# Corridor in the Asylum

**Vincent van Gogh** (Dutch, 1853–1890)  
September 1889  
Brush and oils over black chalk on pink laid paper  
25 5/8 x 19 5/16in. (65.1 x 49.1cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 48.190.2. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/336327).

## About this work

A long, vaulted corridor in the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole at Saint-Rémy recedes into the distance, its arches rhythmically repeated. Van Gogh admitted himself to the asylum in May 1889, and during his year there he painted the building, its garden and the surrounding landscape. Worked in thinned oil paint over black chalk on pink paper, the steep perspective and warm colours make an institutional space feel both luminous and unsettling.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Vincent van Gogh painted this (September 1889), aged 36. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Chalk.** Natural black, red and white chalks. Used together on toned paper they could give the warmth of flesh with very little effort, and they were favourites for studies from life.
- **Laid paper.** Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.

### [Vincent van Gogh](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/vincent-van-gogh)

Dutch, 1853–1890; born in Zundert; died in Auvers-sur-Oise

Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and lay preacher before he turned to art in 1880, at twenty-seven. His early pictures of Dutch peasants are dark and heavy; in Paris from 1886 he met the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, and his palette brightened. In Arles in 1888–89 he painted with intense colour and thick, directional strokes, and he worked on at the asylum in Saint-Rémy and finally at Auvers-sur-Oise. The Poet’s Garden belongs to a group made to decorate Gauguin’s room in the Yellow House.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Drawings
- The artist was 36
- Real size: about 26 × 19 in (65 × 49 cm). The 18 × 24 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Subjects: Hospitals, Interiors
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1005.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1005/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/corridor-in-the-asylum-met-336327).