Arles - Now I understand - What you tried to say to me

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue

Arles looked after Vincent more kindly than St Remy... mind you, the citizens collected a petition to have him expelled... they thought his behaviour brought the town into disrepute... just because a fellow cuts off his ear... they all get holier than thou! The infirmary looked after him... booking him in when his depression became overwhelming... releasing him when brighter days returned. Vincent was in Arles for 18 months and did a prodigious volume of work... even when confined to the infirmary, he kept painting... a chair... a garden bed... even his psychiatrist... all masterpieces. The Arles infirmary recognised a deterioration in Vincent's health and persuaded him to go to the specialist infirmary at St Remy.

This morning we learned why Marseille doesn't parade its Greco-Roman history in front of the tourists... while Arles hammers the theme relentlessly. It all comes down to winners and losers. Marseille was top dog in the TransAlpine colony... the centre of every aspect of Roman life... up until 45 BC. Then came the squabble between Caesar and Pompey. Marseille picked the wrong team... and supplied arms to Pompey. Arles was the clever city who backed Caesar. Upon the defeat of Pompey, Caesar said to Marseille, "You have some lessons to be learned... collect all your treasures and cart them up to Arles... they'll take good care of them." So Arles became richer than their wildest dreams... gold, statues, architects, stonemasons, slaves... what more could you want? They had the 12th biggest amphitheatre in the empire... their classical theatre was superb... their public baths were huge... they had a circus (for chariot racing). Emperors looked for excuses to spend time in Arles... only a couple of days sailing from Rome... if there wasn't a real military campaign to supervise in the region, they invented one. Now, the town has only 10,000 inhabitants... but in its hey-day it was bigger than Marseille.

So, Vincent came to Arles with dreams of establishing a school of impressionist painters. He found the right place to found his school... wrote to all his colleagues and told them how great it would be... and waited... and waited. No one came... except for one friend who ceased to be a friend after one day of sharing a flat with Vincent... and who nicked off... with no goodbyes... on the first night Vincent spent in hospital.

You can't help wondering if Vincent would have backed Pompey in the Roman civil war.