 375-376.

112. Rey knew much

See Ch. 39, n. 113.

750

113. "latent epilepsy"

Gastaut, "Mémoires Originaux," p. 200.

114. "larval epilepsy"

Gastaut, "Mémoires Originaux," pp. 199-200.

115. "masked epilepsy"

Temkin, pp. 317-318.

116. refused to consider

Reynolds, p. 676.

117. "intellectual disease"

Temkin, p. 320: This term was contributed by prominent early French alienist Jules Falret, who, according to Temkin, divided epileptic insanity "into petit mal intellectuel and grand mal intellectuel, as counterparts to the petit mal and grand mal of the convulsive attacks. Petit mal intellectuel usually was associated with vertigoes and the grand mal type with the convulsive grand mal. The delirious types could precede or, more often, follow the convulsive attacks; less frequently they appeared in the intervals between the latter, in persons who were recognized as epileptic."

118. tried to impose

Temkin, p. 320. (See Ch. 39, n. 117.)

119. "grand mal"

Temkin, p. 320.

120. "petit mal"

Temkin, p. 320.

121. "a kind of epilepsy"

Gastaut, "Mémoires Originaux," p. 200. (See Ch. 39, n. 121.)

122. "an epileptic"

BVG 589, 5/2/1889.

Context:
BVG 589, 5/2/1889: "Now if I certainly run a great risk here of being refused because they know that I am a madman or an epileptic probably for good (though according to what I have heard, there are 50,000 epileptics in France, only 4,000 of whom are confined, and so it is not extraordinary), perhaps I should soon be provided for after speaking, for instance, to [Édouard] Détaille or Caran d'Ache [pseudonym of Emmanuel Poiré] in Paris."
JLB 767, 5/2/1889: "Now if here I certainly run a strong risk of being rejected because they know that I'm a madman or an epileptic, probably for good (although from what I've heard tell there are 50 thousand epileptics in France, of whom only 4,000 are confined, and that it's thus not so extraordinary), perhaps in Paris by telling it for example to Detaille or Caran d'Ache I would soon be found a place."

123. "There are 50,000"

BVG 589, 5/2/1889.

Context:
BVG 589, 5/2/1889: "Now if I certainly run a great risk here of being refused because they know that I am a madman or an epileptic probably for good (though according to what I have heard, there are 50,000 epileptics in France, only 4,000 of whom are confined, and so it is not extraordinary), perhaps I should soon be provided for after speaking, for instance, to Détaille or Caran d'Ache in Paris."
JLB 767, 5/2/1889: "Now if here I certainly run a strong risk of being rejected because they know that I'm a madman or an epileptic, probably for good (although from what I've heard tell there are 50 thousand epileptics in France, of whom only 4,000 are confined, and that it's thus not so extraordinary), perhaps in Paris by telling it for example to Detaille or Caran d'Ache I would soon be found a place."

124. produced hallucinations

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. (See Ch. 39, n. 131.) Vincent not only experienced hallucination, he reported witnessing a similar display at the asylum.

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "There's one person here who has been shouting and always talking, like me, for a fortnight, he thinks he hears voices and words in the echo of the corridors, probably because the auditory nerve is sick and too sensitive, and with me it was both the sight and the hearing at the same time which, according to what Rey said one day, is usual at the beginning of epilepsy" (emphasis in original).

125. acts of self-mutilation

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "Most epileptics bite their tongues and injure them. Rey told me that he had known a case where someone had injured his ear as I did, and I believe I've heard a doctor here who came to see me with the director say that he too had seen it before."

126. biting their tongues

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

127. cutting off their ears

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. (See Ch. 39, n. 126.)

128. "epileptic character"

Temkin, pp. 317-318.

129. "disposition to irritation"

Morel, "D'une forme de délire," pp. 774, 775.

130. "exaggerated mental activity"

Morel, "D'une forme de délire," pp. 774-775. (See Ch. 39, n. 135.)

131. most trifling offense

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. Here is Morel's 1860 summary of the disease he described as "larvate" or "larval" epilepsy: "Under the term larvate epilepsy I have described a variant of epilepsy which does not reveal itself by the actual minor or major attacks, but on the contrary by all the other symptoms which accompany or precede ordinary epilepsy characterized by seizures, that is: periodic alternation of excitement and depression; manifestations as it were of sudden fury without sufficient grounds and for most trivial reasons; a usually most irritable disposition; amnesia, as usually occurs in epilepsy, of dangerous acts carried out during momentary or transient rages. Some epileptics of this type have even experienced genuine auditory and visual hallucinations." (Morel, quoted in Blumer, "The Illness of Vincent van Gogh," p. 522.)

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "There's one person here who has been shouting and always talking, like me, for a fortnight, he thinks he hears voices and words in the echo of the corridors, probably because the auditory nerve is sick and too sensitive, and with me it was both the sight and the hearing at the same time which, according to what Rey said one day, is usual at the beginning of epilepsy" (emphasis in original).

132. latent epileptic to anger

Temkin, pp. 317-318.

133. "epileptic fury"

Temkin, pp. 317. (See Ch. 39, n. 131.)

134. "lightning condensed"

Temkin, pp. 317-318: This line is quoted in Temkin's 1971 summary of Morel: "Any trifle could provide 'epileptic anger,' which might last one to two hours and repeat itself again and again during the day. But there also existed epileptic fury, which appeared in two forms: either in continuity with an epileptic attack, i.e., preceding or following it, or, without such continuity, bursting forth 'like lightning and being condensed in terrible deeds.' This was said in 1853."

135. always on the move

Morel, "D'une forme de délire," pp. 774-775: "The tendency to flight is an aberration that one encounters frequently enough [among larval epileptics]. The intellectual faculties of such patients acquires, according to Dr. Falret, an unaccustomed activity which astonishes the people who live with them. This exaggerated mental activity normally accompanies a physical excitation that deserves special attention. The patient has a continuous need for movement, an instability, a disposition to irritation or anger, that contrasts with their normal behavior."

136. unpredictable outbursts

Morel, "D'une forme de délire," p. 773: In Morel's landmark 1860 report on latent epilepsy, he described the case of one woman who "showed general sufferings, indicative of a deeper impressionability, and a particular aptitude to sadness. But the more alarming symptom, in the eyes of her family, was an excessive irritability which expressed itself in formidable angers; sometimes these angers occurred suddenly, without appreciable cause, and sometimes they exploded when anyone offered the least resistance to the strange, capricious will of this irritable patient."

137. "I believe"

Peyron, "Register of Voluntary Commitments," in Stein, ed., pp. 151-152.

138. "As far as I can make out"

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889.

Context:
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "As far as I know the doctor here is inclined to consider what I've had as an attack of an epileptic nature."

139. if unempathetic

Van Gogh-Bonger, in Van Gogh, p. xlix: In her Memoir, Jo Bonger seems to have summed up the general impression of Peyron shared by all accounts: "Dr. Peyron was kindly disposed, but he was reserved and silent; the monthly letters by which he kept Theo informed of the situation lacked the warm sympathy of the doctors in the hospital at Arles."

140. "I have every reason"

Peyron, "On His New Patient, Vincent," in Stein, ed., pp. 152-153.

751

141. "nevertheless kept abreast"

Leroy, p. 140: "Whilst not a psychiatrist, he nevertheless kept abreast of what was then known about mental illness." Leroy later succeeded Peyron as medical director of the Saint Paul asylum at Saint-Rémy.

142. "mischievous restlessness"

Gowers, p. 121: "The mental state of epileptics, as is well known, frequently presents deterioration, and this constitutes one of the consequences of the disease which is much, dreaded, and is often most serious. In its slighter form there is merely defective memory, especially for recent acquisitions. In more severe degree there is greater imperfection of intellectual power, weakened capacity for attention, and often defective moral control. Mischievous restlessness and irritability in childhood may develop to vicious and even criminal tendencies in adult life."

