The Night Before the Crisis
Some nodes are not about what he painted, but about the stretch of time when he could paint nothing.
No painting at this knot.
At the end of 1889 his condition began to grow unstable; his working hours shortened, and he wrote fewer letters.
The December attack was the most severe of his time at Saint-Rémy. He said afterward that he scarcely remembered that period; during the attack he fell into a severe confusion, and the doctor told him to stop working.
The silence lasted a while; he later wrote that he had "come out of it," but what coming out felt like, he did not describe in detail.
Events
- Synaesthetic Precision · Letter 830
Letters grew shorter. 'I am sad and bored more than I can tell you by this life of a recluse.'
- Synaesthetic Precision
Swallowed pigment in the studio — a presentiment before the attack. Dr. Peyron noted 'attempts at self-harm' in the casebook
- 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
- 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
- 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.
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.
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 Sources
Van Gogh letter records referenced on this page, linked to the Van Gogh Letters Project. vangoghletters.org