personal journal: my travel to ARLES-la PROVENCE
BUTZ FUENTES
I can never forget my sojourn to ARLES, it was in an early morning of summer when our bus arrived in a typical provincial town, south of France.
The Catalan atmosphere of unhurried life, the fringes of olive tree farms welcomed us vibrantly as the smell of wild and cultured miles and miles of flowers abound, a perfect backdrop for a short holiday destination.
A Torero at Correda Feria Pascuale in Arles
I was so excited to be in ARLES….thinking at last I had fulfilled my dream vacation, a place to two of the most admired men on earth…CHRISTIAN LACROIX and VINCENT VAN GOGH.
A Torero @ Correda Feria Pascuale/ARLES
Travelling light, I opted for washed jeans-Jean Paul Gultier, a Versace gray t-shirt tight fit, a gucci belt, Gianfranco Ferre high cut boots and a dark gray baseball cap.
The Colosseum in Arle
I walked down old cafes, feeling a bit hungry settled down for a hot brewed coffee and cheese croissant.The family owned shop was decorated in thick Catalan style: old photos in black and white were hanged in the walls, antique tables,chairs with matching wild and colorful mantillas reminding me of those veils of spanish ladies with matching fan.
French Designer CHRISTIAN LACROIX @ his Finale Show in Arles
My first impulse was to discover the colors that were so rich in Christian Lacroix fashion shows-season after season…..getting inside museums and this colosseum like in Rome… where the handsome toreros and decorated bulls displaying their elegant and higly fabulous outfits.
I can’t satiate my curiosity…searching more colors… more feelings…more Lacroix.
the COLOSSEUM in Arle
I ended up buying books…..taking pictures..absorbing every little Arles in my mind.
Then I look for anything VINCENT VAN GOGH…
I was at the very street where the famous painter did his Starry Night painting…looking the same as the postcards in souvenir shops.
The house where Van Gogh stayed during his lunatic years…..struggling against madness.It was Gauguin who accidentally cut part of his earlobe.
As I boarded the bus out of Arles, I looked back once again…thinking I will never have enough of the south of France………..
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Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
p.s. VINCENT VAN GOGH although famous after his death…sold only ONE PAINTING through out his painting career…..
STYLEMONGER 