Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• Walk to the river, passing a monument in honor of two WWII American pilots killed in
action during the liberation of Arles. The monument was erected in 2002 as a post-9/11
signofsolidarity withAmericans.Findtheeaselinthewallwhererampsleaddowntothe
river (this is also about where the Roman bridge would have crossed the Rhône).
Starry Night over the Rhône
Easel:
One night, Vincent set up shop along the
river and painted the stars boiling above the city skyline. Vincent looked to the night sky
for the divine and was the first to paint outside after dark, adapting his straw hat to hold
candles (which must have blown the minds of locals back then). As his paintings pro-
gressed,thestarsbecamelargerandmoreanimated(likeVincenthimself).Thelonecouple
in the painting pops up again and again in his work. Experts say that Vincent was desper-
ate for a close relationship with another being...someone to stroll the riverbank with under
a star-filled sky. (Note: This painting is not the
Starry Night
you're thinking of—that one
was painted later in St-Rémy-de-Provence.)
To his sister Wilhelmina, Van Gogh wrote, “At present I absolutely want to paint a
starry sky. It often seems to me that night is still more richly colored than the day; having
