We’re in Arles, and it’s time for lunch. We found a little bistro that looked good, settled in, and had something to eat. We could see the Rhône river from where we sat. It was a beautiful, South-of-France kind of day. We visited a museum here that shows what life was like in Arles back in the day. In some ways, it seems like things here haven’t changed much.
Mangeons sur Terrace!
There’s a laid-back feeling here in Arles. We sat at a table outside, (“sur terrace,” as they say), and washed down a leisurely lunch with rosé. The rosé here isn’t like most of the California rosés we’ve tried. It’s light, light, light pink and dry as a bone. It’s served ice-cold. It really hits the spot on a warm afternoon.
Speaking of “sur terrace,” eating and drinking at outdoor tables has been the thing to do in Europe for years. Back home, thanks to Covid, we just recently figured out how nice it is. Eating indoors at restaurants was outlawed, so restauranteurs moved their tables outside.
Cities made changes to accommodate outdoor seating. Now cities want to undo the changes. But now, no one wants to eat inside.
Did Europeans start eating outside because indoor spaces in old city centers here are cramped, or because they figured out how nice it was to eat and drink outside? Don’t know the answer to that one.
Museon Arlaten
A museum here called “Museon Arlaten” is dedicated to preserving the memory of how life used to be in Arles. The people responsible did a great job. We left the museum with a whole new perspective on what the Arlesienne way of life was all about.
Thanks to lots of neat Roman ruins and Vincent Van Gogh, Arles is a tourist destination. But back in the day, Arles was a quiet little farming town. Arlesian ladies had a distinctive way of dressing. They’d stroll around outfitted with dainty umbrellas to shade them from the hot sun. (It’s HOT here in summer).
Lacemaking was one of their main pastimes. Apparently it still is. We saw a lot of intricate lacy things for sale at the open market this morning.
The Museon Arlaten shows life the way it was when Vincent van Gogh spent time here. He moved here from Paris in 1888. He stayed 15 months, painting constantly. Vincent made more than 200 paintings in and around Arles.
Van Gogh in Arles
Vincent’s paintings were always “different.” He had his own unique way of seeing the world, and then putting it into a painting. Other painters’ opinions of Vincent’s work were mixed, but a few of them thought he really had something special going for him.
When you walk around Arles, there are markers to show that “Vincent van Gogh painted such-and-such painting while standing on this spot.” They’re all over town, and outside of town, too. The bridge in the painting shown at the top of this post is still here today.
We found one of these markers as we walked along a path next to the Rhône river. It marked the spot where he painted “Starry Night Over the Rhône.” It’s neat to stand right where Vincent stood when he made that painting.
Paris had been a little too much for Vincent. Living in Arles was good for him, but eventually he started getting fidgety. His friend, Paul Gaugin, came from Paris for an extended visit. Vincent was happy to have the company.
Trouble
Things were fine for a few weeks, but Vincent’s behavior started to get erratic. One night, from out of nowhere he came at Gaugin with a straight razor. Gaugin let out a yell and ran off. Later that same night, Vincent cut off part of his own ear.
After spending the next few months in a hospital, he was released to go home. He carried on normally for months, painting everything in sight. But one day he had another attack and sort of went nuts for a while, hallucinating and acting out.
No one knows for certain what was wrong with Vincent. Most think he was bipolar, but he may also have been epileptic. He left Arles and moved to Auvers-sur-Oise to be close to his brother, Theo. You can read what happened next here: Auvers-sur-Oise and Vincent van Gogh.
To be continued…
