1. Around 4 February 1889 Van Gogh suffered a second mental breakdown.
Rev. Frédéric Salles informed Theo on 7 February that Vincent had been readmitted to hospital that day, and that the doctors advised him to have himself admitted to an asylum. Salles wrote: ‘For three days he has thought he is being poisoned and just sees poisoners and victims of poison everywhere.
The cleaning woman, who is showing considerable devotion in caring for him, faced with his more than abnormal condition, felt it her duty to tell others, and neighbours brought it to the attention of the police ... Today, according to the cleaning woman, he has refused all food; he hardly spoke yesterday and this morning and sometimes his behaviour frightened this poor woman who told me that she wouldn’t be able to go on looking after him in this state’ (Depuis trois jours il se croit empoisonné et ne voit partout que des empoisonneurs ou des empoisonnés. La femme de ménage qui le soigne avec un certain dévouement, en présence de son état plus qu’anormal, a cru de son devoir de signaler la chose, qui a été par les voisins portée à la connaissance du commissaire central ... Aujourd’hui, à ce qui m’a dit la femme de ménage, il s’est réfusé à prendre la moindre nourriture; toute la journée d’hier et la matinée d’aujourd’hui il a peu parlé et son attitude a quelquefois inspiré de crainte à cette pauvre femme qui m’a déclaré qu’en l’état elle ne pouvait plus continuer à lui accorder ses soins.) (FR b1046).
On 12 February
Dr Rey wrote to Theo: ‘The first day, he was greatly overexcited, and his delirium was general. He no longer recognised me or Mr Salles. Since yesterday, however, I have noted a perceptible improvement. He is less delirious, and he recognises me. He talks to me about painting, but sometimes he loses his train of thought and speaks nothing but disjointed words and jumbled phrases’ (FR b1057). For this letter,
see Documentation, 12 February 1889.
Acting on the orders of chief of police
Joseph d’Ornano (
see letter 750), the doctor
Albert Delon examined Van Gogh on 7 February. Delon was a member of the hospital board and employed as a doctor by the
Bureau de bienfaisance (
L’indicateur marseillais 1889). He wrote the following in his report: ‘I found this man in a state of extreme excitement, suffering from a true delirium, pronouncing incoherent words, only momentarily recognising the people around him. He is subject in particular to auditory hallucinations (he hears voices uttering reproaches against him) and to an idée fixe, according to which he is supposed to have been the victim of an attempted poisoning. This patient’s condition appears very serious to us, and appears to require close surveillance and treatment in a special asylum, as his mental faculties are profoundly impaired.’ (J’ai trouvé cet homme dans un état d’exaltation complet, en proie à un véritable délire, prononçant des paroles incohérentes, ne reconnaissant que par instants les personnes qui l’entourent. Il est particulièrement en proie à des hallucinations de l’ouïe (il entend des voix qui lui adressent des reproches) et à une idée fixe, d’après laquelle il aurait été victime d’une tentative d’empoisonnement. L’état de ce malade nous paraît fort grave et nous semble nécessiter une surveillance vigilante ainsi qu’un traitement dans un asile spécial, car ses facultés mentales sont profondément altérées.) (ACA). For a photograph of the report, see Van Gogh à Arles. Dessins 1888-1889. Documents originaux, photographies. Exhib. cat. Arles (Fondation Vincent van Gogh), 2003. Arles 2003, p. 62.
4. This is no doubt Van Gogh’s own interpretation. It is true that people were afraid of him, because a short while later residents of the neighbourhood demanded that he be confined (
see letter 750). As far as we know, there was no specific legend in Arles that instilled a fear of painting. What Van Gogh says here about the attitude of people in southern France and Arabic countries towards art and artists is a well-known
topos. Cf. Kris and Kurz 1979, pp. 147, 151. In connection with Van Gogh’s remark, Merlhès quotes a letter written by the painter
Henri Regnault 20 years earlier, in which he writes about a superstition prevailing among the gypsies in Spain, which forbade them to have their portraits made, fearing it would cause them to die. See Merlhès 1989, p. 221 (n. 2).