Arles, Van Gogh and Sir Don McCullin
1st July 2019
One of our main destinations whilst in Provence was to visit the old town of Arles with its superb Roman amphitheatre and to uncover the traces left by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh.
Although the ‘Yellow House’ that Van Gogh described in paint so vividly no longer exists, the hospital in the centre of Arles where he stayed during his recurring illnesses, can be visited and the garden has been preserved according to several of his paintings. It was prior to and during the visit of the French painter Paul Gauguin to his humble home between 1888 and 1889, that Van Gogh had produced some of his most famous works such as The Sunflowers, The Starry Night and The Café du Forum.
LEFT: Roman amphitheatre RIGHT: Arles Hospital garden by Van Gogh
It was also during this time that the two painters worked together, inspiring each other until one night, after a serious argument, Van Gogh sliced off his left ear in a moment of madness.
He painted many landscapes, still-life and portraits of characters he knew in Arles and many of his self-portraits are dated to this brief period of his tragic life that ended on 29th July 1890, from a gunshot wound, thought to be self-inflicted.
On a beautiful hot day, Jan and wandered the lively streets of Arles and made our way along the Rue du Forum and instantly recognising what is now called Café du Van Gogh. Van Gogh made this café famous in his fabulous painting often now called Café Terrace at Night.
LEFT: Café Terrace at Night RIGHT: Café du Van Gogh, today
Whilst having lunch in the small square near the Café du Van Gogh, Jan immediately recognised one of the world’s greatest photojournalists, Sir Don McCullin.
It would take several volumes to describe the life and work of this living legend and Jan was thrilled that he was happy to take the time to chat to us. It was the measure of his humility and engaging personality that he took an interest us and why we were visiting Arles, whilst we could have asked a million questions about him and his extraordinary life and experiences recording war, famine and many other dramatic events around the globe.
Born in Finsbury Park, north London in October 1935, Don McCullin is still very active as a photographer now in his eighties. I cannot recommend highly enough, to visit his website and read his biography and learn of his huge contribution to photography and journalism, specialising in his early years on the ‘underside’ of society, the impoverished, downtrodden and unemployed in London.