Provence and the region of southern France, famous for its breathtaking landscapes, lavender fields, bucolic atmosphere and its close relationship with Vincent Van Gogh . In fact it is in this land where the painter lived two years of his life, from 1888 to 1890: it was a very prolific period as he painted hundreds of pictures, able to transfer the beauty of that wonderful land, of which the artist he wanted to capture the scent, the vibrations of colors and his secret language.
We propose an itinerary in Provence following in the footsteps of one of the most brilliant artists in the history of art.
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In 1888 Van Gogh decided to leave Montmartre and head to the perfumed Provence, precisely to Arles: the mild climate and the colors of this land inspired him to the point of creating a vast quantity of paintings: this is the most prolific period of his life because he painted 300 works. Cypresses, fields, the Rhone river and olive groves stimulated his imagination and creativity.
Arles is a town of around 50,000 inhabitants, not far from Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. It is a Rome in the south of France, as Van Gogh himself described it: the remains of the Roman amphitheater have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1981.
Strolling through the streets of Arles you come across places that seem familiar to us, because we know them thanks to the painter’s paintings, such as the caffe La soir, to which Van Gogh dedicated the Terrazza del caffe in the evening in Place du Forum .
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Walking along the Rhone in the evening you feel in a magical and harmonious place: this special atmosphere inspired The Starry Night , with its lights and reflections.
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Near the station instead, in Place Lamartine, there was what was the home of Vincent Van Gogh. Initially the painter had settled in first place he had found, that is, in Rue de la Cavalerie 30, in a disreputable and squalid place. But later he moved to a two-storey house with yellow walls, which overlooked the garden of Place Lamartine. Today the artist’s residence no longer exists due to the bombings of the Second World War.
I really want to make an artist’s house out of it, but not precious, on the contrary nothing precious, but that everything, from the chair to the painting, has a character. Saint-Remy-de-Provence
Leaving Arles, continuing the tour to discover the places of Van Gogh, we head in the direction of Avignon. On the edge of the town of Saint-Remy-de-Provence there is a tree-lined avenue surrounded by an olive grove: this is the clinic of Saint Paul de Mausule, where the artist was hospitalized due to his mental disorders. You can enter and visit the garden, the cloister and the room where Van Gogh slept during his stay. Behind the building opens up a splendid field of lavender.
