After Vincent Van Gogh: at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole Asylum

This project is inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s stay at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole Asylum. The motifs and designs were reflections on the space and surroundings he stayed at. Many of these documentations were through his own drawings and paintings, as well as many photo documentations of the inside of his room taken during the mid 1900s. 

 

The front of the brooch resembles Van Gogh’s Painting of the hills at Saint-Remy. The gold gilded frames were made from repurposed frames from full-sized commercial painting frames. The pietersite (a naturally formed gemstone through the process of quartz encasing blue crocidolite asbestos) was chosen for the chatoyancy ruminating of his vivid and signature toxic alluring blue pain, as well as his attempt to ending his life by swallowing the said paint. The gemstones used are picked specifically for their textural pattern that resembled the hills through the bars on Van Gogh’s room and he’s most recognisable painting, The Starry Night.

 

The pin mechanism behind each brooch is designed after the inside of his room. Each locking mechanism had 3 vertical bars in identical spacing as the bars on his window. The locking handle was modelled after mechanical locks in old rental houses I have stayed in before, these types of locking mechanism are mostly used to lock oneself in a space rather than others locking oneself in externally. The action of wearing the brooch is an echoing of the self-commitment to lock oneself in. the pin at closing position would be almost identical to the view from his window at the asylum.