Through a pedestrian
tour in Arles and possibly in Saint Rémy of Provence, I suggest to walk over the
footsteps of Vincent Van Gogh.
You will
discover, in Arles, a dozen spots painted by the artist and notice how much the
name of Van Gogh is associated to the town. Beyond the access to about ten spots
having been used like scenery by the painter, you may discover in Saint Rémy of
Provence a reconstruction of his chamber in Saint Paul de Mausole Hospice and
appreciate the psychiatric health of Van Gogh and also the conditions of life
in the Hospice.
Before describing both tours**, perhaps
a short repeat of the artist's life is necessary. If it is the case, read the
following memento, otherwise the virtual visit begins.
*
see fares and conditions
**
Tours developped from the book "La Provence de Van Gogh", éd.
Edisud, écrit par J.P. Clébert et P. Richard
Around
at the end of February, 1888, Vincent VAN GOGH landed in Arles station, following
the advices of his friend TOULOUSE LAUTREC, who praised him the charms of Provence.
He lived here during near 2 years.
Then
starts an intense and keen period of work in the light of the south of France.
The arlesian stay, will be in the life of the painter, the most productive period
of canvases and drawings: more than 300 pieces within 15 months make the brightest
chapter of Art history.
At the begining he stayed in the "pension
Carrel", rue cavalerie.
His first canvases of the
Provence, other than the snowed landscapes, were the people of Arles city and
urban frame.
It
is the case of the picture "La boutique". In fact, it is the charcuterie "Reboul",
located just in front of "the pension Carrel". This canvas was painted from the
pension.
The
pension Carrel
La
boutique
This
picture entitled "La vieille arlésienne" is one of the first studies made by Vincent
at his arrival in Provence.
The
identity of the model is unknown, but her clothing are typical mediterranean one.
(beyond the visit)
La
vieille arlésienne
He
used to visit quite frequently a hot district of Arles located near the pension,
between the chapel Saint Isidore and the convent of Carmélites; rue du bout d'Arles,
rue des récolets, rue du petit puit.
Terrace
of café, Place du Forum
Terrace
of café, Place du Forum
Along the terraces
of the cafes of la promenade des lices, or l'avenue de montmajour, Vincent was
looking for models (he called them the figures) and his inspiration.
Le
zouave
He frequented also
the public garden of the town between the promenade des lices and mountain of
the antic ruins. He paints here 6 canvases with figures.
This garden was then called "le jardin des poêtes" (garden of
the poets).
Le
Jardin des poètes
Le
Jardin des poètes
In September,
1888, Vincent VAN GOGH stayed in "la petite maison jaune" (the small
yellow house), 2 place Lamartine, in which he created his workstudio. He equipped
his chamber with yellow furnitures, sunny color which haunted him.
La
Maison Jaune
La
Maison Jaune
This
house was destroyed in 1944 during a bombing.
His
friend Paul Gauguin joins him on the 20th of October. The two artists live and
work all together. But the cohabitation did not succeed. After a very excited
disput, Van Gogh got a fit of madness and cuts himself his left earlobe.
On
December 1888, Gauguin went away two months after his arrival in Arles. The crises
of Van Gogh renews more and more.
He
took his meals on the other side of the square, in the impasse Lamartine, in the
cafe de la gare (cafe of the station) or in restaurant Venissat.
These spots offered to the forsaken souls, to the people thirsty of wine and human
heat and to the night-owls, a refuge for a modest sum.
Le
Café de la Gare
During his stay
in Arles, he was fond of corridas (bullfights) and camarguaises courses of bulls.
It was not the tauromachie which drew him but the multicolored crowd of the tribunes
which fascinated him.
(
Price to enter into the arens: 3.05 euro)
The
Arens
The
Arens
VAN GOGH will be also inspired by
surroundings of Arles city.
The
edges of the Rhone river : la nuit étoilée (the starry night)
the
starry night
the
starry night
The district of Trinquetaille
Bridge
of Trinquetaille
Bridge
of Trinquetaille
The
Alyscamps cemetery, also painted by Gauguin.
(Entry
price : 3,.50 euros).
