Following the steps of Van Gogh in La Provence

I have always dreamed of visiting La Provence and take a tour following the steps of Vincent Van Gogh. One of my favorite painters.
One painter that had a big impact on me in my youth. I admired his sincere art and his dramatic and tragic life, struggling through adversity. A life devoted to his art and the search for a unique and personal artistic language. He was for me the purest representation of the meaning of an “Artist”.

Today, like so many things, we have transformed his art in a cliché. We can see it on cups, chocolates, cheap scarfs, fake prints, T´shirts, imitators here and there. Big illuminated attractions, “expositions” with the goal of passing the afternoon with the family well entertained… Pure merchandising. Like many other things, we are consuming him. Transforming his art in kitsch and obsolete product.

Visiting la Provence was for me a way to travel to the past, and get into the roots of his art.
They still are there and alive. Almost intact and so powerful as his art is. The same little towns and landscapes with the same amazing trees… The bright sunny light, the purity of the air that makes the colors so vibrant…

Visiting la Provence, one of the most beautiful regions in France, reveals the nature of his inspiration and it also explains the joy of impressionist’s art itself. If you want to follow the footsteps of the great painter, you have to visit especially Saint Rémy de Provence. The town in which Van Gogh spent a year living in an asylum, and where he had one of his most productive stages.

In this town, he produced his “Olives”, many scenes of fields and his “cypresses” among others. Saint Rémy has many small streets and nice little squares were to rest under the shade of large Platanus trees, next to fountains that refresh the atmosphere.

Walking through its streets takes you through history, to more tranquil and bucolic times. Saint Rémy, through its tourist office, also offers a route that can be done by walking. A promenade to follow the footprints of the painter and his landscapes and paintings in this village of the Provence.

Since we are here, the subsequent visit to Baux de Provence is a must. A road of curves through beautiful forests leads us to a peaceful plane, planted and full of olive trees and cereals. From down here we can see in the distance, on top of a promontory, the ruins of what formerly was a protective castle.

The city went through many ups and downs, wars, conquests and re-conquests. At the end of the 19th century, it only had 400 inhabitants and was in decline …

In 1821, a French geologist, Pierre Berthier, discovered a reddish rock in the area, rich in aluminum, which he named Bauxite. this is why the name of Baux.

After the second Great War, the town begins to take its new form and becomes a visited place, until becoming a tourist attraction. I recommend visiting on non-holiday days!!