 Lady_Mystique's Arles Travelogues | | | | Title [Click to view] | Travel Year | Pictures | | The Mystique of van Gogh | - |  3 | | History of Arles | - | 6 |
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| Page Views: 909 Last Visit to Arles: - | The Mystique of van Gogh by Lady_Mystique - last update: Sep 10, 2007 |
AN ARTIST IN ARLES | Vincent van Gogh ~ Self-Portrait |
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Vincent van Gogh was a fervent admirer of the writer Daudet,
and it may well have been his stories that first brought Vincent to Arles in February 1888.
To his surprise, the city was blanketed in snow ... a rare occurrence and, in a way, an omen.
When the snow melted it revealed an Arles made mean and ugly by new embarkments along the Rhône, cutting the city off from its lifeblood (previously the flooding of the river had fertilized the countryside, like the Nile in Egypt).
At the same time, a new railway line was being installed by workers brought in from Belgium
and housed in cheap, tacky buildings.
Arles had never looked shabbier.
But van Gogh stayed, found a room to rent in as poor neighborhood by the station,
and painted the shabby Arles around him.
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| Portrait of Gauguin by van Gogh |
|  | Van Gogh's dream was to found an art colony in Arles,
similar to the one in Pont Aven in Brittany.
He begged his overbearing friend Gauguin to join him,
but when Gauguin finally arrived in October he found little to like in Arles, dashing van Gogh's hopes.
The tension between the two men reached such a pitch in December that the overwrought van Gogh went over the edge and confronted Gauguin
in the street with a razor.
Gauguin stared him down and van Gogh, despising himself,
went back to his room, cut off his ear and gave it to a prostitute he knew.
Arles was scandalized, but breathed a sigh of relief when van Gogh voluntarily committed himself to the local hospital, the Hôtel Dieu.
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In May 1889 van Gogh left for the hospital in St-Rémy.
Van Gogh's output in Arles was prodigious
(from February 1888 to May 1889 he painted 300 canvases),
but not a single painting remains in the city today.
His admirers, looking for places he painted,
have just a little to see:
the famous bridge, the yellow house, and café,
were destroyed in the Second World War, or afterwards;
only the clock in the Bar Alcazar in Place Lamartine remains as van Gogh painted it ( in Café de nuit), along with some of the ancient plane trees around the Alyscamps.
To make up for its belated appreciation of the mad, lonely genius
who sojourned here,
Arles has converted the Hôtel Dieu (which van Gogh also painted)
into a mutimedia gallery,
the Espace Van Gogh, displaying the works of others.
**************************** | | | Courtyard of the Hospital in Arles ~ van Gogh |
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| Lady_Mystique's Arles Travelogues | | | | Title [Click to view] | Travel Year | Pictures | | The Mystique of van Gogh | - | 3 | | History of Arles | - | 6 |
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 Comments for Lady_Mystique about Arles | | | | |
BohemiaViajera Mon Nov 10, 2008 22:08 UTC
The Cafe Van Gogh in Arles is nice to take a picture or two, but for all means, don't eat there...carrots's salad from a can? One of the worst food in France and Europe...or even my life, really, really bad. | jmokhlis Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:28 UTC
Your tip sounds suspiciously similar to the one in the Rough Guide to France 2007. Helpful anyway. Ta! | Jim_Eliason Sun May 4, 2008 22:57 UTC
Great tips! | RBLT Tue Apr 29, 2008 18:32 UTC
Are there scheduled bullfights June 23 - 26? If so, is it necessary to buy tickets in advance? Thanks you, Rick L. |
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