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There now follows a self-guided walk around the centre of Arles. History is everywhere and the quaint streets and surviving buildings, be they from the Roman period, the Middle Ages or more recent times, give the place an enduring appeal which has been an irresistable attraction to artists in the past and now makes Arles a popular destination for 21st century visitors. The authorities have long recognised the importance of Van Gogh and other artists as part of the city’s heritage and they have erected a number of information panels showing various works by the great man where they were actually painted. The Tourist Information Office has produced a leaflet detailing these and suggesting a walk around the town to encompass them but this is only available in French. The walk that follows deviates from this route slightly and also takes in other paintings not covered.
A better quality version of the whole route is available here
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Perhaps one of Van Gogh’s most iconic images is that of the Café Terrace, Place du Forum, Arles, 1888 (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands) and this is the subject of the first information panel (1). The exact location of the panel is at the corner of Rue Favorin and the Place du Forum. This night scene with its radical use of contrasting blues and yellows, illuminated by the glowing restaurant lights and the stars in a clear evening sky is instantly recogniseable even in broad daylight. La Café la Nuit is painted yellow with circular tables and the lantern on its wrought iron bracket is still in its place, although there has probably been a degree of creative reconstruction to achieve the effect. The roofline on the left has changed slightly and Vincent obvioulsly used artistic licence to include the church bell tower in the centre distance. The cobbles have gone and the artist has chosen to change the appearance of the buildings on the right, not including the fragment of Roman architecture from the ancient forum, indicating that his interest was not in recording the exact fabric of the scene but more in capturing the atmosphere of the moment. The square is still a lively and convivial place to spend a leisurely hour or two.
At the end of the road turn right and you will see the river embankment in front of you. Cross the road and climb the steps onto the riverside walkway and turn to the left and you will see the rather modern road bridge spanning the Rhône. Proceed towards this and walk below the bridge and a few steps further along you will come to another information panel (2) which shows L’Escalier du Pont de Trinquetaille, 1888 (Private collection). Although the iron bridge structure shown in the painting has been replaced by an equally inelegant version, the stone steps of the embankment and those ascending to the bridge are just the same. Interestingly there is now a large plane tree by the side of the steps and it is probably the same tree that appears as a spindly sapling in the picture. As ever parked vehicles detract from the view as does a street rubbish bin.
Now retrace your steps by climbing the stairs into the picture, cross the road and descend on the other side. You will notice that you are following a walking route marked by a yellow rectangle with a stylized image of Van Gogh carrying his easel and paints. It was from here that Vincent painted another view of the bridge, Le Pont de Trinquetaille en Arles in 1888 (Private collection). Walk along the embankment with the river on the left and after a little while you will see the remains of the Thermes de Constantine on the right. Carry on for a few more paces and then descend the steps to make a detour to the Musée Reattu in the Rue Grand Prieure to the left. Return to the embankment after your worth-while visit to this fascinating museum and gallery.
Set into the wall you will come to the next information panel (3) showing La Nuit Étoilée, 1888 (Musée d’Orsay, Paris). In this picture it is, of course, difficult to distinguish many recogniseable features and its essence is the evocation of the night sky animated by the pattern of stars and the river below shimmering with their reflections and those of a ribbon of street lights on the embankment. Just discernable in the foreground are a couple of river craft, maybe with a pile of sand catching the light and two figures walking by. Today this is the place where enormous river cruisers tie up and disgorge their cargo of tourists. 
Now turn away from the river and make your way to Place Lamartine, a busy roundabout and road junction. Amidst the traffic you will find the next information panel (4) showing La Maison Jeaune, 1888 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). The little yellow house once occupied by Van Gogh and Gauguin has gone, another casualty of the Second World War, but there is much in the scene that would be familiar to them. The substantial building behind the cottage is still there and is now La Civette Arlésienne, a local bar and brasserie, much as in Van Gogh’s time. The railway bridge on the right is the same but now festooned with overhead cables for the electric trains. The relentless traffic has changed the sleepy and languid air of Vincent’s composition aglow with vibrant blues and dusty yellows but on a summer’s day the sensation of heat that is so evident in the painting is just the same.
You will soon come to a flight of steps on the right which takes you up to a bridge across the railway lines and it’s from here that you can look back across the road and see the remains of a mill with an unfinished extension and this was the subject of Van Gogh’s La Maison de la Crau, 1888 (Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY) (5). There is no longer an information panel marking the spot and how things have changed. Although it is easy to recognise the building itself, the surroundings are completely different. There is no sign of the stream in the foreground and the rural setting with blue hills in the distance has been completely consumed by urban sprawl. It is now a rather untidy and neglected scene and this may explain why the authorities have removed the information panel. Ironically, the unkempt scene and slightly melancholy atmosphere might well have proved to be an interesting subject for Van Gogh if he were painting today.