143. excessive sun

Gowers, pp. 26-27: " Exposure to the sun is frequently assigned as the cause of the first fit, but the relation is often doubtful. Sunstroke affords so ready an explanation of a convulsive seizure occurring in the hot sun, that it is naturally regarded as the cause of the attack in all such cases. It is an undoubted cause in a few." (Emphasis in original.)

144. alcohol

Gowers, p. 29: "Chronic alcoholism is a rare cause of epilepsy. Convulsions not infrequently result from it, but usually in association with distinct symptoms of chronic meningitis." Among the other, numerous possible triggers (not underlying causes) that rise to Gowers's consideration are sex, trauma, acute disease, intestinal worms, "digestive derangement," asphyxia, lead poisoning, renal disease, tobacco, anaesthetics (chloroform), "disturbed menstruation," pregnancy, and, finally, masturbation. Of these Gowers suspects that the last the most common "exciting cause" of epilepsy, but laments the difficulty of obtaining accurate data. "It is usually denied by the patient, and the very enquiry renders its discovery more difficult by suggesting the necessity for concealment" (ibid., p. 32).

145. disruptive emotions

Gowers, p. 23: Gowers research showed this to be by far the most common "exciting cause" of epilepsy and he breaks it down into two sub-categories: "mental emotion" and "prolonged mental anxiety."

146. feelings of guilt

Temkin, pp. 318-319. Much of the text discussion of this subject is based on Temkin's summary of Falret's research. Because it was generally believed at the time that "absolute loss of consciousness was an essential characteristic of the disease [epilepsy]," much of the knowledge about the onset of an epileptic episode was based on so-called "aborted" episodes, which, somewhat circularly, meant that the patient recalled something about the episode. "Hence these [aborted] attacks are incomplete from the point of view of abnormality of movement, as well as of loss of consciousness. After the attacks have ceased, some of these patients have retained a more or less vague memory of the ideas that preoccupied them while the attacks lasted. They have declared that at the time they were under the influence of a painful dream, in a state of profound mental suffering, and dominated by a vague feeling of violent pangs of conscience or of an insurmountable misfortune, the reason of which they were unable to penetrate." (ibid.)

147. "profound mental suffering"

Temkin, pp. 318-319. (See Ch. 39, n. 146.)

148. trapped in a waking nightmare

Temkin, pp. 318-319. (See Ch. 39, n. 146.)

149. "falling into a chasm"

Morel, "D'une forme de délire," p. 773: In 1860, Morel reported one patient's description of her attacks: "[She] felt like she was wrapped in a luminous atmosphere. Her nights were bad, her sleep stopped by alarming dreams and nightmares; she believed she was falling into a chasm; she saw spectra and had terrifying visions."

150. Pangs of conscience

Temkin, pp. 318-319. (See Ch. 39, n. 216.)

151. Painful memories

Temkin, p. 318: Summarizing the ideas of Falret, Temkin writes, "For instance, there were epileptics 'in whom the same idea, the same reminiscence, or the same hallucination arises spontaneously at the moment of the invasion of every attack and infallibly precedes its appearance.' He added that very often ' this reminiscence, this idea or this image are the reproduction of the idea or the sensation which has provoked the first attack in this patient.'" (Emphasis added.) According to Dewhurst and Bear, one of Hughlings Jackson's latent epilepsy patients (1870) "felt 'the past as if present -- a blending of past ideas with present'" (Dewhurst and Bear, p. 505).

152. religious obsessions

Blumer, "The Psychiatric Dimension of Epilepsy," in Blumer, ed., p. 29: "The epileptics will entertain gloomy thoughts and ideas of having sinned, and may feel that others are being cross with them and are speaking ill of them. Some patients may be seized with intense anxiety, sudden despair, or incomprehensible terror. In such a mood, a marked suicidal intent often develops, and suicide attempts may be carried out. Far more rare than the periodic irritability or dejection is the paroxysmal occurrence of expansive or ecstatic moods with motor excitement and religious preoccupation."

153. especially over sins

Blumer, "The Psychiatric Dimension of Epilepsy," in Blumer, ed., p. 29: "In other cases the mood changes take on the form of internal unrest and dejection. The epileptics will entertain gloomy thoughts and ideas of having sinned, and may feel that others are being cross with them and are speaking ill of them."

154. out-of-body sensations

Temkin, p. 326: Temkin cites one of the three hundred cases reported by Théodore Herpin in 1867: "One patient declared: 'The trouble is purely intellectual; I am neither dazed nor giddy; I can still read words, but I no longer grasp their meaning. This is a most distressing condition; it seems to me that one part of my intellect witnesses the disorders of the other.' To this Herpin added: 'It would be impossible to define the partial delirium more clearly.'" Fifty-four of Herpin's patients reported "loss of the feeling of existence" (ibid., p. 325); and another "talked of momentary 'absences'" (ibid., p. 323). According to Dewhurst and Bear, a patient reported by Hughlings Jackson (1888) believed that he had "'double consciousness,' and another patient had a series of 'curious sensations -- a sort of transplantation to another world'" (Dewhurst and Bear, p. 505).

155. psyche were divided

Temkin, p. 326.

156. other entities

Morel, "D'une forme de délire," p. 773. (See Ch. 39, n. 154.)

157. their own voices

Morel, "D'une forme de délire," p. 773: In 1860, Morel reported the case of a woman who "answered the invisible voices of beings, and sometimes also she complained of hearing alarming noises."

158. babble gibberish

Temkin, pp. 318-319: "During these aborted [epileptic] attacks the patients, who have no rapport with the external world, utter certain incomprehensible sounds or articulate a few incoherent words which seem to indicate a painful anxiety or deep fright." (See Ch. 39, n. 146.) Temkin quotes from a paper published in 1859 by Höring, a student of Wilhelm Griesinger, in which he describes an attack of latent epilepsy: "At other times he runs away during the attack and talks gibberish, or he searches, as in a dream, in all his pockets, as if he were missing something, and he himself says that something has fallen down, or he makes scrubbing and rubbing motions on his trousers, or hides his hands in his sleeves and talks of the possibility of breaking off his fingers and so on; sometimes he answers if addressed during this dream state, but usually wrongly. Whatever form this slight attack may take, at its end he usually closes his eyes, seems to sleep for a few minutes, and then has no idea of what happened." (Temkin, p. 322.)

159. "automatically"

Temkin, p. 322: According to Temkin: "Automatism, especially since the essay by [Jules] Baillarger of 1845, was not a novel idea in French psychiatry." In 1881, Gowers defined "automatism" this way: "The automatic action is often regarded as constituting the epileptic seizure, and the attacks presenting this feature have, following Esquirol, been called 'masked epilepsy,' or 'epilepsia larvata' after Morel. Whether this mental automatism may replace and represent an epileptic seizure, or whether it is always a post-epileptic phenomenon, is a question still undecided, which will be presently considered." (Gowers, p. 115.)

This casual reference to "a question still undecided" marks one of the primary fissure lines between French and English psychiatry at the time. In fact, the French continued to believe that the automatic actions constituted the seizure, not, as Gowers would have it, "post-epileptic phenomenon." The English, following in the giant footsteps of Hughlings Jackson, believed that the automatic actions represented, as Gowers goes on to say, " the result of the exhaustion of the highest cerebral centres by the discharge, and the consequent temporary loss of the control which these should exercise over complex centres just below them, which consequently act in an insubordinate and automatic manner" (ibid.; emphasis added). Ultimately at stake was the much larger question of whether behavior, aberrant or otherwise, always had a pathological origin. To preserve contemporaneity, the text adheres to the French preference for a psychological -- rather than a physiological -- understanding of epilepsy, which would have controlled both Rey's and Peyron's analysis of Vincent's case.

160. hallmarks were violence

Gowers, p. 117: "Occasionally the automatic actions display emotion, and, it may be, violence and rage." Gowers reports one patient who "immediately after an attack, struck a friend who was with him a violent blow on the face, mistaking him for another person, and was in consequence taken to a police station under the suspicion of being drunk" (ibid.). The phrase "immediately after the attack" hides a dispute about whether such violent actions constituted the epileptic attack, as the French believed, or were merely post-attack sequelae, the English view. (See Ch. 39, n. 159.)

