1889-12 · Saint-Rémy-de-Provence · Knot of Silence

The Night Before the Crisis

The crisis appears in the archive between letters and paintings, not as an empty interval outside them.

No painting at this knot.

Painting

This node has no new painting. From December 1889 to January 1890, he went through his most serious attack at Saint-Rémy. Before this he was copying Millet, painting olive groves, painting cypresses. Then everything stopped. He wrote that he had been unable to work for a month and a half. After recovering he repainted some old works — not to produce new subjects, but to confirm through repeated action that his hand could reconnect with work.

Letter

December 1889 – January 1890, Saint-Rémy. "I am sad and bored more than I can tell you by this life of a recluse." "During the attacks I feel cowardly before the pain and suffering — more cowardly than is reasonable." Letters became sparse, tone extremely restrained — no more colour descriptions, no more creative plans, only calm reports on his own condition.

Place

Saint-Paul asylum, his room — the same room as the irises, the same window as the starry night, but this time he could not get out. December: bare branches, the garden locked behind glass. The walls he had chosen as shelter became limits again. This was one of the longest stoppages of his life — six weeks without painting. What matters here is not drama, but the fact that the chain of work really broke for a while.

before

In December 1889 he was still working and sending canvases to Theo. Around Christmas, he was again taken badly ill.

now

On 3 January he wrote that he had regained his presence of mind for a while and sent a group of recent canvases. Later that month, he described the Christmas illness as lasting less than a week. The surviving letters do not give a full account of the episode from inside it.

after

He also wrote that recovery did not remove his fear of relapse. The record gives us recovery, work, and apprehension, rather than a single complete explanation.

Events

1889-12 Synaesthetic Precision · Letter 830
Letters grew shorter. 'I am sad and bored more than I can tell you by this life of a recluse.'
1889-12 Synaesthetic Precision
Swallowed pigment in the studio — a presentiment before the attack. Dr. Peyron noted 'attempts at self-harm' in the casebook
1889-12 Synaesthetic Precision · Letter 831
A severe attack began. He could not work for the next two months. One of Vincent's deepest troughs — not the silence of creation, but the silence of existence itself
1890-01 Synaesthetic Precision · Letter 833
'During the attacks I feel cowardly before the pain and suffering — more cowardly than is reasonable.' Describing the unbearable in the most restrained language
1890-01 Synaesthetic Precision · Letter 834
'I have not been able to work for a month and a half.' The first time he admitted production had stopped. Still no complaint — only the fact

From the Letters

Je suis triste et ennuyé plus que je ne saurais te dire de cette vie de reclus.

I am sad and bored more than I can tell you by this life of a recluse.

Letter 830

Pendant les crises je me sens lâche devant la douleur et la souffrance — plus lâche que de raison.

During the attacks I feel cowardly before the pain and suffering — more cowardly than is reasonable.

Letter 833

Je n'ai pas pu travailler pendant un mois et demi.

I have not been able to work for a month and a half.

Letter 834

Letter Sources

Van Gogh letter records referenced on this page, linked to the Van Gogh Letters Project. vangoghletters.org