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