Vincent

 By Maryanna Gabriel 

View From His Window

Vincent Van Gogh's Brushes

After visiting Arles, famous for Roman ruins and where Vincent Van Gogh was born, we went to St. Remy, to a cloister called Cloitre Saint Paul, where Van Gogh voluntarily “committed” himself for almost three years. The cloister was founded in the 5^th century when a monk named Paul, planted his staff on the ground and it blossomed with white flowers. The mission down through the ages was to heal the sick and weary, with the nearby spring of Glanum reputed to have special properties. Here Van Gogh produced some of his finest and most beautiful work for there seemed here to me to be a special beauty and peace. Over 150 paintings and a 100 drawings were accomplished as he worked in the gardens. I walked into the room where he lived and the photo of the cloister is the view he had from his room. His brushes

Room Where He Lived

and satchel were on display as was a history of how they treated him and others with mental illness. It is thought Vincent Van Gogh might have been bipolar, he certainly suffered from poisoning as he ingested his highly toxic paint trying to get the beautiful colours inside of him in order to feel better. The setting of the cloister was further conveyed to me when we began our hike out into the forest behind it where Van Gogh would have walked, the very trees themselves seeming to shimmer. Perhaps Van Gogh thought he could manage and that he could not stay at the cloister forever but unfortunately he committed suicide within two months of leaving this nurturing place.