Explore the revolutionary 19th-century asylum where Vincent van Gogh created his masterpieces, revealing how mental health treatment evolved from spectacle to compassion and what his experience teaches us about creativity, recovery, and human dignity today.

Saint-Rémy asylum opened in the 1800s and became famous after Vincent van Gogh was treated there.








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From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco

Lena: Hey everyone, welcome back to another personalized episode from BeFreed-we've got something really fascinating lined up today that I think is going to give us all a fresh perspective on mental health history.
Miles: Absolutely, Lena. I'm genuinely excited about this one. We're diving into the story of Saint-Remy asylum, which opened back in the 1800s and became world-famous after Vincent van Gogh was treated there. It's this incredible intersection of art, medicine, and human struggle that really gets to the heart of how we've understood mental illness throughout history.
Lena: Right, and what's so compelling is that this isn't just about one famous patient or one institution. It's really a window into this whole evolution of how civilization has grappled with madness-and I use that term deliberately because that's how it was understood back then.