In February 1890, in the asylum at Saint-Remy, van Gogh made a number of oil copies of well-known paintings and engravings reproduced in the books his brother Theo had sent to him. The Prison Courtyard was painted in 1890 from an illustration in an album called London and was a free copy of Gustave Dores drawing engraved by N.J. Pisan (London. A Pilgrimage by Gustave Dore and Blanchard Jerrold. London. 1872. p. 136: second issue, Louis Enault Hachette. Paris. 1876. p. 294).

In a letter to his brother, van Gogh wrote. "This is not a copy, but rather a translation into a different language . . . the language of colours (and) impressions produced by black and white images. ... I tried to copy Dores. Exile3ƒ4very difficult.
Paris. 1937. nos. 623 and 626. ) While preserving Dores composition, van Gogh nevertheless put more emphasis upon the expressiveness of the scene. One can recognise the artist depicted in the foreground with a bare head and his arms by his sides. The stay at the Saint-Remy asylum reminded van Gogh of Dostoyevsky?s Notes from the House of the Dead, which he had once read. The image of human despair is convincingly created here by choosing an appropriate colour scheme of predominantly earthy greyish-green tones.

Inv. no. 3373

Provenance:

Madame van Gogh-Bonger collection. Amsterdam;

Madame Slavona collection. Paris;

M. Fabre collection. Paris;

1906. Druel Gallery, Paris, no. 542;

1909. Prince de Wagram collection. Paris:

1909. Druel Gallery. Paris;

1909. I. Morozov collection. Moscow;

1918. Second Museum of Modern Western Painting. Moscow;

1923. Museum of Modern Western Art. Moscow;

since 1948. Pushkin Museum. Moscow.