161. paroxysmal rage

Gowers, pp. 120-121: Under the heading "Mental Disturbance in Epileptics," Gowers writes: " Paroxysmal Mental Disturbance; Epileptic Mania. The subjects of epilepsy sometimes, but rarely, present sudden paroxysmal outbursts of mental derangement, often with violence, and a tendency to injure others. The maniacal attack is usually brief, often lasting for a few minutes only, sometimes for an hour or two." Morel writes of the latent epileptic's "excessive irritability which was summarized in formidable angers" (Morel, "D'une forme de délire," p. 773). He also referred to this state "complete fury" (ibid.).

162. Both homicide

Temkin, p. 321: Summarizing Falret's "emphasis on the automatism prevailing in many epileptic phenomena," Temkin writes, "The epileptic who, in a state of post-ictal delirium, attempted or committed suicide, homicide, arson, had not the slightest responsibility for 'violent acts committed by him in the midst of this completely automatic, though short, delirium.'" (Also see Ch. 39, n. 161 and n. 160.)

163. suicide

Blumer, "The Psychiatric Dimension of Epilepsy," in Blumer, ed., p. 29: "Some patients may be seized with intense anxiety, sudden despair, or incomprehensible terror. In such a mood, a marked suicidal intent often develops, and suicide attempts may be carried out."

164. loss of consciousness

Gowers, pp. 97-98: "The coma into which the patient usually passes at the close of an epileptic fit often continues as heavy sleep, lasting for a quarter of an hour or longer, sometimes for hours." According to Temkin, Falret (and others) believed "absolute loss of consciousness was an essential characteristic of the disease [of latent epilepsy]" (Temkin, p. 318).

165. days and weeks

Blumer, "The Psychiatric Dimension of Epilepsy," in Blumer, ed., p. 31: According to Blumer, "The duration of these delirious states is often limited to a few hours, at most to 1 or 2 weeks. The resolution is almost invariably gradual. Some prolonged twilight states, characterized by heavily clouded consciousness and a near-complete absence of activity, are designated as 'epileptic stupor.'"

166. "epileptic stupor"

Blumer, "The Psychiatric Dimension of Epilepsy," in Blumer, ed., p. 31. (See Ch. 39, n. 165.)

167. twilight state

Blumer, "The Psychiatric Dimension of Epilepsy," in Blumer, ed., p. 30: Blumer describes the "epileptic twilight state" as "associated with a more or less marked clouding of consciousness. .... In twilight states the patients show the disorders of attention, orientation, thought processes, and speech characteristic of confusional states. Their mood is highly labile. They are frequently dejected, anxious, despaired, and then again morose, surly, and irritable. ... Many patients are taciturn, inaccessible, even stuporous."

168. inherited

Newmark and Penry, p. 1: According to Newmark and Penry, "Speculations on the hereditability of epilepsy have occupied the thoughts of medical men since the time of the earliest medical investigations. In approximately 450 b.c. the Greek physician Hippocrates concluded in his treatise The Sacred Disease that epilepsy is neither sacred nor even unexplainable; instead, it is inherited." (Also see Lennox and Lennox, pp. 532-536.)

169. Vincent's stories

Peyron, "Register of Voluntary Commitments," in Stein, ed., pp. 151-152: Peyron's note in Vincent's file at Saint Paul singles out only one of the relatives listed in the text, but clearly indicates he gave other examples from his family tree: "He tells us that one of his mother's sisters was epileptic, and that there are several cases in the family." Gastaut, for reasons that are unfathomable to us (unless he was taking the word of a Van Gogh family member), maintains that "the family nature of the crises presented by Vincent must be definitely put aside because the epileptic antecedents of the family he had told to Doctor Peyron are false, there was no latent epilepsy among the Van Goghs" (Gastaut, "Mémoires Originaux," p. 228). Gastaut goes on, strangely, to discuss other family mental afflictions, namely those that Theo and his sister Wil presented subsequently. He doesn't discuss that Vincent's sister Lies had, according to her mother, a "nervous condition," or that his youngest brother Cor committed suicide (b2464 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus en Anna C. van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 3/10/1879).

170. "died of a mental disease"

b4509 V/1962, "Genealogy of the House of Carbentus."

171. mother's sister Clara

Peyron, "Register of Voluntary Commitments," in Stein, ed., pp. 151-152: Aunt Clara is the one example that is referred to specifically in Peyron's note in Vincent's file: "He tells us that one of his mother's sisters was epileptic, and that there are several cases in the family." (See Ch. 1, n. 86.) It may also be relevant to the text discussion that Anna's brother Johannus committed suicide in 1875 under shadowy and shameful circumstances (see Ch. 1, n. 88).

172. uncle committed suicide

Anna Carbentus's brother Johannus committed suicide under mysterious circumstances in 1875. (See Ch. 1, n. 88.)

173. "epileptic fit"

b3259 V/1962, "Gogh, Maria Johanna van", 1899: This cryptic chronicle record refers to Vincent's eldest uncle, Hein, in this 1851 entry: "In July brother in Rotterdam [i.e., Hein] has the first (epileptic) fit, does recover but never is as well again as before."

174. "half paralyzed"

Van Gogh, "History of the Van Gogh Family," p. 7: Vincent's Aunt Mietje kept the family chronicle. In an entry dated October 13, 1872, she wrote: "Brother Hendrik had a fit. Becomes half paralyzed, has to leave the business to his employee Mr. Schmidt, and goes to live in Laeken for a few more years, suffering greatly." Hein was only fifty-seven at the time.

175. "fits"

b3259 V/1962, "Gogh, Maria Johanna van", 1899.

176. "seizures"

b2670 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 10/22/1873: "What a pity that Uncle had some sort of seizure once again, as I learned from Aunt Cornelie. What a dark prospect!" This was written in October 1873, a full fifteen years before Cent finally died on July 28, 1888. In another letter, Dorus describes his brother Cent as "so sensitive" (b2482 V/1982, ''Gogh, Theodorus van'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 5/31/1879).

177. two of Vincent's cousins

b2569 V/1982, "Gogh-Carbentus, Anna C. van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 11/21/1877: In addition to cousin Hendrik, mentioned in the text, Vincent's cousin Paul Stricker, was described by Anna as suffering from "neurosis." She gives no more details, but his condition was seriously enough that it required him "to return to his native country, and that has put an end to his hope of a good position there and his good prospects. Such a shame don't you think?" (ibid.)

178. "suffered some"

b2258 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 10/27/1884: Dorus wrote Theo in 1884, the year before his death: "My brother Jan has them also, mostly about his son Hendrik. Who lately is suffering some bad epileptic fits. So worries aplenty." The worries were so plentiful, in fact, that they killed the old admiral soon thereafter.

752

179. he was institutionalized

b2264 V/1982, "Gogh, Theodorus van" to "Gogh, Theo van", 12/30/1884: Only two months after reporting in 1884 that his nephew Hendrik was "suffering from some bad epileptic fits" (see Ch. 39, n. 178), Dorus sent Theo an update: "Uncle Jan's Hendrik is still in the hospital in Utrecht. He seems to be getting a bit better, but it remains a somber future." This mixed, murky prognosis suggests a mental, not a physical reason for hospitalization -- much like Vincent's.

180. committed suicide

See Ch. 33, n. 319.

181. "What happened"

Peyron, "Register of Voluntary Commitments," in Stein, ed., pp. 151-152.

182. published a treatise

Morel, Treatise on Physical, Intellectual, and Moral Degeneracy in the Human Species (Traité des Dégénérescence Physique, Intellectuelles et Morales de l'Espèce Humaine): Morel spent much of his professional career at La Salpêtrière, the huge Paris hospital already world-renowned at this time for its asylum for the mentally ill. Almost all of the great French neurologists and proto-psychiatrists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries trained or taught at Salpêtrière, including Philippe Pinel, Jean-Étienne Esquirol, and Jean-Martin Charcot. One of Charcot's later students at Salpêtrière was Sigmund Freud.