Just by the steps up from Rond Pont des Arènes you will find the next panel (6) which shows Les Arènes d’Arles, 1888 (The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). This is a lively study of the crowds attending a bullfight inside the arena and to complete the image you should enter the monument, although the atmosphere is difficult to replicate without actually attending a performance. Perhaps it is better to half-close your eyes infront of the image and let your imagination do the rest. This gruesome entertainment, in the eyes of many, which has echoed down the centuries in this ancient place also proved to be an enduring inspiration to other artists including Picasso.
Continue around the arena and exit the Rond Pont at Rue Porte de Laure,
passing the Roman theatre on the right. At the end of the road turn left
with the city walls on your left and take Montee Vauban down to the
major junction. Now cross the road towards the Hôtel de Police, cross
again into Avenue des Alyscamps and then proceed downhill. After
crossing the canal, a rather scruffy waterway with very little water at
this point, turn left and follow the footpath. Cross over the disused
railway line and directly ahead is the entrance to Les Alyscamps. There
is a small entrance fee to gain access to this monument. This tree-lined avenue is flanked on both sides by tombs and sarcophagi
dating from Roman and early Christian times and it supplied both Van
Gogh and Gauguin with subjects they painted several times. In at least
two versions in a portrait format Vincent looked down the avenue towards
the church of Saint-Honorat. The trees have changed over time and it is
not possible to frame the view in quite the same way. In Les Alyscamps,
1888 (Collection Basil P. and Elise Goulandris, Laussane, Switzerland)
there are factories seen through the trees on the left and these are no
longer there. 
Van Gogh also portrayed the scene in two landscape format paintings and one of these is described on a panel (7) positioned on the left side of the avenue. This is Falling Autumn Leaves, 1888 (Krölle-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands) and it is a little easier to orientate yourself to replicate this view. Vincent was looking back towards the entrance and was probably on top of the bank looking down on the avenue. Although this is now out of bounds the essential elements of the painting are easy to see. 
At the end of the avenue is the church of Saint-Honorat which featured in Gauguin’s Allée des Alyscamps,
1888 (Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Museum of Art, Tokyo) but his
more well-known image is based on a view outside the monument. This is Les Alyscamps, 1888 (Musée d’Orsay, Paris) and he would have set up his easel on the right bank of the Canal de Craponnie. There is still a footpath on top of the left bank but the other side is now completely overgrown and the church tower is hidden behind the trees. There is now no chance of seeing three nuns taking a leisurely stroll by the water’s edge.
You will soon come to the entrance to the Jardin d’Été and the next information panel (8) is just inside the gate on the left. This shows L’Entrée du Jardin Public, 1888 (The Phillips Collection, Washington) and the content of the picture dictates that the exact detail of the image is difficult to identify. Plants and trees grow and die and are replaced over time but the ambience of a verdant oasis of cool shade and a retreat from the summer heat remains the same. The citizens of Arles are still to be found taking their ease on the park benches just as Vincent portrays.
Take a leisurely stroll through the gardens and then return to Boulevard des Lices and turn right. Remain on this side of the road unless you need to visit the Tourist Information Office which is on the other side. After a short walk turn right into Rue de Président Wilson and then left into Rue Moliere and you will soon see the Espace Van Gogh which occupies the old Hôtel Dieu. Enter from the Place du Docteur Félix Rey and you will find yourself in the garden immortalised by Van Gogh in Le Jardin de la Maison de Santé à Arles, 1889 (Oskar Reinhart Collection ‘Am Römerholz’, Winterthur, Switzerland). This is the subject of a further information panel (9).
It was to this institution that Van Gogh was admitted into the care of Doctor Rey after the incident with Gauguin in which Vincent mutilated his left ear. The fabric of the buildings is instantly recogniseable and the garden has a similar layout. Van Gogh’s neighbours and other citizens of the town had signed a petition insisting that he be confined here and this finally destroyed his dream of ‘a studio of the south’ and poisoned his relationship with the town. An idea of the living conditions can be gained from his The Ward in the Hospital at Arles, 1889 (Oskar Reinhart Collection ‘Am Römerholz’, Winterthur, Switzerland). When he was finally released from hospital Vincent could not contemplate the idea of staying in Arles and decided to admit himself voluntarily to the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole at nearby Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. This is a fitting place to end our tour around the town because Vincent painted no more pictures in Arles. Today the space has none of these forbidding overtones and you are now surrounded by gift shops, galleries and cafés.
Before closing this section it is worth mentioning one final painting which has its own information panel and this is Le Pont de Langlois aux Lavandières, 1888 (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands). This must be one of the best known paintings by Van Gogh from his time in Arles and indeed he painted the subject several times. The panel is, however, about 2.5 km from the centre of town and although this walk would not have troubled Vincent, it can seem a very long way on a hot day. In fact its location is completely different to where it was in Van Gogh’s time and the bridge shown in his paintings was replaced by a concrete structure in 1930 and this was destroyed by the retreating Germans in 1944. Subsequently a drawbridge, originally from Fos-sur-Mer, was reconstructed several kilometers from the original site and renamed Pont Van-Gogh.
