Vincent van Gogh and Flix Rey to Theo van Gogh. Arles, Wednesday, 2 January 1889. Wednesday, 2 January 1889 Metadata Source status: Original manuscript Location: Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. no. b614 V/1962 Date: Letter headed: Arles, le 2 Janvier 1889. Additional: After Vincent had written to Theo, Dr Flix Rey added his own note to Theo. Original [1r:1] Hospices civils de la VILLE DARLES bouches-du-rhone Arles, le 2 Janvier 1889. mon cher Theo, afin de te rassurer tout fait sur mon compte je tcris ces quelques mots dans le cabinet de M. linterne Rey que tu a vu toimme. Je resterai encore quelques jours ici lhpital puis jose compter retourner la maison trs-tranquillement. 1 1 On the evening of 23 December 1888, Van Gogh suffered an acute mental breakdown. As a result he cut off his left ear and took it to a prostitute in a local brothel. The police found him at home the next morning and had him admitted to hospital. On 24 December Gauguin2 sent a telegram to Theo, who immediately took the night train to Arles. Despite Van Goghs repeated pleas, Gauguin did not come to visit him in hospital (see letter 736). Jo van Gogh-Bonger3 wrote in her introduction to the letters that Gauguin travelled back to Paris with Theo, who left Arles on Tuesday, 25 December, as emerges from a letter he wrote to Jo on 28 December (see Brieven 1914, p. liv, and Brief happiness 1999, pp. 70-71). Bernard4s letter of 1 January 1889 to Albert Aurier5 (quoted below) agrees with this description of events: he reports that Gauguin had arrived in Paris four days earlier, meaning 27 December. After his return to Paris, Theo gave an account of his visit in a letter he wrote to Jo on 28 December: I found Vincent in the hospital in Arles. The people around him realized from his agitation that for the past few days he had been showing symptoms of that most dreadful illness, of madness, and an attack of fivre chaude, when 1 2 Vincent van Gogh and Flix Rey to Theo van Gogh. Arles, Wednesday, 2 January 1889. Maintenant je te prie toi une seule chse, de ne pas tinquieter car cela me causerait une inquietude de trop. A prsent causons de notre ami Gauguin, lai je effray? enfin pourquoi ne me donne-t-il pas un signe de vie. Il doit tre parti avec toi. he injured himself with a razor, was the reason he was taken to hospital. Will he remain insane? The doctors think it possible, but darent yet say for certain. It should be apparent in a few days time when he is rested; then we will see whether he is lucid again. He seemed to be all right for a few minutes when I was with him, but lapsed shortly afterwards into his brooding about philosophy and theology. It was terribly sad being there, because from time to time all his grief would well up inside and he would try to weep, but couldnt. Poor fighter and poor, poor sufferer. Nothing can be done to relieve his anguish now, but it is deep and hard for him to bear. Had he just once found someone to whom he could pour his heart out, it might never have come to this. In the next few days they will decide whether he is to be transferred to a special institution and as I dont yet know how much I shall have to do in all this, I dare not make any plans. Two days later he wrote to her again: Since I last wrote Ive been wavering between hope and fear. The news is still bad and the last letter from Vincents friend the postman6 says, The doctor will wait a few days before deciding whether he should be committed to an institution. One sees the ambiguity in this sentence when one asks Why? I am waiting for an answer from the assistant house physician at the hospital. There is little hope, but he has done more than so many in his life and suffered and fought more than most people are capable of doing. If he must pass away, so be it, but the thought of it breaks my heart ... My dear Mother7 knows no more than that he is ill and that his mind is confused. She is not aware that his life is in danger (see FR b2020 and b2021; Brief happiness 1999, pp. 70, 74). Vincent remained until 7 January 1889 in hospital, where he was treated by the resident physician Flix Rey8. Rey assisted the chief physician, Marie Jules Joseph Urpar9. Shortly after Van Goghs admission to the hospital, Urpar drew up a certificate regarding the artist's condition, which was sent to the mayor10 of Arles on 29 December 1888. The certificate has not