The grounds of Saint Paul’s (Saint Remy, France) is a haunting place, imbued with its history. Still functioning as a psychiatric hospital while hosting a small museum, the monastery is best known as the place that Vincent van Gogh spent time after he infamously cut off his ear. He was a patient from May 1889 to May 1890 and initially filled his days by painting the grounds seen from his room. When standing where he slept, you cannot help but feel enveloped in his iconic paintings, the view largely unchanged. The garden vibrates with the texture and rhythms we expect from Van Gogh’s work, but you can also feel the remnants of the artist in the midst of decay. Vincent's presence is palpable, lingering in the stone walls as if etched into the very fabric of the building.

As we move through this animation, I invite you to explore the location through a fictional, alternate, hand-drawn reality. Following Van Gogh’s famous brother Theo, we move through reality, memory and the illusions the site still conjures.

Created during the NG Creative Art Residency, Provence.