Lesson 2 Art and the City
Arles, the City of Light and Art
Certain artists are so ____ linked with particular places that it is hard to separate them.
Arles and Van ____ are like that.
Arles is located five hours southeast of Paris and is well known for its magical light and colorful ____
The most famous resident of this town was Vincent ____ Gogh.
Leaving ____ the gray skies of Paris, he arrived in Arles in 1888.
The ____ inspired an explosion of creativity.
Vincent claimed, “The whole future of art is to be found in the south of ____
He worked enthusiastically and produced nearly 200 paintings in just fifteen ____
None of Vincent’s ____ are left in Arles now, but today you can see a number of them have been recreated in street-side panels.
Let’s follow Vincent’s traces that remain in ____
The Roman Arena
Arles is an ____ city dating back to Roman times.
Many Roman buildings remain, including an arena that was ____ in 90 A.D.
The arena used to ____ over 20,000 people who would go to watch various entertaining events.
Vincent sometimes went to the bullfights that were held in the arena ____ Sunday.
____ particularly liked to watch the colorful crowds.
____ told a friend that he found the crowds fascinating.
____ inspired the painting Arena at Arles.
The arena is in the top right corner of the painting ____ is barely visible.
Below, there is a ____ image of two bulls.
However, Vincent paid lots ____ attention to the people and their colorful clothes.
Some of the people are chatting with friends, others are cheering on the bulls, and the entire painting ____ a powerful energy.
Café van Gogh
Vincent painted the world-famous Café ____ at Night in September 1888.
He created this work ____ sitting outside the Café van Gogh at night.
This was unusual ____ most painters did their night scenes from memory and worked during the daytime.
As such, they used a lot of ____ paint.
Vincent, however, believed that night scenes ____ diverse and vibrant colors.
Indeed, the Café Terrace at Night has such a ____ harmony of yellows, blues, and oranges that Vincent did not have to use a single drop of black paint.
Even ____ there is still a café at the site of Vincent’s painting.
____ was renovated in the 1990s and painted yellow to look like the café in the painting.
However, it is uncertain whether the color of the original café was yellow ____ not.
The reason is that Vincent painted ____ wall of the café yellow to show the lamp light.
Former Arles Hospital
In December 1888, Vincent suffered from a ____ illness and was sent to the hospital in Arles.
He ____ there for five months.
During this time, his ____ stability improved, and the doctors allowed him to paint outdoors.
Vincent ____ advantage of this freedom and produced several beautiful landscapes, such as The Garden of the Hospital in Arles.
The picture illustrates a spring garden filled with flowers and trees ____ different colors and tones.
The flowers are in full bloom, and ____ small trees are leafy.
The big trees, however, ____ few leaves.
This is rather odd given ____ the season is spring.
Perhaps this contrast reflects the painter’s complex feelings during the most ____ time of his life.
The hospital closed in the 1980s, and the building reopened as a library and exhibition space, with ____ café and gift shops.
The garden was renovated to ____ Vincent’s painting as much as possible.
Arles and its provincial countryside inspired Vincent to create brighter, ____ exciting landscapes.
He had searched for brighter colors and softer ____ in Paris.
In Arles, he found them. ____ more than 200 years later, this beautiful city remains just as attractive.
The combination ____ Roman historic sites and Vincent’s story creates a unique mood that will inspire you just as the city had inspired Vincent.