The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

Following his violent episodes in Arles, Van Gogh voluntarily checked into an asylum in Saint-Rèmy with Theo’s facilitation. He wrote to Theo that being surrounded by other mental health patients helped him to understand his own illness, and that he therefore found life in the asylum reassuring. During this period, he focused on painting the olive groves outside the asylum, a subject matter he had long wanted to tackle, but had not yet gotten around to painting in earnest. Although his health seemed to be on the whole improving, there were a couple of episodes that occurred wherein Van Gogh tried to swallow paint and turpentine, leading his doctors to ban him from painting for some time afterwards. He told Theo that being idle made him feel the most unwell, and each time Theo was able to convince doctors that he should be allowed to paint again.

Despite his poor health, Van Gogh produced some of his most famous works at Saint-Rèmy, including The Starry Night. He was also gaining more and more recognition in Paris. The first review of his work, by Albert Aurier, was published in Le Mercure de trance, and Van Gogh was astonished by its unreserved praise.