St Remy, Vincent Van Gogh Walk

Provence, Day 3

The Vincent Van Gogh Walk

We woke up late, and strolled around to the Laundromat, and while our clothes were being washed we found a creperie and had brunch. Dick was rather abstemious and had the lemon and sugar, and I lashed out and had the Grand Marnier – it really packs a punch for brekkie!

When the washing was done, we came back to the hotel and rested, as I’ve said before, this housework gig is tiring!

Later in the day we decided to tackle the Vincent Van Gogh walk, which is a trail around the town of where Vincent painted many paintings while he was a patient for a year at the St Paul Hospice, a mental hospital. There are 21 sites that have been signposted with copies of his paintings, and many of the places that he painted can be recognised. We managed to find 19 of the sites; one is closed for renovation (No. 20) and one (No. 14) is just not there. I photographed each “easel” and when the painting was of an actual site, I photographed that too.

Dick found the whole experience rather moving, as Vincent has been of particular interest to him for a long time. I think he felt as I did when I visited all the Beatles landmarks in Liverpool four years ago. He learnt 3 new things about Vincent and the paintings he produced:

·         The constant movement of Vincent’s marks as they zig-zag and sweep from one to direction to another is his attempt to capture the mistrals which ravage this region. I.e., winds of between 30-60 mph which rip through Provence 100 days per year. There are many stories which mention the constant battle Vincent had in trying to paint in these winds.  

·         The backstory is more potent than the actual work produced. However, as the work and backstory are so closely entwined it is impossible to look and appreciate the work purely on an aesthetic basis,

·         The reason we have these paintings now is because they presented a NEW way of looking at the world, i.e., the paintings are attempts to express the intensity with which we should appreciate our existence (at least that is part of the myth and the backstory).

We came back to the hotel for a swim in the pool, and did not undress completely, as the other sunbathers did. We were a little overdressed in our bathers. We haven’t quite turned European yet.

We met with Michael and Karol for dinner, to share our day’s activities and to plan the next few days. Our dinner was great – a set menu for 29 euro each, plus drinks. The highlight was dessert. There was a display cabinet containing 24 of the most divine desserts – it was difficult deciding. It would be worth going and having a three course meal of dessert. It looked fabulous and tasted even better. But again Dick was quite conservative by selecting the lemon meringue tart. However, he and Michael did wash down their deserts with coffee and a calvados (apple cognac) digestif.