Vincent's Arles

"This is a travel adventure set in the legendary French city of Arles. Founded in Roman times, Arles is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in scenic Provence in the south of France. For the last hundred years it has been an important destination for the countless tourists who arrive in pursuit of the great Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, who famously spent an intense fourteen months in Arles, painting the most brilliant works of his career (all those sunflowers and quivering landscapes), squabbling with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, guzzling absinthe, and famously cutting off the lobe of his ear, which landed him in the local hospital in the throes of a mental breakdown. Linda Seidel has visited Arles many times, initially to study the splendid medieval church of Saint-Trophime, but eventually to follow in the long shadow of Vincent's passage, which he recorded in numerous paintings and drawings. Together, they make a pair of charming guides, sharing with us the wonders of Arles's Roman amphitheater, which seats 20,000 people and has been in continuous use for two thousand years; the Alyscamps, a Roman cemetery featuring paths still lined with ancient sarcophagi; the Church of St. Trophime with its astonishing Romanesque portal; the Arles Hospital, which has been converted into a museum about Vincent; the cafes and bars where he hung out; new buildings such as the tower by Frank Gehry; and of course the Provenðcal countryside with its dazzling wildflowers and quaint farms. Ultimately, this is Vincent's story, told as never before through an engagement with the mysterious, culturally rich town that transformed his life and, indeed, the entire course of modern art"--