Longing to be closer to his brother and his family, which included the newborn Vincent Willem, Van Gogh returned north to the town of Auvers-sur-Oise. The artist had spent over two years in the south of France before relocating to this small town about thirty kilometers from Paris. He only lived in Auvers for roughly seventy days, yet was immensely productive during this brief period, producing paintings at the astonishing rate of about one canvas per day.
In Auvers, the artist settled in the Auberge Ravoux, and was put under the supervision of Dr. Gachet, whom Theo had met in Paris and who claimed he could treat Vincent's sickness. It soon became evident that Dr. Gachet himself suffered from mental illness (some say even more so than Vincent) and proved unhelpful in improving Vincent's condition.
On July 27, 1890, Vincent set out into the wheat fields to paint. This quotidian activity took a terrible turn when he shot himself with a revolver, only to return calmly to the Auberge Ravoux without saying a word to anyone about what he had done. The inn's owner eventually discovered Vincent's wound, and immediately summoned Dr. Gachet and Theo. Unfortunately, nothing could be done to heal the artist, and Vincent Van Gogh passed away two days later.
Sixty years later, Peter Pollack ended his photographic journey at the same sites where Van Gogh spent his last days, including the wheat fields where the artist was fatally wounded, his room at the inn, the nearby city hall, and Oise River.
- Peter Pollack. The Mairie at Auvers. Photograph. 1949.
- Alain Mothe. Vincent van Gogh a Auvers-sur-Oise. Paris: Valhermeil, 2003.
- Peter Pollack. Haystack. Photograph. 1949.
- Wouter van der Veen and Peter Knapp. Van Gogh in Auvers: His Last Days. New York: Monacelli Press, c2010.
- Alain Mothe. Vincent van Gogh a Auvers-sur-Oise. Paris: Valhermeil, c1987.