The asylum the place Van Gogh lived in 1889-90 is ready amongst a few of the most stunning surroundings of Provence, simply beneath Les Alpilles (the little Alps). Solely three kilometres away is a hovering limestone crest, often known as Le Rocher des Deux Trous (The Rock of the Two Holes). It has a skull-like look, pierced with eye sockets. The bigger gap is sort of 3m excessive, the smaller one round half that.
Van Gogh included the Deux Trous in a pair of his landscapes, however as a result of it’s such an sudden function it has typically been seized upon as proof of the artist’s fragile psychological state—the product of an overblown creativeness.
The Deux Trous options in work which by probability each ended up in several New York collections: The Olive Timber (June 1889) on the Museum of Trendy Artwork and Mountains at Saint-Rémy (July 1889) on the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In each footage, the bulkier summit on the suitable facet is Mont Gaussier.
The Olive Timber was bequeathed to MoMA in 1998 by Mrs John Hay Whitney. Mountains at Saint-Rémy had been donated to the Guggenheim by Justin Thannhauser in 1978.
Van Gogh’s The Olive Timber (June 1889) and Mountains at Saint-Rémy (July 1889), each displaying the Deux Trous on the crest of Les Alpilles
Museum of Trendy Artwork (Mrs. John Hay Whitney Bequest) and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (reward of Justin Okay. Thannhauser, 1978), each New York
Each work have been borrowed by London’s Nationwide Gallery, for its current exhibition Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers (14 September 2024-19 January 2025). There they held on adjoining partitions within the ultimate room, giving a really uncommon alternative to see them collectively.
Van Gogh described The Olive Timber as a grove “with the blue hills”. It was most likely painted in his studio on the asylum from reminiscence, not in entrance of the motif. He would have recognized the scene properly, because it represents a view only a few minutes’ stroll from the asylum entrance, on the southern outskirts of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Mountains at Saint-Rémy, painted a month later, was largely painted outside and is extra topographically correct.
View of the Deux Trous (circled in pink), with the nearer Mont Gaussier (on the suitable), seen from an olive grove close to the previous asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole
The Artwork Newspaper
Van Gogh was actually not the one artist to be struck by the Deux Trous. 4 centuries in the past an nameless artist boldly included it in a view of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, exaggerating its measurement.
Nameless, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence within the seventeenth century (element), with the Deux Trous and the monastery of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole surrounded by an olive grove
Musée des Alpilles, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
Though Van Gogh by no means mentions the Deux Trous in his letters, it is rather probably that on a day when he was feeling properly he climbed as much as sit in one of many holes and look down on Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, the previous monastery-turned-asylum.
Saint-Paul-de-Mausole nonetheless survives, as a contemporary hospital for sufferers with psychological points. Its church and cloister are open to guests and a room has been reconstructed to provide an thought of the place Van Gogh would have slept.
From Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, it’s a pleasant eight-kilometre stroll (two to a few hours) to the Deux Trous (peak 326m) and again once more. Head southwards from the hospital and climb up the valley Saint-Clerg, then on the prime make a brief detour to the Deux Trous, the place one can sit within the holes and look again on the hospital and the city of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Return down by way of a parallel valley, Gaudre de Valrugue. Close to the beginning and finish of the stroll you’ll benefit from the olive groves which impressed a few of Van Gogh’s best landscapes.
REVISED: Initially revealed in November 2024, this weblog publish was up to date with new data on 25 July 2025.
Martin Bailey is a number one Van Gogh specialist and particular correspondent for The Artwork Newspaper. He has curated exhibitions on the Barbican Artwork Gallery, Compton Verney/Nationwide Gallery of Scotland and Tate Britain.
Martin Bailey’s current Van Gogh books
Martin has written quite a lot of bestselling books on Van Gogh’s years in France: The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh’s Masterpiece (Frances Lincoln 2013, UK and US), Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence (Frances Lincoln 2016, UK and US), Starry Night time: Van Gogh on the Asylum (White Lion Publishing 2018, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale: Auvers and the Artist’s Rise to Fame (Frances Lincoln 2021, UK and US). The Sunflowers are Mine (2024, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale (2024, UK and US) are additionally now obtainable in a extra compact paperback format.
His different current books embody Dwelling with Vincent van Gogh: The Properties & Landscapes that formed the Artist (White Lion Publishing 2019, UK and US), which supplies an summary of the artist’s life. The Illustrated Provence Letters of Van Gogh has been reissued (Batsford 2021, UK and US). My Good friend Van Gogh/Emile Bernard supplies the primary English translation of Bernard’s writings on Van Gogh (David Zwirner Books 2023, UKand US).
To contact Martin Bailey, please e mail vangogh@theartnewspaper.com
Please word that he doesn’t undertake authentications.
Discover all of Martin’s adventures with Van Gogh right here
