Callbacks were wonderful this weekend – I heard my words (and Vincent’s! and Gauguin’s!) on the lips of young actors ready to take a nose dive into the depths of this project. It was somewhat indescribable to have a young man speak Vincent’s words to me with purpose, looking me in the eye and trying to convince me, plead with me… It reveals to me the inherent power in what I’ve done, in all the research and the confidence with which the actors and I will be able to explore all that this man was, is, and will be.

There’s not much more I can say about it for the moment, so I will finish this entry with a discovery. It’s rare, I must admit, that I learn something at this point in my research that I’ve never heard a thing about before, but last week it happened. And since I’ve never read anyone else say anything about it, I hearby take it upon myself to make it known.

Vincent had some plans for works that never came to fruition. Here is one plan I had never, ever heard of, from the 29th of April, 1890, exactly three months before his death:

Please send me what you can find of figures among my old drawings, I’m thinking of redoing the painting of the peasants eating supper, lamplight effect. That canvas must be completely dark now, perhaps I could redo it entirely from memory. You must above all send me the women gleaning and diggers, if there are any left. Then if you like I’ll redo the old tower at Nuenen and the cottage. I think that if you still have them I could now make something better of them from memory.

These are three paintings he completed in 1885; they also happen to be my favorite paintings from his earlier work. Let’s take a look.

The Potato Eaters, 1885.

Thanks to vangoghletters.org

The Old Church Tower at Nuenen (‘The peasants’ churchyard’), 1885.

Thanks to vangoghletters.org

The Cottage, 1885.

Thanks to vangoghletters.org

That puny little flame in the window is absolutely radiant when you stand in front of this painting, but anyway. These are all breath-taking in person. Unfortunately, copies always diminish the essence.

Since Vincent’s second take on these subjects never happened, I’d like to spark our imaginations. This was what Vincent had finished “now” when writing the same letter (another beaming, delicious painting):

The garden of the asylum with dandelions and tree-trunks, 1890.

Thanks to vangoghletters.org

Imagining the prior divine paintings expressed through Vincent’s incredible later personal style kind of blows my mind. By 1890 Vincent was working so differently than in 1885… These new paintings would, without a doubt, have made new masterpieces.

Also to my surprise, in 1890 Vincent did a few paintings of Brabant, the area of the Netherlands he might call home, from memory. I had never seen these images before – which just goes to show you how much this man painted.

Now, I personally think Vincent’s work is always weaker when it is from memory rather than from life (there is an incredible precision and clarity in the latter, even in the swirls that some people find the expression of psychosis), but these paintings of “reminiscence” are incredibly provocative. One can’t help but wonder, what if Vincent had returned to the Netherlands and painted after all he learned in France? I suppose it would have looked something like this.

Cottages at sunset (‘Reminiscence of Brabant’), 1890.

Thanks to vangoghletters.org

Cottages at sunset (‘Reminiscence of Brabant’), 1890.

Thanks to vangoghletters.org

Cottages at sunset (‘Reminiscence of Brabant’), 1890.

Thanks to vangoghletters.org

Field with women lifting turnips, 1890.

Thanks to vangoghletters.org

I know, I know — a WHOLE NEW COLOR PALETTE. It’s pretty awesome. Now, look at this incredible shift in Vincent’s work and style in just five years from 1885 to 1890, half of Vincent’s entire artistic career. Picasso painted for his entire adult life, which was 60 years long. What would Vincent have done in sixty years? I often ponder this question, and now I leave it up to your imagination, Reader.

Since I am going out of the country for two weeks, this blog will be on hold. I am finally giving myself and this place a break after nine months of posting every week. In the meantime, read an entry you’ve never read before. You can browse through my travel entries, or just look at the calendar here on the right. My next entry will be the 24th of May.

In the meantime, let spring warm your face and your imagination race with possible futures.

Until next time…

A month after Vincent recovered from the infamous ear incident in Arles at the end of 1888, the town got together and signed a petition to kick him out of Arles and send him to an asylum. Upon actually reading the petition, we find their accusations for him being mentally unstable are based upon 1) his drinking irresponsibly and 2) touching women in public inappropriately without their permission. There is little doubt of exaggeration  here nor any doubt that the town had whipped itself up into a frenzy.

Of the cutting of the ear itself, there is still to this day no evidence that can prove how such a thing occurred. I personally find it just as likely that Gauguin had severed part of the ear as that Vincent had (note that it is not the whole ear!), especially given that they had a fight, and Gauguin left town abruptly that night. Gauguin also changed his story several times after the fact, adding that Vincent threatened him with a razor in an account written ten years later. But most importantly, no one knows what happened. Everything is speculation.

Saint Paul de Mausole

Now we can move on to my visit to this place. Although nearly all paintings executed during the year Vincent stayed at the asylum (there were over 150!) list their location as Saint Rémy, that is actually the name of the nearby town. Saint Paul de Mausole is the name of the asylum. I am not quite sure what I expected, but the area was exquisitely beautiful. Indescribable, actually.

Immediately, I recognized the groves of olive trees that greeted me. You depicted these trees dozens of times over the course of 1889 in drawings and paintings, Vincent.

Olive Trees, 1889

I remember a friend of mine telling me that this version (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) was an example of one of your “ugly” paintings. I smiled. He pointed out the purple in the ground as evidence. I told him that sometimes, shadows are purple. I think you may have smiled too. The olive trees were just as minutely studied by you as the cypresses…

Cypresses, 1889

Upon approaching Saint Paul, it became apparent that once again there were signs marking the spots where Vincent had ventured to paint.  He was allowed, with accompaniment, to walk up to an hour beyond the walls of the asylum. I am sure he never imagined the main road here being named Avenue Vincent van Gogh.

As one of the signs put it:

The fact that van Gogh was allowed to leave Saint Paul to go and paint is a sign of the consideration felt for him by the medical staff and the nuns of Saint Paul de Mausole, particularly his great friend sister Epiphane, at a time when psychiatry was more concerned with restraint than treatment.

My heart warmed to know you had a friend here… And so I followed your footsteps, past the asylum walls.

Often recognizing the shapes of the landscape…

Trees in the Garden of Saint Paul Hospital , 1889

And sensing your spirit…

Near…

And full as ever.

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