The Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital, St-Remy 1889 - Vincent Van Gogh

This famous painting is the garden of the hospital where Van Gogh placed himself in order to be under the care of his doctor. While there, he continued to paint although his paints were confiscated on occasion as during the worse times of his illness he would try to eat them - an action that could have poisoned him. Van Gogh wrote to Emile Bernard about this painting and commented on the power of red ochre and green darkened with grey or black. He likened this combination of colours to the 'black-red* anguish from which many of the patients at the hospital suffered.