Travel in the steps of the Impressionists as you roam throughout Provence. You’ll be struck by the many reminders of Vincent Van Gogh in Arles and nearby St-Remy-de-Provence. Many of his most famous paintings stem from his time in and around this area, where he lived from 1888 to 1889: his bright sunflowers, his curious bedroom in Arles, the atmospheric Night Café with its green billiard table and glowing lamps, as well as his famous Starry Night paintings (Starry Night, and Starry Night over the Rhone). He painted Arles’ narrow, cobblestone streets, its marketplaces and cafés, and the yellow house where he lived for a short time with his friend and fellow-painter, Paul Gaugin. The rich countryside of Provence also inspired him and he painted neatly-tilled cornfields and fertile valleys, orchards in bloom, sunsets near Arles, and cypresses in the moonlight, all in deep, rich oils of yellow, orange, green and blue.
Van Gogh suffered all his life from bouts of insanity – the people of Arles nicknamed him “le fou-roux” (the redheaded madman) – and it was indeed here in Provence that he cut off part of his right ear after a violent argument with Gaugin. “Starry Night” and several other well-known paintings and self-portraits (one showing his bandaged ear) were done when he was at the asylum in Saint-Remy, twenty miles from Arles. In the summer of 1890 Van Gogh died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and is buried in Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris. His brother Theo reported Vincent’s last words as, “The sadness will last forever.” In spite of his dark and tragic end, Van Gogh should be remembered as his friend Gaugin once painted him in a portrait entitled: “Van Gogh, the Painter of Sunflowers” (1888).
For more about the life and the art of this tragic genius, much of whose life was spent in France in the company of the Impressionists, read the excellent biographical novel by Irving Stone: Lust for Life. You can also visit his room at the sanitorium in St Rémy which is a poignant reminder of his suffering.
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