ARLES, FRANCE A city flexing its artistic muscles in honour of its most famous resident
Vincent Van Gogh’s dream is finally coming true. It was his vision for Arles to become a kind of utopian refuge for a collective of artists – and now, with a major new arts venue being created, including a centrepiece by Frank Gehry, this Provençal city in the Camargue is set to become an important art destination for Europe.
He was hugely prolific during his year in the city’s ‘Yellow House’, where he lived, painted and cut off his ear after a row with his housemate, Paul Gauguin. Philanthropist Luc Hoffmann launched the Foundation Vincent Van Gogh here in 2014; and now Luc’s billionaire daughter Maja Hoffmann is transforming a disused railway site into a vast arts campus called the Parc des Ateliers with the Luma Arles foundation and Gehry’s gleaming tower at its centre, and studios and exhibition spaces in the old engine sheds. An exciting programme is already underway with shows and site-specific installations in its finished spaces. Catch ‘Gilbert & George: The Great Exhibition’ there until 6 January 2019; then May 2019 will host a major arts and ideas forum.
And there’s more. The international photography festival Les Rencontres de la Photographie expands year on year; while the Roman amphitheatre (Arles was a provincial capital of Rome) will host progressive cultural events; and the beautiful new art hotel Le Collatéral, a Design Hotel set in a medieval church, showcases international contemporary art in its public spaces and bedrooms, including one inspired by van Gogh’s blue and yellow ‘Bedroom in Arles’.
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