The
Alyscamps
The
Alyscamps
The windmill of La Crau also called "Tour de Jonquet"
The
windmill of La Crau
The
windmill of La Crau
The bridge Langlois (le
Pont Langlois)
The
Bridge Langlois
The
Bridge Langlois
Les
Saintes-Maries de la Mer (beyond the visit)
It
is in June 1888, that Vincent went to"les Saintes-Marie de la Mer", great gipsy
pilgrimage. He arrived on board of the "patache" which operated a boat link between
Arles and Tarascon. He stopped in the plain of Crau where he painted some canvases.
During his stay in the Saintes-Marie de la Mer, which lasted along one week, he
often walked on the beach, in the dunes which reminded him his native Holland.
Several canvases were painted.
He painted boats
pulled on the beach, the "so pretty like shape and colours like flowers", gardian,
fisherman or salt-producer huts. Oddly, he sees these huts and he paints them
like peat bogs and moors of his native country.
Sight
of Saintes Maries
boats
pulled on the beach
gardian
huts
Return
to Arles
He spent several times to the Hotel Dieu (hospital), after his
automutilation. Upon this subject, several interpretations have been issued. The
newspaper "Le forum républicain", issued on the 30th of december 1888, printed
these lines: "last Sunday on 11:30 pm, the named Vincent Vaugogh (sic), painter
from Holland, appeared to the brothel n°1, asked for Rachel and gave her his
cutted ear, saying "keep preciously this object" then, he vanished.
Garden
of the Hôtel Dieu
Garden
of the Hôtel Dieu
Hôtel
Dieu
Joseph
ROULIN
Kept
informed about this event , which could come only from a poor mental patient,
the police came the day after to his address where they found him lied in his
bed, not giving almost any more sign of life. This poor devil was admitted in
urgence to the hospice.
During this difficult
period, only Joseph ROULIN, postman, showed him a sincere friendship.
Visit
of Fondation VINCENT VAN GOGH (Arles)
Here are displayed the works inspired by Van Gogh
or made in his honour by the greatest modern artists of the world, such as Francis
Bacon, Fernando Botero, Olivier Debré, César, to Jasper John, Antonio Saura
and so many others.
Then the wish of Van Gogh's wish
is fulfilled : create "la Maison des Artistes" (the House of the Artists)
in Arles. The permanent collection is completed every year by the last works made.
This first-class cultural site also allows the photographers, the sculptors, writers,
poets and fashion designers such Christian Lacroix to tribute to Vincent Van Gogh.
Opening
Time
From April 1st to October
15th: open every day from 10 am to 7 pm
From
October 16th to March 31st: every day except Monday from 9:30 am to 12 am and
from 2 pm to 5:30 pm
Price :
adult: 7 euro, children: 5 euro
THE
END OF THE VISIT IN ARLES
Saint
Rémy de Provence
(Optional
extension of the Van Gogh's tour, duration 2.30 h, price 60 euros)
Vincent
Van Gogh arrived on May 8th, 1889 at Saint Rémy of Provence, from Arles, to be
"interned" upon his wish at the Refuge Saint Paul de Mausole (asylum). Fascinated
by the quality of the light and the strong beauty of the landscapes which he discovers,
very inspired, happy and relieved to find again the peaceful and understanding
atmosphere mood close to the nuns and the nurses who accomodate him, he makes
more than 150 canvases and several drawings during one year.
The
most famous pictures are "Vase avec iris" (vase with iris), "La nuit étoilée"
(the starry night), "Champs de blé avec faucheur" (Fields of wheat
with cutter), "La chambre de Vincent à Arles" (vincent's chamber in
Arles), etc....
On
the road to Saint Rémy de Provence
The windmill of Alphonse
Daudet in Fontvieille
The
windmill of Daudet
The
windmill of Daudet
The abbey
of Montmajour with its point of view over the massif des Alpilles. (Price : 5,30
euro)
The
abbey of Montmajour
The
abbey of Montmajour
Saint
Rémy de Provence
In
May, 1889, the inhabitants of the Lamartine district organized a petition addressed
to the mayor of Arles city. This one denounces the delicate mental state and the
dissoluted life of VAN GOGH, and asks for his repatriation in his family or his
admittance in a medical center.
Consequenly, Vincent
must accept the invitation of doctor Peyron in Saint Rémy of Provence. This last
one manage the asylum of Saint Paul de Mausole, equivalent to a tourism hotel.
The doctor Peyron offers to Van Gogh, a single chamber, and put at his disposal
a small room at the ground floor that he moves in a workstudio.
