Following Vincent through Arles

Arles has all these great self guided ‘walks’ you can do that are theme based – Antique, Medieval, Renaissance and classical, World Heritage, and Vincent Van Gogh!

This was a must for me. I love Van Gogh’s expressiveness, his use of colour, his imagination, and the way he took his own direction and followed it, while continuing to develop and explore. His short life, so difficult for him, and tragic, has brought so much beauty and pleasure into the world.

“…Real painters do not paint things as they are…They paint them as they themselves feel them to be”– from a letter to his brother Theo

The tour actually gave addresses and had a picture of the painting at the place. (Some were missing, and had no markers at all, and the addresses were misleading, but we got there).

Like in Nice, it was great to be able to be in the places and see the things that Van Gogh saw and sketched and painted, only here it was more specific in terms of sites.

It helped me understand better how he interpreted colours and perspectives and shapes,and more about his process. I’ve started doing more of this with other artists as well in other places which I’ll share too.

I also need to write and think less and try and convey all this in a shorter form so here’s the list of what we’re seeing in date order. For each site the photos will come first, and you can compare them with screen versions of the paintings.

• Langlois Bridge with Washerwomen, March 1888
• Café Terrace at Night, September 1888
• Starry night over the Rhone, September 1888
• The yellow house, September 1888
• The Old Mill, September 1888
• The Arena, October 1888
• Les Alycamps, October, 1888
• Public Park at Arles, October 1888
• The Trinquetaille Bridge, October 1888
• Courtyard of the hospital at Arles, April 1889
• Field with Poppies Auvers-Sur-Oise, circa 1890 – not Arles but poppies close by in Provence

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