A gouache Van Gogh painted of an interior corridor of the asylum displays none of the manifestations of Van Gogh’s fear of death seen in his paintings of the outdoors. Van Gogh’s Corridor of Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Rémy remains almost exactly faithful to the scene as seen in the photograph Corridor in the Asylum at Saint-Rémy. The only discernable difference between the photographed and painted scenes is the absence of bars in the painting: a small change that alters the viewer’s perception positively, rather than negatively as do the changes he made in his depictions of the outdoors. Besides this omission, the lines of the gouache echo almost exactly the lines of the photograph, demonstrating that Vincent was willing and able to adhere strictly to reality when he did not have a point to make by doing otherwise. 
Additionally, it is worthy of note that this painting lacks the swirling, unblended brush strokes that characterize so many of the works from Van Gogh’s Saint-Rémy period. The lines and hatchings are made of neatly composed, straight, short strokes that are all of almost exactly the same hue, in stark contrast to the myriad of colors used in each region of Van Gogh’s outdoor paintings. Vincent’s fear of and obsession with death was focused on the outdoors, and none of the symptoms and symbols of this obsession are present in this painting of the interior of the asylum.