183. pre-Darwinian theories

Dowbiggin, p. 6: Dowbiggin makes the point very well: "psychiatrists did not conjure up hereditarian ideas out of nowhere. Hereditarian theory was used in much of contemporaneous French medicine, especially with respect to constitutional and chronic diseases; it corresponded to the prevailing interest in evolutionary biology and anthropology and blended nicely with the more general attitudes toward crime, psychology, and politics pervading French culture near the end of the century."

184. physical imperfections

Pick, pp. 50-51: Pick lists the "infinite network of diseases and disorders" as well as "physical conditions, moral and social habits," that Morel considered subject to the "law" of degeneration: "hernias, goitres, pointed ears, absence of secondary teeth, stunted growth, cranial deviations, deaf and dumbness, blindness, albinism, club-feet, elephantitis, scrophula, tuberculosis, rickets and sterility ... the effects of toxins like alcohol, tobacco and opium ... the intellectual faculties and the noxious tendencies of certain forms of romanticism which resulted in languorous desires, effeteness, reveries, impotence, suicidal tendencies, inertia, melancholy and apathy."

185. "degeneration"

Pick, pp. 50-51.

186. enhanced their professional standing

Dowbiggin, pp. 5-6: "I shall contend that it was this profound sense of defensiveness and insecurity that led to the widespread psychiatric acceptance of degeneracy theory in the final third of the nineteenth century. Hereditary degeneracy theory provided asylum physicians with a unitary concept that encompassed pathological behavior and affect in psychological, biological, and social terms." Elsewhere, Dowbiggin cites Jan Goldstein's Console and Classify (1987) to support this broad characterization: "from the beginning to the end of the century French alienists were engaged in a 'bid for power through psychiatric knowledge,' a project to expand the professional authority of psychiatry through the pursuit of secular and anticlerical goals. There was also an anticlerical element in degeneracy theory because its characterization of madness as a biophysical phenomenon authorized alienists to override the religious orders who competed with medicine for control of mental hospitals." (Dowbiggin, p. 9.)

187. wrest ultimate authority

Dowbiggin, pp. 9-10. (See Ch. 39, n. 186.)

188. "Before, I used to care"

Leroy, p. 140.

189. "My life"

BVG W11, 4/30/1889.

Context:
BVG W11, 4/30/1889: "As for me, I am rather often uneasy in my mind, because I think that my life has not been calm enough; all those bitter disappointments, adversities, changes keep me from developing fully and naturally in my artistic career."
JLB 764, 4/28/1889-5/2/1889: "For myself, I quite often worry that my life hasn't been calm enough, all these disappointments, annoyances, changes mean that I don't develop naturally and in full in my artistic career."

190. "paralyzed"

BVG 586, 4/24/1889. Vincent makes the same remarkable (and previously unthinkable) admission two weeks later, after his admission to Saint Paul: "I'll always be absent-minded and awkward in getting by for the rest of life too" (JLB 772, 5/9/1889).

Context:
BVG 586, 4/24/1889: "Really, I think it would be torture for other people as well as for myself if I were to leave the hospital, for I feel and am, as it were, paralyzed when it comes to acting and shifting for myself."
JLB 761, 4/24/1889: "There you are, it seems to me that it would be a torture as much for others as for myself if I left the hospital, for I feel and am as it were paralyzed when it comes to acting and getting by."

191. "my self-command"

BVG 419b, 8/7/1885. The specter of involuntary commitment loomed over Vincent's life in Nuenen, especially in the months after his father's death, when he wrote this passage in an extraordinarily confessory letter not to Theo but to a creditor in The Hague: "Should you doubt the good faith of this request, then for my part I can do nothing but repeat it more emphatically. For I notice that on the side of the paint bill, my own little craft is springing leaks here and there. I'm plugging these leaks as much as I can, though, and am not yet losing my cool-headedness. Am not desperate either. But since we'll perhaps both be in the same storm, I speak emphatically and, I believe, in both our interests." (JLB 524, 8/6/1885; emphasis in original.) This is exactly the same line of argument (i.e., "we float together or we sink separately") that he was making to Theo at the same time.

Context:
BVG 419b, 8/7/1885: "However, I am trying to stop these leaks to the best of my ability, and I have not lost my self-command yet. Neither am I desperate."
JLB 524, 8/6/1885: "I'm plugging these leaks as much as I can, though, and am not yet losing my cool-headedness. Am not desperate either."

192. "Once you know"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. We have altered the translation slightly.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "I like to think that once you know what it is, once you are conscious of your condition, and of being subject to attacks, then you can do something to prevent your being taken unawares by the anguish or the terror."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "I dare to believe that once one knows what it is, once one is aware of one's state and of possibly being subject to crises, that then one can do something about it oneself so as not to be caught so much unawares by the anguish or the terror."

193. "Unfortunately"

BVG 595, 6/17/1889-6/18/1889.

Context:
BVG 595, 6/17/1889-6/18/1889: "Do not fear that I shall ever, of my own will, rush to dizzy heights. Unfortunately we are subject to the circumstances and the maladies of our time, whether we like it or not."
JLB 782, 6/18/1889: "Don't be afraid that I would ever venture onto dizzy heights of my own free will, unfortunately, whether we like it or not, we're subject to circumstances and to the illnesses of our time."

753

194. "consumption or syphilis"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889: The irony of this statement was, apparently, lost on Vincent.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "Well, now I can think of all that without fear, that is to say, I find it is no more dreadful than if those people had died of something else, consumption or syphilis, for example."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "Well, now I think of all this without fear, i.e. I find it no more atrocious than if these people had snuffed it of something else, of consumption or syphilis, for example."

195. "malady of the times"

BVG 637, 5/25/1890: We have slightly altered Bonger's translation.

Context:
BVG 637, 5/25/1890: "And things may yet get better, I still think that it is mostly a malady of the South that I have caught, and that the return here will be enough to dissipate the whole thing."
JLB 875, 5/25/1890: "And they may get even better, I still believe that it's above all an illness of the south that I caught, and that the return here will be enough to dispel all that."

196. Troyon, Marchal

BVG 592, 5/22/1889: This is how the list starts: "Before I had some repulsion for these beings, and it was something distressing for me to have to reflect that so many people of our profession, [Constant] Troyon, [Charles François] Marchal, [Charles] Meryon, [Gustave Adolphe] Jundt, M. [Mathijs] Maris, Monticelli, a host of others, had ended up like that. I wasn't even able to picture them in the least in that state." (JLB 776, 5/23/1889.) The list will grow over the coming year as his mental crisis deepens.

197. Monticelli

BVG 603, 7/6/1889: For obvious reasons, Vincent's inclusion of Monticelli in this roll call of innocents had special significance. Indeed, Monticelli's mental state was the subject of some investigation by Vincent.

Context:
JLB 790, 7/14/1889 or 7/15/1889: "The doctor was telling me about Monticelli, that he had always considered him eccentric, but as for mad, he had only been a little that way towards the end. Considering all the miseries of M[onticelli]'s last years, is it any surprise that he bowed beneath a weight that was too heavy, and is one right in trying to deduce from that that he failed in his work, artistically speaking?" (Emphasis in original.)

198. "There are so many"

BVG 606, 9/19/1889.

Context:
BVG 606, 9/19/1889: "And there are so many among the artists who -- notwithstanding nervous diseases or epileptic fits from time to time -- nevertheless go ahead, and in a painter's life it seems to be enough to make paintings, but also one has to be careful not to spoil one's connections with other painters."
JLB 803, 9/19/1889: "And among artists there are so many who, despite nervous diseases -- or seizures from time to time -- nevertheless go their own way, and in the life of the painter it is, it seems, not enough to make paintings but one must also not let one's relations with other painters be harmed."

