Arles – Van Gogh

The scenes from the light show of Van Gogh’s works were so magnificent that am simply going to intersperse those images among the paragraphs within the blog as I talk about Arles and Van Gogh.

Arles was first settled by the Celts and named “a city in the marshes.” Set on a limestone foundation it is located in the delta of the Rhône River. The land is flat, marshy and the soil is rich. They grow rice in the marshy areas now and olives for the famous and expensive olive oil. We could see the olive trees as we moved up into the limestone hills. Many rock quarries were located in this area providing stone for the Romans to build an amphitheater, a theatre, and a circus Maximus.

Vincent Van Gogh moved to Arles in 1888, and here produced some of his most beautiful art. He left Paris in that year in search of light and found what he was looking for in this little riverside village. Here he found clear skies and the wonderful colors of blue and yellow that he loved. He wrote to his brother, “I believe that the whole future of new art can be found in the Midi.” His dream was that a whole community of artists might settle here and produce some of the great art of the century.

Though his work was productive here, Arles was not a great place for Van Gogh personally. He had a sever nervous breakdown while living here and in one episode cut off a part of his ear to give to a prostitute. In May of 1889, he voluntarily admitted himself to Saint-Ramey de Provence to be treated as a mental patient. Throughout this difficult time, however, he continued to paint. As one visits the sanatorium and strolls through the city, one can still view some of the sites that inspired his art. “On the Place du Forum in Arles, you will find the Café le soir, a glowing pool of yellow inevitably catching the eye…On the banks of the Rhône, you will recognize the stairs of the Trinquetaille Bridge and, when evening comes, the Starry Night,” as one commentator wrote.

This was our day to visit Arles, but in visiting Arles, we found ourselves as you can see engulfed in the vision and art of Vincent Van Gogh. In the morning, we visited the popular light show located in one of the abandoned limestone quarries. Set to classical music, the great art of Van Gogh moves and flows throughout the cavernous space. It was a wonderful experience, one which my pictures cannot half demonstrate.

In the afternoon, we walked through the village while our guide pointed out the areas where the great artist painted. For me, as I have often thought, there is a great difference between what is actually there and what the artist sees. I think great art is not so much about documentation as it is about vision. Certainly the greatness of Van Gogh’s art is in his unusual vision.