Provence Odyssey | Arles: Les Photos

by delacybrown on July 14, 2013

While Arles proved to be something of a disappointment: The dreaded Mistral wind hampered the majority of our experience in the city, such that we were usually dodging the wide expanse of squares of the riverside in order to shelter in the narrower more maze-like streets, it was, predictably perhaps, a city ripe in photographic treasures. The city has, after all, inspired artists aplenty, from Van Gogh, to Picasso, who was drawn to the city because of its amphitheatre bull fights, reminding him of the culture of his beloved Spain from where he was in forced exile during and after the Spanish Civil War.

Now in turn, the city could not help but inspire me, as ever, to get snapping away with my camera. The photos which result are a panoply of shutters and shop signs, medieval stone masonry to ancient Roman ruins. They exhibit the kind of vivid colouration that so inspired Van Gogh, glinting with the fresh clear light which is a characteristic partner to the Mistral, and the force behind the rich artistic heritage which is as much a bedrock of the city’s history as the Roman architecture scattered all around.

In these photos, you can see other features of the city which I have perhaps left unmentioned until now. The grand Lion-littered fountain at the centre of the Place de la République; the excellent “Clouds” exhibition at the Musée Réattu together with a fantastically whispy cloud I saw in the cerulean blue sky one morning; a sunny side up glinting oily egg at breakfast, and the artistic graffiti which characterises some of the quieter streets on the outskirts.

This is Arles, in photos. Next up: Saint Remy.

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