199. models in the orphanages

BVG 237, 10/22/1882.

Context:
JLB 274, 10/22/1882: "This week I hope to have orphan boys to pose, then I may be able to rescue the drawing of orphan children after all."

200. almshouses of The Hague

BVG 288, 6/3/1883. Vincent describes the men's ward of this asylum as "very real, inexpressibly real" (JLB 351, 6/7/1883). It was at this almshouse that he found his "orphan man" model, Adrianus Zuyderland (see Chapter 17). Vincent visited at least one other almshouse in The Hague: "Last winter I saw the old men's home at Voorburg. Smaller, of course, but almost more typical." (JLB 352, 6/11/1883.)

Context:
JLB 348, 6/3/1883: "I'm going to ask for permission to work in the old people's home. I already have many studies of orphan men, but I need to have the women too, and also the setting at the place itself."

201. "convalescent people"

BVG 209, 7/1/1882.

Context:
BVG 209, 7/1/1882: "I cannot tell you how happy I am to sit here in the studio again after having been surrounded by chamber pots, etc., for so long, though the hospital is also beautiful, very beautiful, especially the garden with all those convalescent people -- men, women and children."
JLB 241, 7/1/1882: "I can't tell you with what pleasure I sit here again in the studio after spending so long in an environment of chamber-pots &c., even though the hospital is also beautiful, truly beautiful. Especially the garden with all the strollers, men, women, children."

202. collected prints

BVG R24, 1/25/1883-1/30/1883: Vincent mentions an illustration simply called "Hospital" by Matthew White Ridley (JLB 304, 1/25/1883). Elsewhere, he advises Anton van Rappard that he will "greatly enjoy the C. [Charles] Greens -- large prints, among them a hospital, benches full of patients, which is excellent" (JLB 317, 2/20/1883).

According to JLB, Vincent is referring to Joseph Swain's 1827 engraving of The East London Hospital for Children by Matthew White Ridley (date and location unknown), which was published in The Illustrated London News on April 27, 1872. Green's illustration, The Out-Patient's Room in University College Hospital, was published in The Graphic on January 6, 1872. (JLB 304, 1/25/1883; n. 34 and JLB 279, 11/1/1882; n. 3.)

Context:
JLB 304, 1/25/1883: "You know the head of a miner by Ridley. I now have a boat race spectators by him, and already had a hospital, both thorough, solid prints."

203. a hospital orderly

BVG 590, 5/3/1889.

Context:
JLB 768, 5/3/1889: "I would happily, once I was known there a little, try and make myself a male nurse little by little, in short to work at anything and take up an occupation again -- the first one that comes along."

204. "Perhaps it is from"

BVG 569, 1/7/1889.

Context:
BVG 569, 1/7/1889: "I assure you that some days at the hospital were very interesting, and perhaps it is from the sick that one learns how to live."
JLB 732, 1/7/1889: "I can assure you that a few days in the hospital were very interesting, and that one perhaps learns how to live from the sick."

205. doses of bromide

Vincent took potassium of bromide at the hospital in Arles as an anti-convulsant (JLB 743, 1/28/1889. Gowers, a contemporary authority, writes that "when the disease is primarily epileptic ... the treatment has to be, in the main, that for epilepsy, and bromides commonly do good" (Gowers, p. 294). (For a complete summary of the history of bromide treatment for epilepsy, see Lennox and Lennox, pp. 851-855.)

Without apparent support, Blumer maintains that the medical director at Saint-Rémy, Peyron, "failed to continue treatment with potassium bromide" (Blumer, "The Illness of Vincent van Gogh," p. 521). But this is surely either incorrect or incomplete. Peyron fully embraced Rey's diagnosis of latent epilepsy and there is no evidence that he repudiated the intern's treatment regime. According to Leroy, who was closest to the actual evidence and actors, the question is open: "Whether Dr. Peyron prescribed high doses of bromide ... as had Dr Rey at the hospital in Arles, we have absolutely no idea" (Leroy, p. 183). There are some clues, however. First, it is highly unlikely that Peyron would have simply cut off bromide treatment at the time of Vincent's admission to Saint Paul. And, indeed, there is evidence in Vincent's letters through May and June of the lassitude that is typical of "bromism": "But I still have absolutely no will, hardly any desires or none, and everything that has to do with ordinary life, the desire for example to see friends again, about whom I think however, almost nil" (JLB 776, 5/23/1889); "not one single time have I had the slightest desire to be elsewhere; just the will to work again is becoming a tiny bit firmer" (JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889); "I was pining for work a little ... I'm bored to death at times after work, and yet I have no desire to begin again" (JLB 779, 6/9/1889).

It is possible that, as weeks passed without an attack, Peyron reduced the dosage of bromides that Vincent received. But as soon as Vincent suffered another spell of attacks in July, Peyron unquestionably resumed the high-dose bromide treatment inherited from Rey and was reluctant thereafter to suspend it, even briefly. It should also be noted that Vincent may have continued taking iodide of potassium for his syphilis, a treatment that began in Paris (see Ch. 28, n.120).

206. long soaks

BVG 592, 5/22/1889: Vincent makes this sound like a normal, if over-long bath. But, in fact, the types of baths commonly given as "hydrotherapy" in asylums like Saint Paul were more rigorous than relaxing. They generally included, at least, a bucket of cold water poured over the head every half hour to keep the brain from "overheating." (See Conrad, p. 20.)

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "Now I take a bath twice a week, and stay in it for 2 hours, then my stomach is infinitely better than a year ago, so I only have to continue, as far as I know."

207. considered a stimulant

Gowers, p. 291: Under "General Management of Epileptics," Gowers recommends that "the diet of epileptics should contain little or no animal food."

208. wine only

Gowers, p. 291: "Stimulants should be taken sparingly by epileptics, in small quantities, as a glass of wine with a meal. Alcohol in such amount is not prejudicial, but any actual stimulation, sufficient to be followed by a reaction, should be prohibited." The issue of the ration of wine was much on Vincent's mind as he contemplated whether to go to Saint Paul in late April 1889. He wrote Theo: "Ordinary food suits me perfectly well, especially if, like here, I could be given a little more wine than usual down there, half a litre instead of a quarter, for example" (JLB 760, 4/21/1889). This request was so important to Vincent that it ended up in the letter that Theo was required to submit to the asylum as a condition of admission: "I would ask you to be so kind as to let him have at least half a litre of wine with his meals" (Theo, quoted in Tralbaut, p. 275). But Peyron, the medical director -- whether out of medical conviction or penny-pinching -- did not agree to the request for a double ration of wine. In his response to Theo's letter, he promised to give Vincent "the greatest liberty compatible with his mental state," which meant that he would receive only "as much as all the patients drink it every day," but no more (b1059 V/1962, "Peyron, Th." to "Gogh, Theo van", 4/29/1889).

209. soothing routine

Gowers, p. 291: Gowers recommends: "A moderate amount of exercise, physical and mental, is undoubtedly desirable for epileptics, but severe and exhausting exertion of any kind is undesirable. ... A moderate amount of brain-work will do good rather than harm. The excitement of competitive and pother examinations is, however, undesirable."

210. heroes and heroines

The hero of Émile Zola's La faute de l'abbé Mouret (The Sin of Father Mouret) expressed appreciation for his prison-like monastery: "In the endless corridors, on the stone stairs, in certain corners, he had had sudden revelations, had found unhoped-for succor. The high ceilings dropped the voices of guardian angels. Not one tile of the rooms, not one stone in the walls, not one limb of the plane trees but spoke to him of the pleasures of his contemplative life." (Zola, La faute de l'abbé Mouret [The Sin of Father Mouret], p. 84.) And, in the Goncourts' (Edmond and Jules Huot) Soeur Philomène (Sister Philomène), the eponymous heroine "now accustomed to the hospital, soon found her pleasure there, and in time this life, confined to the limits of a sick-ward, had for her a singular attraction. She became attached to this existence, to the place where she spent most of her days, where her heart had full play; the spot familiar to her devotion, the narrow circle in which her occupations were centred. The world, its tidings and turmoil, were but a murmur that died out around her, that she no longer heard. These walls, beds, sick women, closed the horizon of her sight as well as the horizon of her mind; she neither sought nor dreamed of anything beyond. And she found in the hospital ward the impression of rest and peace conveyed by the sight of the garden of a country parsonage losing itself among the tombs of the churchyard." (De Goncourt and De Goncourt, pp. 146-147.) Also see the reference to A Tour Around My Garden by Alphonse Karr (1808-1890; French writer).

