{"id":2393,"date":"2025-07-14T14:36:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T14:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/?p=2393"},"modified":"2025-07-16T08:36:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T08:36:06","slug":"van-goghs-asian-connection-still-radiates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2025arles\/van-goghs-asian-connection-still-radiates\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Gogh\u2019s Asian connection still radiates"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Text and photos by Annika Trost<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A blue and green rimmed window on the wall is paneled and tall, the petite wicker chair sits angled toward the bed and a dainty wooden dresser displays an array of treasures and trinkets. The bed with its cardinal red duvet and a pair of white pillows fluffed to perfection, sits in the middle of the room just below a single-hung painting exhibiting a colorful landscape that is barely recognizable.<\/p>\n

This is a replica of Vincent van Gogh\u2019s bedroom in lifesize form. Don\u2019t be fooled as this recreation of \u201cThe Bedroom\u201d is not the actual one Van Gogh stayed in\u2014 his home, the yellow house, was destroyed during an Allied bombing raid on Arles in 1944.<\/p>\n

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A replica of Van Gogh’s painting, “The Bedroom,” is nestled in the Aubergine Rouge Airbnb.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In the year 1888, the world-famous Dutch artist resided in this small French town nestled in Provence, France. But why Arles?<\/p>\n

Van Gogh was drawn to Asian culture and came to what he was told is the \u201cJapan of France.\u201d Today, visitors can walk in his footsteps, uncover his history and surround themselves with his art. Although they are few in number, Asian tourists bring a unique passion to tracing his journey in Arles, including a fascination with immersing themselves in the replica of his bedroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cJapanese, Chinese, all the people who love Van Gogh,\u201d come to stay in the room, said Eric Gogin, the owner of the Airbnb. \u201cSome people from [the] states, from Mexico, some people come every year. Most of these people are artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gogin opened the Airbnb designed to replicate Van Gogh\u2019s bedroom in 2017 within a five-suite inn called L\u2019aubergine Rouge. The inn is nestled in the winding streets of the antique neighborhood, La Roquette and can be reserved by any visitor for a minimum of four nights.<\/p>\n

He designed the room with the help of a French artist who painted the ceiling to replicate Van Gogh\u2019s night sky paintings and encapsulate the sleeper in an immersive experience.<\/p>\n

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Some say the swirls in the skies Van Gogh painted represent the chaos in his mind.<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy wish was a mixture between the two Starry Night paintings,\u201d said Gogin, referencing a pair of nighttime scenes Van Gogh painted in 1888 (“Starry Night over the River Rh\u00f4ne”) and 1889 (“Starry Night”).<\/p>\n

Visiting tourists and Van Gogh enthusiasts come from all corners of the world to experience the room firsthand and envelop themselves in the wonder of his work while exploring the sites he painted. If you visit the inn, you will find a multitude of letters, small paintings and articles of love from people all over the world, including many in Japanese and other foreign languages.<\/p>\n

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Love letters are left behind in the room in a variety of languages, most commonly Japanese.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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People who love Van Gogh leave their art behind in the replica bedroom for future visitors.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u201cThey  believe in Van Gogh as somebody might believe in Jesus,\u201d said Gogin.<\/p>\n

Van Gogh spent 15 months in Arles, where he completed 300 of his 2,000 paintings and drawings. These include some of his most famous creations: “Starry Night over the River Rh\u00f4ne,” \u201cThe Bedroom,\u201d \u201cAlyscamps,\u201d \u201cCaf\u00e9 Terrace at Night\u201d and many more. (He painted “The Starry Night,\u201d in nearby Saint-R\u00e9my-de-Provence.)<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe was one of those painters who paint a lot,\u201d said Vanessa Eggert, a retired tour guide in Arles.<\/p>\n

The town has another Van Gogh connection of interest to many tourists, Eggert added, \u201cIt\u2019s here that he cut his ear off.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 18th century, Japanese culture began to make its way overseas to Europe. Van Gogh was \u201cobsessed with the Japanese prints,\u201d said Sara Guti, a cultural mediator at the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in Arles. \u201cThey were very, very cheap, so he bought dozens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, Van Gogh was drawn to light and bright colors, which he demonstrates in his paintings focused on people and nature like vast fields, sunflowers, rivers and almond blossoms.<\/p>\n

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The cafe Van Gogh painted still stands, and although it\u2019s no longer open for service, tourists swarm it.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a kind of an imagination of the real Japan for him,\u201d said Guti. \u201cHe wanted to go to Japan to see the colors that he saw on the prints with the specific sun.”<\/p>\n

But Van Gogh could not afford the high cost of traveling there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis friends in Paris told him that if you go to Provence, to the South of France, it\u2019s a kind of Japan, French Japan,\u201d said Guti. \u201cHe wrote to his brother, \u2018Japan is here\u2019 which is why he stayed in Arles and would never go to Marseille.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the locations he painted still exist in Arles today and can be found throughout the city. The city of Arles relies heavily on Van Gogh\u2019s history as it attracts a multitude of tourists. Looking out onto the Rh\u00f4ne, Van Gogh painted the stars and a couple lovers below.<\/p>\n

\u201cTourism is very important for the development and for the global activity of the town,\u201d said Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Imbert, the 7th deputy mayor of Arles.<\/p>\n

The Fondation Van Gogh saw a 36% increase in visitors between 2023 and 2024, according to the Arles Office of Tourism. Asian visitors have represented about 5% of the total visitors to Arles.<\/p>\n

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Le Jardin d\u2019Ete is one of a dozen locations in Arles where you can see what Van Gogh painted.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a kind of exchange,” said Guti. “You have the fantasy of the Japan of Van Gogh and the fantasy of Provence of the Japanese people.” Asian tourists, she added, \u201care looking for this impression he had when he arrived here to feel in Japan as they want to feel in Provence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viewers can find hints of Japanese patterns and culture in many of his paintings\u2014 most visibly in \u201cAlmond Blossom\u201d in which Van Gogh demonstrates what he envisioned as the Japanese touch in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel the power of life in this picture,\u201d Yimim Wang, a tourist from China said. \u201cIt\u2019s very elegant. We all need some sort of role model to study; his spirit really encouraged a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she adds, \u201cI have been to Japan several times; they (Japan and Arles) are not similar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the reality, Arles fulfilled Van Gogh\u2019s fantasy of visiting Japan and kept him inspired while he spent time here.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe copied the Japanese spirits through his paintings,\u201d said Guti. \u201cEven if here is not the real Japan and it’s not the \u2018Provencial Japan,’ I think they are connected in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Provence may not be an exact replica of Japan, and none of his original paintings are in permanent collections<\/a> here, Arles is worth visiting to walk in the footsteps of the artist that changed the lives of many.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you come to Arles, you transform yourself, ” Guti said, “because you have a before and after as Van Gogh did in history.”<\/p>\n

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