Meet me in Auvers sur Oise: Vincent's Room
"6 Euros, please. If you hurry, the film is just starting!" The woman at the booth inside the
Ravoux Inn told me. I didn't know what to expect but I wanted to see
where Vincent had lived (it is also where he died. It is the only
surviving dwelling to be preserved in its original state.) I followed her instructions to go up the stairs and into the gift shop.
Once inside the gift shop, I waited for
two women to check out before approaching the clerk. A few minutes
passed before she could help me. She looked at her watch. "It's already
begun. Go ahead up." She opened the door. I stepped inside.
I was alone.
I walked up the stairs. Music was
playing. A lone chair sat in the room. Holes in the wall. Paint
scratches. Old nails. Creaky floor boards. I stood in the door frame and
stared.
Vincent's room.
The room was tiny and dark. There was one lone window, a small skylight above. The room was empty except for one chair (they talk about why on the website.)
I wondered where everyone was... I
walked into the next room. It was set up as a room of that time period
may have looked but it was brighter. The windows were bigger. The room was much brighter. Music
played from the room next door. "They're watching the film." I realized
(I had forgotten all about it.)
I decided to take the time and stand in
the door frame of Vincent's room. I think I stood there for at least
ten, maybe fifteen minutes before I remembered that my husband was
waiting for me sitting on a bench by the town hall.
I took one last look around the room and
ran my hands along the railing as I walked down the stairs. The same
stairs I had come up.
I walked into the gift shop. "YOU DIDN'T
WATCH THE FILM?!" The woman was incredulous and shocked to see me.
Upstairs, a door opened and a crowd of people (where had they all come
from? How did they fit?) flooded the gift shop.
I asked about seeing the restaurant downstairs.
"Impossible." (This was a word I
heard several times this trip and it made me shake my head almost every
time.) She then told me it was full and I would be unable to even peek
inside. (Later on, after it had closed, David and I went back and peeked
in the windows.)
I left the Inn as we had more to see.
I would find out later that the Inn hadn't left me... at least, my short experience there.
Above are some of my reference photos. I put those pieces together to create this page.
When I began this page, I knew that I wanted to create an homage to his room, a room where he lived, thought and dreamt of his paintings, where Vincent sat with his brother, Theo, and where Vincent eventually died.
The room. That little dark room stayed with me. I didn't want it to be as dark and dreary as they represent it. He didn't just die in that room, he LIVED in it!
I decided to combine the chair with one of my favorite paintings. The photos above represent that journey.
Supplies used:
100 lb Accent Opaque size 23 x 35" opened (this is the journal I made that I'm working in)
Acrylics: Holbein, Sennelier, Utrecht and Golden
Water based paint markers: Holbein (acrylic inks), Sharpie, Molotow, Posca
Stabilo All in One water soluble pencils in black, blue and brown
.35 Rapidosketch pen with black India ink
Palette knife
Brushes
Read various editions of the letters of Vincent Van Gogh
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