At
the beginning, Van Gogh is easily satisfied in drawing and painting the surroundings
of the hospital.
Out
the fits of temper which strike down him, he gets the permission to walk out the
hospital, in compagny of a peaceful, polite and attentive guardian.With his company,
he will paint in particular "Les paveurs", "Olive trees", "The mas Saint Paul"...
When Van Gogh lives in the hospital, his works are exposed during the "Salon
des Artistes Indépendants" in Paris, at the show "XX" in Brussels.
An enthusiastic article of the art critic, Albert
Aurier is issued in the "Mercure de France ". We may read : "this solid and true
artist with an illuminated soul, so original and so out of our ugly present art...
He is a bright and fantastic colorist, grinding gold and gems, the very worthy
painter of those countries of those "resplendissances".
On
May 16th, 1890, Van Gogh leaves Saint Rémy of Provence for Auvers on the Oise.
Saint
Rémy de Provence
Saint
Rémy de Provence
Olive
trees
Olive
trees
The
2 holes
The
2 holes
The
mountain of St Rémy
The
mountain of St Rémy
The
mas St Paul
The
mas St Paul
The
career
The
career
Fields
of poppies
Fields
of poppies
Les
paveurs - Bd
Victor Hugo
Les
paveurs - Bd
Victor Hugo
The
visit of spots painted by Vincent Van Gogh
A conducted tour,
full of emotion, will show you the scene painted by Vincent VAN GOGH. The guide
will draw a parallel between the current landscapes and the pictures made a century
previously in the same spots.
Visits on Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday
Departure from the
office of tourism at 10 am
Price: 6,40 euro per person or 3,65 euro for
students and the teens from 12 to 18 years old.
L'hospice
Saint Paul de Mausole
True masterpiece of the Provencal art, Saint Paul's
convent, built near the gallo-Roman city of Glanum, due its name to the proximity
of "Julii's Mausole".
Saint
Paul de Mausole
Saint
Paul de Mausole
Wonderfully preserved,
it is adjacent to the health center Saint Paul where was welcomed Van Gogh after
the time of the ear cutted.
Van
Gogh's chamber
Van
Gogh's chamber
At this place you may discover
:
- A reconstitution
of Van Gogh's chamber,
- The promenade
of the monastery and in particular the lobby of the hospital which has been used
like scenery to the canvas of the artist,
The
lobby of the hospital
The
lobby of the hospital
-
From the top of the staircase, the landscape of the wheatfields that Vincent Van
Gogh gazed from his window and painted during his year of sequestration in the
mal wing,
- A room showing the
psychiatry in the XIXth century and bringing replies to the following questions:
What was the daily life of a mental patient
at the time of Van Gogh (the daybreak, the work, the meals)?
The
life, the work and the illnesses of Vincent Van Gogh (clinical observations, symptoms,
diagnostics)
How Van Gogh would be
cared today ?
The Van Gogh's work would it be so
extraordinary if he would have been cared with the modern therapeutic?
-
A permanent video show is proposed covering the places painted by Van Gogh in
the gardens of Saint Paul forbidden to the public because restricted to the hospitalized
patients, Saint Paul still today remaining a psychiatric health center.
Opening
Times
from 11/01 to 03/31:
open from 11 am to 5 pm every day.
from 04/01 to
10/31: open from 9:30 am to 7 pm every day
Price
: 3,20 €, free for the children until 12 years
Le
Centre d'Art - Présence VAN GOGH
Le Centre d'Art (Art
center) is located in the Hotel Estrine (XVIIIth century), old Hotel des Pistoye
who were representatives of the Princes of Monaco, Lords of Saint Rémy from 1643
to 1790. Set in the heart of old town, this building is one of most beautiful
private hotels of Saint Rémy de Provence.
The
Art center shows every year an homage to Van Gogh : a permanent video, documentation
upon his life and work in Provence, complete exhibition of painting.
During
1989, it got the Prix du Patrimoine vivant de la Fondation de France and the support
of French museums. Its library proposes to the visitors an important documentation
upon Van Gogh (books, catalogs, posters, luxury copies).
Opening
Times
From March 1st
to Dember 31, except November, open every day exept monday
Open
from 10:30 am to 12:30 am and from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm
Price
: 3,20 €
End of the visit, Return to Marseille
A playful link to test your knowledge
on Van Gogh:
