Blog Post Number 3- Arles

Van Gogh moved to Arles hoping for refuge who was sick from alcohol and suffering from smoker's cough.He arrived on 21 February 1888, and rented a room at the Hôtel-Restaurant Carrel. He didnt really like Arles, he taught it was filthy and extreme.  In one of his letters he said: "The Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlesiennes going to their First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinocerous, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world". Although he didn't like the cleanliness of the town, he did like the local landscapes and light.Mostly all of his paintings during his time in Arles have a strong yellow color in them.
 Three of these paintings were shown at the annual art exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. In April, he was visited by the American artist Dodge MacKnight..On 1 May, he signed a contract for 15 francs a month in the east part of the Yellow House at No. 2 Place Lamartine. 
On 23 December 1888 became frustrated and ill, he confronted Gauguin with a razor blade. In panic, Van Gogh left his house and went to a local field. There he cut off his left ear. He wrapped the severed ear in newspaper and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel, asking her to "keep this object carefully." Gauguin left Arles and never saw Van Gogh again. A few days later, Van Gogh was hospitalized and left in a critical state for loads of days. In January 1889, he returned to the Yellow House, but spent the following month between hospital and home suffering from hallucinations and delusions that he was being poisoned. In March, the police closed his house after a petition by 30 people, who called him "fou roux" (the redheaded madman). Two months later he left Arles and went to an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. 
He done many paintings during his time in Arles, here are a few of his most striking ones:

This is the hospital where Van Gogh was taken after he cut off a portion of his ear. He also painted the interior courtyard of this hospital >

                                       

    This is a Cafe terrace on the Place De Forum, which is still operational today and now named the Cafe de Van Gogh.