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ARLES
(ahrlz)
A
city of south-central France on the Rhone River delta.
Common
clues:
City on the Rhone; Van
Gogh painted here; Van Gogh's "The Bedroom at _____";
Where Van Gogh painted “Sunflowers”; Inspiring city
for Van Gogh
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
3 times a year
Frequency
in English language:
40408 / 86800
Video: Van
Gogh in Arles
For
my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the
stars makes me dream
– Vincent Van Gogh
Arles
is a city in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhone
departement, of which it is a sous-prefecture, in the former
province of Provence. Population (1999): 50,513.
The
Rhone river divides itself in two arms in Arles, forming the
Camargue delta. Because the Camargue is administratively part of
Arles, the latter is the largest commune in France in terms of
territory, although its population is only slightly more than
50,000. Its area is 759 km², which is seven times the area
of Paris.
Arles
is an ancient town, having been established by the Greeks as
early as the 6th century BC under the name of Theline. It was
captured by the Celtic Saluvii in 535 BC, who renamed it to
Arelate. The Romans took the town in 123 BC and expanded it into
an important city, with a canal link to the Mediterranean Sea
being constructed in 104 BC. However, it struggled to escape the
shadow of Massalia (Marseille) further along the coast.
Its
chance came in 40 BC, when it sided with Julius Caesar against
Pompey, providing military support. Massalia made the mistake of
backing Pompey; when Caesar emerged victorious, Massalia was
stripped of its possessions, which were transferred to Arelate as
a reward. The town was formally established as a colony for
veterans of the Roman legion Legio VI Ferrata, which had its base
there. Its full title as a colony was Colonia Iulia Paterna
Arelatensium Sextanorum, "the ancestral Julian colony of
Arles of the soldiers of the Sixth."
Arles
remained economically important for many years as a major port on
the Rhone. The arrival of the railway in the 19th century
eventually killed off much of the river trade, leading to the
town becoming something of a backwater.
Starry
Night Over the Rhone
This
made it an attractive destination for the painter Vincent van
Gogh, who arrived there on 21 February 1888. He was fascinated by
the Provencal landscapes, producing over 300 paintings and
drawings during his time in Arles. Many of his most famous
paintings were completed there, including the Night Cafe, the
Yellow Room, Starry Night Over the Rhone, and L'Arlesienne. Paul
Gauguin visited van Gogh in Arles. However, van Gogh's mental
health deteriorated and he became alarmingly eccentric,
culminating in the infamous ear-severing incident in December
1888. The concerned Arlesians circulated a petition the following
February demanding that van Gogh be confined. In May 1889 he took
the hint and left Arles for the asylum at nearby
Saint-Remy-de-Provence.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Arles".
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