Vincent hoped to start an artists’ colony at Arles, in the southern French town in Provence. He got a room at 10 Place Lamartine and lived there for several months while readying a studio in a place he called the Yellow House, which was also known as “The Studio of the South”. He merged his Nuenen love of painting outdoors and new use of color from his Parisian lessons learned and many beautiful paintings resulted.
The first person Vincent invited to join him in his artists’ colony was artist Paul Gauguin, whom he met in Paris in 1886. In exchange for some paintings by Gauguin, who was showing some moderate signs of commercial success, Theo paid for Gauguin’s travel to Arles, in hopes that Gauguin might have a stabilizing influence on Vincent, and he joined Vincent in October 1888. With high hopes for Gauguin’s visit, Vincent used sunflowers to decorate the Yellow House in honor of Gauguin’s arrival.
Initially, the two artists were happy to be sharing space and artistic perspectives and techniques, but tensions arose due to their enforced confinement in close proximity, due to bad weather. They argued publicly on more than one occasion, and one night in the night café, Vincent threw a glass at Paul as the two quarreled. Gauguin considered Vincent to be his inferior, and their dissension came to a head on December 23, after an argument during which Gauguin was mocking Vincent, provoking an eruption of Vincent’s precarious illness. Vincent appeared with a razor with intent to harm Gauguin, who was taking a walk in a nearby garden. Gauguin decided for safety’s sake not to spend another night in the Yellow House and took a room at a nearby inn. Back at the Yellow House, left alone in a frenzied state, Vincent severed his left earlobe with the razor and took it to a brothel where he left it to be given to a resident named Rachel, with instructions for her to “take good care of this”, then staggered home to bed, where police found him passed out the next morning.
Gauguin alerted Theo in Paris by telegram, and Theo rushed to Arles the next day, as Gauguin hied back to Paris without seeing Vincent again. Although after this incident, Vincent and Gauguin actually corresponded from time to time, they were never to meet in person again.
By January 1889, Vincent was back at “The Yellow House”, but far from well. He was suffering from hallucinations and delusions and wild mood swings. By February, the locals of Arles were alarmed and ostracizing him and drawing up a petition to have him run out of town. The children of the neighborhood chanted at him, “Give us your other ear, madman!” and some of the locals called him “fou-rou”, or crazy redhead. He wasn’t run out of town, but he was hospitalized, with occasional outings for paintings.
Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers - August 1888
The first person Vincent invited to join him in his artists’ colony was artist Paul Gauguin, whom he met in Paris in 1886. In exchange for some paintings by Gauguin, who was showing some moderate signs of commercial success, Theo paid for Gauguin’s travel to Arles, in hopes that Gauguin might have a stabilizing influence on Vincent, and he joined Vincent in October 1888. With high hopes for Gauguin’s visit, Vincent used sunflowers to decorate the Yellow House in honor of Gauguin’s arrival.
Initially, the two artists were happy to be sharing space and artistic perspectives and techniques, but tensions arose due to their enforced confinement in close proximity, due to bad weather. They argued publicly on more than one occasion, and one night in the night café, Vincent threw a glass at Paul as the two quarreled. Gauguin considered Vincent to be his inferior, and their dissension came to a head on December 23, after an argument during which Gauguin was mocking Vincent, provoking an eruption of Vincent’s precarious illness. Vincent appeared with a razor with intent to harm Gauguin, who was taking a walk in a nearby garden. Gauguin decided for safety’s sake not to spend another night in the Yellow House and took a room at a nearby inn. Back at the Yellow House, left alone in a frenzied state, Vincent severed his left earlobe with the razor and took it to a brothel where he left it to be given to a resident named Rachel, with instructions for her to “take good care of this”, then staggered home to bed, where police found him passed out the next morning.
Gauguin alerted Theo in Paris by telegram, and Theo rushed to Arles the next day, as Gauguin hied back to Paris without seeing Vincent again. Although after this incident, Vincent and Gauguin actually corresponded from time to time, they were never to meet in person again.
By January 1889, Vincent was back at “The Yellow House”, but far from well. He was suffering from hallucinations and delusions and wild mood swings. By February, the locals of Arles were alarmed and ostracizing him and drawing up a petition to have him run out of town. The children of the neighborhood chanted at him, “Give us your other ear, madman!” and some of the locals called him “fou-rou”, or crazy redhead. He wasn’t run out of town, but he was hospitalized, with occasional outings for paintings.
Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers - August 1888
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