Saint-Remy-de-Provence

Van Gogh admitted himself voluntarily to the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in May 1889 after the events at Arles and stayed a year, producing around a hundred and fifty paintings including The Starry Night, the olive groves and the cypresses; his room is reconstructed and the cloister can be visited, and the institution still treats patients in another wing. Beside it lie the ruins of Glanum, a town of Gallic origin rebuilt by the Romans and abandoned around 260, with houses, baths and a forum excavated. Two monuments stand outside the fence: a mausoleum and a triumphal arch, both first century.

What you actually see

• Saint-Paul-de-Mausole - Van Gogh's asylum room, cloister and garden.
• Glanum - an excavated Gallo-Roman town with baths and forum.
• Les Antiques - a Roman mausoleum and arch standing beside the road.
• The old town - a ring boulevard around a knot of Provencal lanes.

When to go

April to June and September to October; the fields Van Gogh painted are at their best in early summer. Summer is hot and crowded. Glanum has almost no shade.

Honest expectations

None of Van Gogh's paintings are here; the site offers the setting and reproductions. Part of Saint-Paul remains an active psychiatric facility and privacy is expected. Glanum requires imagination, being foundations rather than standing buildings.

Nearby

Les Baux lies south; Avignon is northwest.