This famous canvas was painted in Arles in 1888. Van Gogh was in town for only15 months, but the light and colours of Arles produced a burst of creativity.
The Dutchman knocked out 200 paintings, some among his best-known works: Sunflowers, Bedroom in Arles, and portraits of cafe owner Madame Ginoux, also immortalised by Paul Gauguin.
Place du Forum has barely changed since van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace at Night. The cafe still has yellow walls and awnings and the same evening glow you see in his painting.
Inspiration … the sunflowers of Arles.Credit: Getty Images
You could while away quite some time in the squares of Arles. You can inhabit a van Gogh painting, sitting at a terrace table looking onto an impression of lampposts and green shutters and waiters who move like blobs in the corner of your eye.
That’s exactly what you should do. You’d be dull of soul if you visited Arles just to tick off a list of Roman sights and museums. This is a town in which to enjoy sunlight at street corners, shadows under the arches of the amphitheatre and the smudges of flowers in hanging baskets.
You wouldn’t want to get your soul too agitated, though. That’s what happened to van Gogh, who spent his time in Arles half-poisoned by paint pigments and a faulty gas lamp, and ended up cutting off his ear.
Is it indelicate that the hospital-asylum he ended up in, and painted several times, is now L’Espace van Gogh, pretty with flowers? Probably, but you can indelicately enjoy buying van Gogh coasters and tea towels as a memento.
The Roman amphitheatre in Arles.
If you stay on in Arles after dark, you’ll get a starry night and splashes of yellow from street lamps that streak the old town’s cobbles. But really, a day visit will be enough.
That’s not to dismiss Arles: you can pass a very fine day here, moseying around and feeling arty. You can fill your time and thoroughly enjoy it, then be happy to move on. And every time you see a van Gogh painting afterwards, you’ll think of this place, hot in the sun and exploding with colour and passion.
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THE DETAILS
FLY
Etihad flies from Melbourne and Sydney via Abu Dhabi to Paris, with codeshare connections on Air France to Marseille, 90 kilometres from Arles. See etihad.com
CRUISE
Uniworld River Cruises has an eight-day Burgundy & Provence cruise between Arles and Lyon from $5299 a person, including accommodation, meals, gratuities and guided shore excursions. Cruises depart regularly between late March and early November. See uniworld.com
MORE
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The writer was a guest of Uniworld River Cruises.
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