211. as the true madhouse

As his mental control eroded, Vincent began developing this argument as early as 1884: "But what sort of a position is it, then, and what sort of a religion is it that these respectable people subscribe to? Oh, they're simply absurd things and they make society into a sort of madhouse, into an upside-down, wrong world. Oh, that mysticism." (JLB 456, 9/16/1884.) In Arles the previous summer (1888), he reiterated the argument, this time targeting upright, judgmental women like Mrs. Tanguy (Renée Julienne Tanguy-Briend) (clearly a surrogate for his own mother): "Certainly these ladies are much more harmful in the civilized society in which they move than the citizens bitten by rabid dogs who live at the Institut Pasteur. So père Tanguy would be right a thousand times over if he killed his lady … but he doesn't do it, any more than Socrates." (JLB 638, 7/10/1888 or 7/10/1888.)

In May 1889, Vincent archly equates his asylum-mates with his brother's fellow employees at Goupil: "I think that it's no more unfortunate for me to be in the company where I am than for you always the fateful things at Goupil & Cie. From that point of view we're quite equal." (JLB 776, 5/23/1889.)

The best statement of this counter-accusation comes from a book that Vincent read early in his life and probably represents his first encounter, in fiction or in life, with the concept of a madhouse. It comes from Karr's A Trip Around My Garden: "When these thoughts come over me, I am seized with a profound horror for all trouble, anxiety, and agitation; I only think of living quietly, without a care for the present or the future ... It appears to me that I then see all these people who are elbowing each other, in order to attain I don't know what, to be furious madmen; and I became of the opinion of that philosopher, who pretended to have discovered the true reason for there being, in all great cities, a lunatic asylum: it is, that by shutting up some poor creatures under the name of madmen, strangers might believe that all who are out of that hospital are sane." (Karr, p. 71.) There is reason to believe that this passage may have been on Vincent's mind around this time, as he wrote to Theo in June (in response to a book that his sister Wil had sent him): "Anyway, I prefer Alphonse Karr, [Émile] Souvestre, [Gustave] Droz, because it's a bit more alive than this" (JLB 783, 6/25/1889). This is the first specific mention of Karr since 1874 (JLB 28, 8/10/1874).

212. "tranquility"

Vincent, quoted in Rewald, p. 308: "It may well be that I shall stay here for quite awhile; never have I had such tranquility as here and in the hospital in Arles so as to be able to paint a little at last." We have used Rewald's translation in lieu of the the JLB translation: "It's possible that I'll stay here for quite a long time, never have I been so tranquil as here and at the hospital in Arles to be able to paint a little at last" (JLB 772, 5/9/1889). Here is Bonger's translation of the same passage, which uses a more indeterminate and markedly more reserved construction: "It may well be that I shall stay here long enough -- I have never been so peaceful as here and in the hospital in Arles -- to be able to paint a little at least" (BVG 558a, 5/9/1889). We think this version does not do justice to Vincent's comfort level at Saint Paul -- something unthinkable to Jo Bonger. Yet in the very next letter, even by Bonger's account, Vincent has put off leaving the asylum into the indefinite future: "My hope would be that at the end of a year I'll know better than now what I can do and what I want. Then, little by little, an idea will come to me for beginning again. Coming back to Paris or anywhere at the moment doesn't appeal to me at all, I feel that I'm in the right place here." (JLB 776, 5/23/1889.)

213. "peace of mind"

BVG 585, 4/21/1889: The text makes the point that Vincent often masked troubles with upbeat reports like this in order to avoid worrying his brother. In this case, however, Vincent's positive case is supported by Peyron's separate letters to Theo: "I am pleased to tell you that since his entry into this house M. Vincent is completely calm and that he finds that his health is improving day by day. ... He spends the whole day drawing in the park here, but as I find him entirely tranquil, I have promised to let him go out in order to find scenery outside this establishment." (b1058 V/1962, ''Peyron, Th.'' to ''Gogh, Theo van'', 5/26/1889; quoted in Peyron, "On His New Patient, Vincent," Stein, ed., p. 152.)

Context:
BVG 585, 4/21/1889: "I wish to remain shut up as much for my own peace of mind as for other people's."
JLB 760, 4/21/1889: "And for the time being I wish to remain confined, as much for my own tranquillity as for that of others."

214. "My stomach"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "I take a bath twice a week now, and stay in it for two hours; my stomach is infinitely better than it was a year ago; so as far as I know, I only have to go on."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "Now I take a bath twice a week, and stay in it for 2 hours, then my stomach is infinitely better than a year ago, so I only have to continue, as far as I know."

215. "my health is good"

BVG 593, 6/2/1889.

Context:
BVG 593, 6/2/1889: "As for me, my health is good, and as for my brain, that will be, let us hope, a matter of time and patience."
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "As for me, my health is good, and as for the head it will, let's hope, be a matter of time and patience."

216. blithe attitude

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889: This is extremely uncharacteristic of Vincent. In a subsequent letter, Vincent suggests that he continued to have conversations with Peyron and other doctors about his illness: "Rey told me that he had known a case where someone had injured his ear as I did, and I believe I've heard a doctor here who came to see me with the director [Peyron] say that he too had seen it before" (JLB 776, 5/23/1889). But note the blasé "I believe I've heard ..." In his next letter, he returns to his insistence on disinterest: "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." (JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889.) In a letter to Wil a few weeks later, he makes a very unusual (for him) admission: "And to know what one wants in such matters -- alas we know ourselves so little" (JLB 780, 6/16/1889). This humility about self-knowledge bears hardly any relationship to the insistently self-knowing and self-righteous Vincent before the attacks in Arles. This may be a self-conscious posture designed to prevent him from getting agitated about his condition or his circumstances. That is suggested in two other letters from July, one addressed to Theo: "It is precisely in learning to suffer without complaining, learning to consider pain without repugnance, that one risks vertigo (JLB 784, 7/2/1889), and another to his mother: "... and it occurs to me that our appearing not in the least anxious about it could turn out to be a sign of our own confidence in 'something reassuring' in nature in general" (JLB 788, 7/8/1889-7/12/1889).

Context:
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "As far as I can make out, the doctor here is inclined to consider what I have had some sort of epileptic attack. But I did not ask him about it."

217. "a third-class waiting room"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "The room where we stay on wet days is like a third-class waiting room in some stagnant village, the more so as there are some distinguished lunatics who always wear a hat, spectacles and a cane, and travelling cloak, almost like at a watering place, and they represent the passengers."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "The room where we stay on rainy days is like a 3rd-class waiting room in some stagnant village, all the more so since there are honourable madmen who always wear a hat, spectacles and travelling clothes and carry a cane, almost like at the seaside, and who represent the passengers there."

754

218. "certain difficulties"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "The poor wretches here, having absolutely nothing to do (not a book, nothing more to distract them than a game of boules or a game of draughts), have no other daily distraction than to stuff themselves with chickpeas, haricot beans, lentils and other groceries and colonial produce, in set quantities and at stated hours. As the digestion of these foodstuffs offers certain difficulties, they fill their days in a way as offensive as it is cheap."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "As these unfortunates do absolutely nothing (not a book, nothing to distract them but a game of boules and a game of draughts) they have no other daily distraction than to stuff themselves with chickpeas, haricot beans, lentils and other groceries and colonial foodstuffs by the regulated quantities and at fixed times. As the digestion of these commodities presents certain difficulties, they thus fill their days in a manner as inoffensive as it's cheap."