survived, but it is evident from the accompanying letter to the mayor that the doctor had concluded that Mr Vincent who, on the 23rd of this month, removed his ear using a razor, is suffering from mental disturbance. The treatment that this unfortunate man is receiving in our establishment not being such as to bring him back to a state of reason, I am writing to request that you be so kind as to take the necessary steps to have him admitted to a special asylum (M. le Maire, Jai lhonneur de vous adresser ci-joint le certificat de M. le docteur Urpar, mdecin en chef de lhpital, constatant que le Sieur Vincent qui, le 23 du mois ci, sest enlev loreille dun coup de rasoir, est atteint dalination mentale. Les soins que cet infortun reoit dans notre tablissement ntant pas de nature le ramener la raison, je viens vous prier de vouloir bien prendre les mesures ncessaires pour le faire admettre dans un asile spcial) (unsigned transcript of a letter to the mayor of Arles, ACA). The copy is not signed. The same day Dr Rey informed Theo of Vincents condition and told him about Urpars certificate (see Documentation, 29 December 1888). The incident was reported in the column Chronique locale in the weekly newspaper Le Forum Rpublicain on Sunday, 30 December 1888: Last Sunday, at half past eleven in the evening, one Vincent van Gogh, a painter and native of Holland, presented himself at brothel no 1, asked for one Rachel, and handed her.... his ear, telling her: Keep this object carefully. Then he disappeared. Informed of this act, which could only be that of a poor lunatic, the police went the following day to the home of this individual, whom they found lying in his bed, by then showing hardly any sign of life. The unfortunate was admitted to the hospital as a matter of urgency. (Dimanche dernier, 11 heures du soir, le nomm Vincent Vangogh peintre, originaire de Hollande, sest prsent la maison de tolrance no 1, a demand la nomm Rachel, et lui a remis.... son oreille en lui disant: Gardez cet objet prcieusement. Puis il a disparu. Informe de ce fait qui ne pouvait tre que celui dun pauvre alin, la police sest rendue le lendemain matin chez cet individu quelle a trouv couch dans son lit, ne donnant presque plus signe de vie. Ce malheureux a t admis durgence lhospice.) As late as 1929, the policeman Alphonse Robert described his recollection of the incident (quoted in Doiteau and Leroy 1939, p. 6). Gauguin later declared that on the evening in question he had decided to sleep in a hotel because of Van Gogh's aggressive, threathening behaviour. The exact circumstances of the supposed incident between Gauguin and Van Gogh are not known, however. Van Gogh says nothing in his letters about its immediate cause, and Rey reported the following to Theo on 30 December: When I tried to get him to talk about the motive that drove him to cut off his ear, he replied that it was a purely personal matter (Lorsque jai voulu le faire causer sur le motif qui lavait pouss se couper loreille; il ma rpondu que cetait un affaire tout fait personnelle) (FR b1056; Documentation, 30 December 1888). Van Gogh remembered little of what happened. This is evident from a note made by Dr Peyron11 in the asylum at Saint-Rmy on 8 May 1889: During that attack he cut off his left ear, but he has no more than a vague memory of all that, and is not aware of it. (Pendant cet accs il se coupa loreille gauche mais il ne conserve de tout cela quun souvenir trs vague, et ne peut sen rendre compte.) See Documentation, 8 May 1889. In Avant et aprs, Gauguin wrote that, before finally wounding himself, Van Gogh had wanted to attack him that evening: I had already gone almost all the way across place Victor-Hugo [place Lamartine], when I heard behind me a little step that was very familiar, quick and jerky. I turned at the very moment when Vincent rushed at me with an open razor in his hand. My look must at that moment have been very powerful, because he stopped, and lowering his head he ran back in the direction of the house. (Javais dj travers presque entirement la place Victor-Hugo, lorsque jentendis derrire moi un petit pas bien connu, rapide et saccad. Je me retournai au moment mme o Vincent se prcipitait sur moi un rasoir ouvert la main. Mon regard dut ce moment tre bien puissant car il sarrta et baissant la tte il reprit en courant le chemin de la maison.) See Gauguin 1923, pp.