MWW Gallery of the Day (5/13/26)
Van Gogh at Arles (Feb. 1888-April 1889)
The Museum Without Walls/Le Musée Imaginaire added photos to the album: Van Gogh at Arles (Feb. 1888-April 1889)
In late February 1888, Van Gogh left Paris, where his art had matured over the previous two years, for Arles in Southern France, possibly at the urging of his friend Toulouse-Lautrec. During the fourteen critical months he spent there he became the artist whose work generation after generation of art lovers would come to cherish.
In May of 1888 he rented four rooms (at 15 francs per month) in the "yellow house" on the Place Lamartine, in the hope of it being the first step towards realizing his dream of an artists' colony -- a "brotherhood" of creative individuals in which he would no longer be the perpetual "outsider." With this aim in mind, he began a campaign through his art-dealer brother Theo, to get Paul Gauguin -- an artist as charismatic as Vincent was socially awkward -- to join him in Arles and be the person who would draw other artists to the colony. Enticed by the offer of a monthly stipend of 150 francs from Theo, Gauguin agreed and arrived in Arles on October 23rd.
Though they often both professed admiration for each other in their letters to others, the flamboyant Gauguin and the tightly-wound Van Gogh were an odd couple at best, and a disaster waiting to happen at worst, when thrown together in close quarters. Van Gogh wrote to Theo that he was "in the presence of a virgin creature with savage instincts. With Gauguin blood and sex prevail over ambition." And Gauguin considered Vincent "completely mad" (perhaps a compliment since that was his judgment on himself as well.) As the winter wore on, their quarrels, usually over art, became more frequent and more vehement.
On the night of the 23rd of December, Vincent finally cracked. Gauguin's account, offered years later, was as follows: "Suddenly he threw the [absinthe] glass at my head. I avoided the blow and, taking him bodily in my arms, left the cafe...[Next morning, after having slept] he said to me very calmly "My dear Gauguin, I have a vague memory of having offended you last evening." [Gauguin tells him he has had enough and will write Theo and "announce his return" to Paris.] When evening arrived ... I felt the need to go out alone and take the air...I had already almost crossed the Place Victor Hugo, when I heard behind me a familiar short footstep, rapid and irregular. I turned just at the moment when Vincent rushed towards me, an open razor in his hand. My look at that moment must have been powerful indeed, for he stopped, and lowering his head, took off running in the direction of the house."
Whatever the merits of this account may be, what transpired next is well documented. Gauguin took a room in a hotel, Vincent went back to the "yellow house" on the Place Lamartine and, perhaps in a fit of guilt or shame, cut off the lobe of his left ear. According to the police report published the next day in the Arles "Forum Republicain," he then "presented himself at the maison de tolerance [brothel] no. 1, asked for one Rachel, and gave her...his ear [sic], saying, 'Guard this object carefully.' The gendarmes detained Van Gogh, and the authorities of Arles presented a petition in February, replete with unflattering testimony from some residents who knew him, requesting that Van Gogh be permanently mandated to an insane asylum in order to preserve the "public safety."
On May 8th Van Gogh voluntarily entered the Saint Paul-de-Mausole mental asylum at nearby Saint-Remy-de-Provence. His sojourn in Arles, begun with a dream and ending in a nightmare, was over -- but his artistic drama would still have two more acts before the curtain finally closed on him in a cornfield.
An excellent dramatization of this period (and of Van Gogh's entire life) is Vincente Minnelli's 1956 "Lust for Life," based on Irving Stone's book of the same title, and starring Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn.
Van Gogh was extremely productive while at Arles -- nearly 200 paintings and 336 drawings date to this period. ALL the extant paintings are presented here, arranged by catalogue number, which roughly reflects the order in which they were executed. Included in this gallery are nearly 50 drawings and watercolors from the period, as well as 34 "close-ups" of selected paintings. Many of the artworks are accompanied by extracts from Van Gogh's letters.
SEE ALSO these MWW Van Gogh exhibits, which together present ALL of his paintings and many of his drawings & watercolors.
* Van Gogh in Holland (Oct. 1881-Feb. 1886)
* Van Gogh in Paris (March 1886-Jan. 1888)
* Van Gogh at St.-Rémy (May 1889 - May 1890)
* Journey's End: Van Gogh at Auvers (20 May-29 July 1890)