The Dear Vincent Project: Arles

October 01, 2019

The Dear Vincent Project: Arles

Dropping the car off in Toulouse and getting a smaller car (so small that both suitcases (at the same time) didn't fit in the trunk!) This time, I was prepared to test putting the car in reverse before we put the pedal to the metal...

BTW, I have to say again a very big shout out to Europcar! When overseas, I would rent from them again. Hertz, on the other hand (after multiple chances... nope!)

We had about a three hour drive from Toulouse Blagnac Airport to Arles. We hit some traffic along the way but it was neat to see so many poplar trees along the way (no photos, I was driving!)

Off to Arles! I wanted to see all things Vincent!

I didn't take any photos at our bnb. We stayed in a little room on the second floor of a grand-mere's home. It was perfect for the two of us and our first experience in an airbnb that we shared with someone else. We weren't there very long as we were on a mission.

Our first stop was the tourism office. It was an entirely different experience than Auvers sur Oise. I forked over 6 Euros for a map that ended up not being of much use.

I love these photos and how happy David looks...

After the tourism office, we went in search of toilets (this proved challenging as the pay toilets in Arles were some of the dirtiest we encountered our entire trip. Much later, when we arrived at La Guardia in New York City, David commented on how much cleaner the toilets in the NYC airport were which amused me greatly.)

Roman colosseum from 90 A.D. in Arles!

A certain someone even painted it!

https://www.vincentvangogh.org/the-arena-at-arles.jsp

The sky was an incredible blue, too.

We walked and walked for hours, long after the sun had set. We were in search of all things Vincent.

I should have known when I saw this...

This was only the beginning of the replicas. It felt like something from a movie set. Arles. Saint Remy. Between the two, everything felt fake, so different than Auvers sur Oise.

I'd be extremely lucky to see the painting in person just a few days later in the Netherlands... (more on that later...)

Past the tourist traps, there were true gems that set my heart aflutter. Things that were real and not replicated.

Starry Night over the Rhone, usually found at the Orsay in Paris. I had us take a detour to London for this painting (and others.)
Ten days later, we'd be standing where it had been painted.

We kept walking. I looked down. Like we did in Auvers, we followed the painter.

I turned around and instantly recognized where I was standing from photos I had seen in books.

Alas, the Yellow House was destroyed in World War II. The painting hangs at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. (We would see it just a few days later.)

We kept walking. We were hot and tired and wanting ice cream...

Shhhh...

Wait! There's more to see! We walked by the park (the gates were closed as it was late) and I gasped! I've seen this painting (at the Phillips Collection in D.C.):

Van Gogh Entrance to the Public Park in Arles 1888

It was after 10 p.m. when we finally found our ice cream and decided to call it a day. We had been up early (bidding adieu in Durfort) and were tired. Plus, we had Saint Remy to visit tomorrow and then our drive to Berlin. I'll share more of my thoughts on Arles and Saint Remy in the next post...