The winds in Arles can blow up to 80 kilometres an hour (or 50 mph). These ferocious winds are known as le mistral. Some people say it drove Vincent van Gogh to cut off his own ear.
Le Mistral and Van Gogh’s Art
It’s beginning to get cold, especially on the days when the mistral blows.I’ve had gas put in the studio, so that we’ll have good light in winter.Perhaps you’ll be disillusioned with Arles if you come at a time when the mistral’s blowing, but wait… It’s in the long term that the poetry down here soaks in.You won’t find the house as comfortable yet as we’ll gradually try to make it. There are so many expenses, and it can’t be done in one go. Anyway, I believe that once here, like me, you’ll be seized with a fury to paint the autumn effects, in between spells of the mistral. And that you’ll understand that I’ve insisted that you come now that there are some very beautiful days. Au revoir, then.Ever yours,Vincent
It’s a haunting episode that I think about often.
Was Van Gogh Right?
However, scientists, have found something interesting in van Gogh’s swirling paintings. They capture the brutal wind, yes. But also the paintings he did in his disturbed mind mimicked the pattern of wind turbulence. Stunning, right?
Do artists see the world differently? Did van Gogh? Something to mull about.
A Villanelle
For something different – I wrote a villanelle.
Arles
I see the wind, Brother
Howling coils of cerulean
I fear it will draw me under
Ochre wheatfields it buffers
To the merciless Mediterranean
Did you send the wind, Brother?
Twisting swirling colors –
Vermilion, ergotism, viridian
Le Mistral may draw me under
My maligned ears it smothers
I hear my sin, words not spoken
I curse the wind, dear Brother
Freckled hands, impasto summer
My mind now slips, all protean
I’ve resigned – draw me under
Now I suffer, I shudder
Crows, shadows, medicine
Do you see the wind, Brother?
Will it draw me under?