219. "filling their days"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. (See Ch. 39, n. 218.)

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "The poor wretches here, having absolutely nothing to do (not a book, nothing more to distract them than a game of boules or a game of draughts), have no other daily distraction than to stuff themselves with chickpeas, haricot beans, lentils and other groceries and colonial produce, in set quantities and at stated hours. As the digestion of these foodstuffs offers certain difficulties, they fill their days in a way as offensive as it is cheap."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "As these unfortunates do absolutely nothing (not a book, nothing to distract them but a game of boules and a game of draughts) they have no other daily distraction than to stuff themselves with chickpeas, haricot beans, lentils and other groceries and colonial foodstuffs by the regulated quantities and at fixed times. As the digestion of these commodities presents certain difficulties, they thus fill their days in a manner as inoffensive as it's cheap."

220. "daily distractions"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. (See Ch. 39, n. 218.)

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "The poor wretches here, having absolutely nothing to do (not a book, nothing more to distract them than a game of boules or a game of draughts), have no other daily distraction than to stuff themselves with chickpeas, haricot beans, lentils and other groceries and colonial produce, in set quantities and at stated hours."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "As these unfortunates do absolutely nothing (not a book, nothing to distract them but a game of boules and a game of draughts) they have no other daily distraction than to stuff themselves with chickpeas, haricot beans, lentils and other groceries and colonial foodstuffs by the regulated quantities and at fixed times."

221. "I think my place is here"

BVG 592, 5/22/1889.

Context:
BVG 592, 5/22/1889: "Going back to Paris or anywhere at all in no way attracts me. I think my place is here."
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "Coming back to Paris or anywhere at the moment doesn't appeal to me at all, I feel that I'm in the right place here."

222. three months

BVG 585, 4/21/1889. This was the agreement with Theo in late April. Vincent repeated it in a letter to Wil about a week later: "As for me, I'm going for at least 3 months into an asylum at St-Rémy, not far from here" (JLB 764, 4/28/1889-5/2/1889).

Context:
JLB 760, 4/21/1889: "Anyhow, let's begin with 3 months, afterwards we'll see."

223. "It's been almost"

BVG 593, 6/2/1889.

Context:
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "I've been here almost a whole month, not one single time have I had the slightest desire to be elsewhere; just the will to work again is becoming a tiny bit firmer."

224. set up a studio

BVG 592, 5/22/1889: Vincent says only: "as there are more than 30 empty rooms -- I have another room in which to work" (JLB 776, 5/23/1889).

225. a large room

Coquiot, p. 215: The description and location of Vincent's studio comes partly from Coquiot's interview with Madame Deschanel (Sister Épiphane), the Mother Superior at Saint Paul de Mausole at the time Vincent boarded there. She told Coquiot, "The Director had given [Vincent] permission to paint in the large room to the left of the entrance." The location of this room can be verified by Vincent's ink-and-gouache depiction of the entrance hall of the dormitory with the door open looking out into the garden, Wheat Field with Sheaves (F 1489 JH 1530). The location of his studio is marked by the paintings stacked against the wall on the right of the open door (that is, to the left as one enters). Another similar work, Wheat Field with Sheaves and Arles in the Background (F 1490 JH 1529), done at the same time (October 1889), shows the hallway that extended to the left from the entrance hall. Thus, it shows the corner that defined Vincent's studio immediately to the left of the entrance, as recalled by Madame Deschanel. The image also shows a figure entering a doorway partway down the hall on the left side. This may, in fact, be Vincent going to work in his studio, as the picture of the entrance hall does not show any door immediately to the left of the entrance. If so, Wheat Field with Sheaves and Arles in the Background (F 1490 JH 1529) would deserve a place beside his 1888 painting The Painter on his Way to Work (JH 1491) in which Vincent depicted himself "laden with boxes, sticks, a canvas, on the sunny Tarascon road" (JLB 660, 8/13/1888; see Ch. 31, n. 543).

226. half-empty dormitory

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. (See Ch. 39, n. 43.)

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "With this -- as there are more than 30 empty rooms -- I have another room in which to work."

227. next to the entrance

Coquiot, p. 215. (See Ch. 39, n. 225.)

228. a place to dry his paintings

(See Ch. 39, n. 225.) In his painting of the entrance hall Wheat Field with Sheaves (F 1489 JH 1530, 31 July-6 August 1888, pen, 9.4 x 12.6 in., 24 x 32 cm., Private collection), Vincent shows some paintings "taking the air" next to the open doorway.

229. "garden corners"

See: A Corner in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital, F 609 JH 1693, May, 1889, oil on canvas, 36.2 x 28.4 in., 92 x 72 cm., Location unknown.

230. vignettes of greenery

Trees with Ivy (F 1522 JH 1695), Tree with Ivy in the Asylum Garden (F 1532 JH 1696), Trees in Garden (F 1505 JH 1697), Flowering Shrubs (F 1526 JH 1707), Flowering Shrubs (F 1527 JH 1708), Trees and Shrubs (F 1534 JH 1709), Trees and Shrubs (F 1533 JH 1710), Stone Bench in the Garden of the Asylum (F 1537 JH 1711), and Trees in the Garden of the Asylum (F 1536 JH 1712).

231. ivy climbing up a tree

A Corner in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital, F 609 JH 1693, May, 1889, oil on canvas, 36.2 x 28.4 in., 92 x 72 cm., Location unknown.

232. a bench nestled

A Corner in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital, F 609 JH 1693, May, 1889, oil on canvas, 36.2 x 28.4 in., 92 x 72 cm., Location unknown.

233. a lattice of shadow

Trees in the Garden, Trees in the Garden, F 1505 JH 1697, May, 1889, charcoal, brush, pen, brown ink, 17.9 x 23.8 in., 45.5 x 60.5 cm., Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo.

234. single mangy shrub

Flowering Shrubs (F 1526 JH 1707) and Flowering Shrubs (F 1527 JH 1708).

235. the proverbial Japanese monk

See Ch. 37, n. 277.

236. a lone moth

Vincent drew the moth in Great Peacock Moth (F 1523 JH 1700), painted it in Great Peacock Moth (F 610 JH 1702), and included a sketch of it in a letter to Theo in late May, including this mildly surprising note from one nature-loving brother to another: "Yesterday I drew a very large, rather rare night moth there which is called the death's head, its coloration astonishingly distinguished: black, grey, white, shaded, and with glints of carmine or vaguely tending towards olive green; it's very big. To paint it I would have had to kill it, and that would have been a shame since the animal was so beautiful." (JLB 776, 5/23/1889.)

237. a single lilac bush

Lilacs, F 579 JH 1692, May, 1889, oil on canvas, 28.7 x 36.2 in., 73 x 92 cm., Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

238. "nature in undress"

The phrase is derived from Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous 1850 essay "Nature," which concludes: "There is nothing so wonderful in any particular landscape, as the necessity of being beautiful under which every landscape lies. Nature cannot be surprised in undress. Beauty breaks in everywhere." (Emerson, p. 172.) Vincent never specifically mentions Emerson nor is there any other direct evidence that he read Emerson. We have used it here both because of its aptness and because there are other parts of the same essay that certainly illuminate, even if they did not inspire, Vincent's famous Starry Night (F 612 JH 1731), executed soon after the garden scenes described in the text: "The moral sensibility which makes Edens and Tempes so easily, may not be always found, but the material landscape is never far off. We can find these enchantments without visiting the Como Lake, or the Madeira Islands. We exaggerate the praises of local scenery. In every landscape, the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth, and that is seen from the first hillock as well as from the top of the Alleghanies. The stars at night stoop down over the brownest, homeliest common, with all the spiritual magnificence which they shed on the Campagna, or on the marble deserts of Egypt. The uprolled clouds and the colors of morning and evening, will transfigure maples and alders. The difference between landscape and landscape is small, but there is great difference in the beholders." (ibid.)

239. Alphonse Karr's

See Ch. 39, n. 211.

