Vincent Van Gogh

This morning it was raining as we awoke, and we were moored in the town of Arles.  Again we elected not to go walking, and most who did  came back very wet, despite being provided with umbrellas.

 We are moored next to the remains of a bridge that was bombed.

By the time we were ready to go on our excursion, the rain had stopped and the sun was out.

Today we follow in the footsteps of Vincent Van Gogh.   He lived in Arles for around fifteen months, twelve of these were spent in the mental hospital in St Remy. After he sliced off his ear, his neighbors in Arles got up a petition to force him to leave, hence his time at St Remy.   He was prolifically painting whilst he was in Arles and St Remy, more than 100 paintings done in St Remy.  During his time in Arles, he visited a small fishing village for a week, and also created some works. 

Our first stop was an old drawbridge.  This was not the one he painted but a similar one, and the only one remaining in the area.

The delta of the Rhone River is fertile, and we saw similar fields of vines, olives, sunflowers that we had been seeing in the area, but additional here, are rice paddies. The water to grow the rice is pumped from the river.

There are also wind turbines.  France's electricity is mainly supplied by nuclear power, but they are beginning to diversify a little now.   This area has what is called the Mistral Wind, the master wind, which can blow for 120 days every year at speeds of up to 180 KPH. 

The mental hospital at St.  Remy is still in use, but only one wing, and just for ladies.   There is a strong art therapy program in operation amongst the patients.   It was originally a monastery, and still has a lovely cloister, which you can imagine would have been a peaceful place to be. 

This is a recreation of Van Gogh's bedroom, and below the view from his window.    In a letter  to his brother Theo, he spoke of looking through the bars to the garden below.   He really was a tortured souls, and took his own life just two months after being released from the hospital.   In fact, his whole family had a history of both epilepsy and mental instability.  His brother Theo went mad two months after Vincetn died,threatening to killer his wife and child, and died just two months later also committing suicide.  Our guide told us he was suffering with syphilis,  but  that was not noted on the information of the walls of the museum.  Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime.   After his death, and the death of Theo, Theo's widow promoted his art, and the rest is history, as they say.  

A few years ago, when visiting an art gallery out the back of Korrumburra in the Strezlecki Ranges, the artist, whose name was John Koenders told  us he had recently learned that he was a distance relative of Vincent Van Gogh.  This man, his wife, and his daughter were very talented painters,   I will include his website if you would like to look.

http://www.mayfieldgallery.com.au/vangogh.php

Back in the small, but popular town of St Remy, we enjoyed a drink in a cafe, to enable us to use the toilettes.  The only public one we could find appeared to be men's, but who knows really?  The men and women share.......don't turn around to quickly men, and avert your eyes ladies :).    Every tree and corner you pass reeks of urine, it quite awful really.  We were amused by a dog looking for food in a rubbish bin.

Dinner with some colorful characters, we have met some lovely folk on the cruise, and back to our stateroom to pack in readiness for disembarkation tomorrow.