Arles

Just a short train ride from Montpellier is the town of Arles, in the south of France, where Vincent Van Gogh lived for a year. Artist Paul Gauguin joined him there for two months, a turbulent cohabitation. Van Gogh created over three hundred paintings there, many so iconic we know and revere them today, although he was not recognized in his own time.

A trail marks sites of some of those famous paintings around town. After finding the town Office de Tourisme, I declined to take the Van Gogh tour, thinking I would do my own thing, as usual. I kind of regretted that later, because, although I found information online and had a printed map I picked up there, the sites were hard to find and the trail elusive to follow, not as well marked as the Paul Cézanne trail in nearby Aix-en-Provence or the Van Gogh trail in Auvers-sur-Oise (see links below). Some were marked with an image of the painting, others had been at one time—I have seen pictures on the Internet—but the signs have been removed or otherwise disappeared. Here are a few notables that I was happy to locate.

Van Gogh spent time at l’Hôtel de Dieu, the city hospital, recovering from a nervous breakdown. This period is best known because it was directly after he cut off his ear. He enjoyed sitting in the garden, which is well preserved and restored to resemble the way it looked at the time as shown in his painting. I had a crêpe and a coffee at a café there, basking in one of the recognizable places he painted in the town.

Not terribly picturesque during the day these days, Starry Night was painted of the view from the Quai du Rhône. The reflected lights in his image seemed to indicate buildings or street lights on the coast opposite that were not visible now. I didn’t try to walk out there again in the dark. The sign reads “danger of falling”.

I didn’t take a photo of the exact view in the painting, but found the Trinquetaille Bridge. The sign showing the painting was no longer there.

A café now occupies the corner where the Yellow House, La Maison Jaune, stood, the home where Van Gogh lived, with and without Gauguin. The building was bombed in 1944 during World War II, and destroyed. I saw the famous painting of his bedroom in the Yellow House at a museum in Amsterdam years ago. Of course, I had to stop and have a coffee in the café to celebrate the find.

The Roman Amphitheatre was the site of another painting, where he depicted the crowd at a bullfight. It’s a lively people picture, the Amphitheatre briefly portrayed from the inside.

There was another site somewhere around this square, but, after circling the streets several times, I couldn’t locate it.

Beyond the Van Gogh trail, I found a few interesting places in Arles. The Roman gardens had some maze-like hedges around the borders, hiding interesting pieces of art.

Near my hotel, I was delighted to find a ceramics show in the streets. A potter in my younger days, I enjoyed visiting the artists and chatting with them in French and English.