240. "All those lovely canvases"

BVG 596, 6/25/1889.

Context:
BVG 596, 6/25/1889: "But however it may be, outside Paris you quickly forget Paris, when throwing yourself into the heart of the country, your ideas change; but I for one cannot forget all those lovely canvases of Barbizon, and it seems hardly probable that anyone will do better than that, and unnecessary besides."
JLB 783, 6/25/1889: "But whatever the case, outside Paris one quickly forgets Paris, by throwing oneself into the heart of the country one changes one's ideas. But I for one couldn't forget all those beautiful Barbizon canvases then, and it seems unlikely and anyway unnecessary to do better than that."

241. "expressed all"

BVG 593, 6/2/1889.

Context:
JLB 777, 5/31/1889-6/6/1889: "[Charles-François] Daubigny and [Théodore] Rousseau did that, though, with the expression of all the intimacy and all the great peace and majesty that it has, adding to it a feeling so heartbreaking, so personal."

242. distant and absurd

BVG 626a, 2/10/1890-2/11/1890: Vincent put this feeling into words in a letter to Albert Aurier in February 1890.

Context:
JLB 853, 2/9/1890 or 2/10/1890: "You see, it seems to me so difficult to separate Impressionism from other things, I cannot see the point of so much sectarian thinking as we have seen these last few years, but I fear its absurdity."

243. "We shall always keep"

BVG 590, 5/3/1889.

Context:
JLB 768, 5/3/1889: "And thus we'll always retain a certain passion for Impressionism, but I sense that I'm returning more and more to the ideas I already had before coming to Paris."

755

244. insurgent exhibition

The show, which opened in May 1889, was organized by Gauguin and his friend Émile Schuffenecker. It became known as the "Café Volpini Show," after the name of the proprietor of the venue, an eatery opposite the official art exhibition at the Universal Exposition. See Chapter 41.

245. "So I am inclined"

BVG 594, 6/9/1889. (See Ch. 39, n. 242.)

Context:
JLB 779, 6/9/1889: "Am therefore inclined to believe that another new sect has been formed, no less infallible than the others that already exist."

246. "What storms in teacups"

BVG 594, 6/9/1889.

Context:
JLB 779, 6/9/1889: "What storms in teacups."

247. "little things"

BVG B21, 11/20/1889.

Context:
BVG B21, 11/20/1889: "All year I was doing little things after nature, without giving a thought to impressionism or whatever else."
JLB 822, 11/26/1889: "And the whole year, have fiddled around from life, hardly thinking of Impressionism or of this or that."

248. bed of irises

BVG 591, 5/10/1889-5/15/1889: The painting is Irises (F 608 JH 1691, May, 1889, oil on canvas, 28 x 36.6 in., 71 x 93 cm., Getty Center, Los Angeles).

Context:
JLB 772, 5/9/1889: "I have two others on the go -- violet irises and a lilac bush. Two subjects taken from the garden."

249. "I have no ideas"

BVG 596, 6/25/1889.

Context:
BVG 596, 6/25/1889: "I have no news to tell you, for the days are all the same; I have no ideas, except to think that a field of wheat or a cypress is well worth the trouble of looking at close up, and so on."
JLB 783, 6/25/1889: "Only there's a lack of news to write to you, for the days are all the same, as for ideas I have no others except to think that a wheatfield or a cypress are well worth the effort of looking at them from close at hand, and so on."

250. "to go out and look"

BVG W13, 7/2/1889: Vincent gave this advice to his sister Wil: "I think I shan't urge you too much to read such dramatic books when I myself, returning from this reading, am always obliged to go and gaze at a blade of grass, a pine-tree branch, an ear of wheat, to calm myself" (JLB 785, 7/2/1889). We have combined elements from both translations.

Context:
BVG W13, 7/2/1889: "But never mind, I think I am not going to urge you too much to read books or dramas, seeing that I myself, after reading them for some time, feel obliged to go out and look at a blade of grass, the branch of a fir tree, an ear of wheat, in order to calm down."
JLB 785, 7/2/1889: "But anyway, I think I shan't urge you too much to read such dramatic books when I myself, returning from this reading, am always obliged to go and gaze at a blade of grass, a pine-tree branch, an ear of wheat, to calm myself."

251. view from his bedroom

BVG 594, 6/9/1889. Vincent did two paintings -- Mountainous Landscape behind Saint-Paul Hospital (F 611 JH 1723) and Green Wheat Field (F 718 JH 1727) -- both showing essentially the same view of the enclosed green wheat field, the view from his bedroom window, but painted outside, in the enclosure itself. The first of these is described in the text, although Vincent provides considerably more detail: "In the foreground a field of wheat, ravaged and knocked to the ground after a storm. A boundary wall and beyond, grey foliage of a few olive trees, huts and hills. Finally, at the top of the painting a large white and grey cloud swamped by the azure." (JLB 779, 6/9/1889.) In the same letter, Vincent mentions another painting (probably Field of Poppies [F 581 JH 1751]), saying: "I have two landscapes on the go (no. 30 canvases) of views taken in the hills. One is the countryside that I glimpse from the window of my bedroom." (ibid.) Pickvance points out that Vincent's inclusion of Mountainous Landscape behind Saint-Paul Hospital (F 611 JH 1723) ("the country that I see from the window") as one of the two "views taken in the hills" is misleading since it implies that he did not paint it on the asylum grounds, which he did (Pickvance, pp. 93-94). Despite the almost identical perspectives of Mountainous Landscape behind Saint-Paul Hospital (F 611 JH 1723) and Green Wheat Field (F 718 JH 1727), Pickvance dates the latter to the following spring, 1890 (ibid.).

Context:
JLB 779, 6/9/1889: "One is the countryside that I glimpse from the window of my bedroom. In the foreground a field of wheat, ravaged and knocked to the ground after a storm. A boundary wall and beyond, grey foliage of a few olive trees, huts and hills."

252. made a perfect pendant

BVG 594, 6/9/1889.

Context:
JLB 779, 6/9/1889: "It's a landscape [Mountainous Landscape behind Saint-Paul Hospital (F 611 JH 1723)] of extreme simplicity -- in terms of coloration as well. It would be suitable as a pendant to that study of the bedroom that's damaged."

253. "What I dream of"

BVG 604, 9/5/1889-9/6/1889.

Context:
JLB 800, 9/5/1889-9/6/1889: "What I dream of in my best moments aren't so much dazzling colour effects as the half-tones once again."

254. deepest underbrush

BVG 592, 5/22/1889. (See Ch. 39, n. 254.)

Context:
JLB 776, 5/23/1889: "Here's a new no. 30 canvas, commonplace again, like one of those chromos from a penny bazaar that depict eternal nests of greenery for lovers. Thick tree-trunks covered with ivy, the ground also covered with ivy and periwinkle, a stone bench and a bush of roses, blanched in the cold shadow. In the foreground a few plants with white calyxes. It's green, violet and pink."

255. directly into the sky

Vincent's painting of a lilac bush (Lilacs [F 579 JH 1692]) shows a sky almost as purple as the irises he depicted at about the same time in Irises (F 608 JH 1691) (see Ch. 39, n. 248). An even more lilac sky dominates Green Wheat Field with Cypress (F 719 JH 1725), painted in mid-June.

256. "violet"

Cadorin, in Peres, Hoyle and van Tilborgh, pp. 16-17: The list was compiled by Paolo Cadorin, a prominent conservator of paintings. His list is in the original French: "[Vincent] mentions tones like 'violet', 'violace', 'lilas', 'lilas pâle', 'lilas tendre', 'lilas rompu', 'rose', 'lilas uni', 'gris ou rose', 'jaune tourne au rose', 'rose-vert', 'violet-rose', etc." Cadorin goes on to make the point that, with age, many of these delicately formulated colors have changed appearance: "[Vincent's] paintings of that same period now appear to be mainly in the tones of cold pale green and light blue" (ibid.).

257. "purplish blue"