Van Gogh : southbound

Van Gogh became Van Gogh during his stay in Provence in the course of a few seasons: everything has been written about this period! Everything has been shown, including the paintings and the sites from which the painter got his inspiration. But there was room for a book which would aim to take the reader into the heart of Van Gogh's landscapes as he would have been able to see them today in the light that only photography can create, and which would be able to convey in writing the internal drama of the artist in the midst of the creative process. He wanted to find Japan or Africa in Provence. He would eventually find Provence, a dazzling Provence. He hoped he could forget his loneliness, the psychological stresses and artistic doubts that had marked his stay in Paris during 1886-87. When he came to Arles, he was hoping to be joined by friends and to found an atelier in the Midi (the south of France, also noon in French). Instead, he was consumed, as if burnt by the earth at noon, at the peak of his life. The sun was a noon sun; Van Gogh's paintings were the paintings of a man in the noon of his life.