Postcard from Arles

INSPIRATION | CABANA TRAVEL | WORLD OF CABANA

Sam Parkes captures the charm of Arles, a Provençal town forever immortalised by Van Gogh, yet far more than the artist’s echo. Once known as “Little Rome” for its amphitheatre and cobbled alleys, today Arles is alive with the spirit of the new creative avant-garde.

BY SAM PARKES | CABANA TRAVEL | 12 SEPTEMBER 2025

Sunflowers, Starry Night Over the Rhône and Café Terrace at Night were all the creation of a lonely, impecunious Dutch artist looking to improve both his health and painting by escaping the elegiac landscapes of northern Europe for the benedictory light of southern France. Few stories of the 'tortured artist' are as archetypal - and possibly apocryphal - as those surrounding Vincent van Gogh. Arriving in Arles in 1888, 15 months later he’d be dead. But within that turbulent year he would produce a torrent of paintings, some of which are the most recognised of any era, fight bitterly with Paul Gauguin, admit himself to the mental institute of Saint-Rémy and, most famously, cut off part of his ear.

Yet the Provençal city of Arles is much more than the backdrop of van Gogh’s paintings. Once admired as ‘Little Rome’, and a haven for poets, it is a city of sublime contrasts. Nowhere else in Provence do the implacability of ancient Rome, the narrow cobbled lanes of medieval Europe and the artistic avant garde live in such harmonious proximity. Few places feel quite as old and quite as new at the same time.

There are astonishing Roman ruins, at the heart of which is an imposing 2000-year-old amphitheatre. There are the baths of Constantine and the 12th-century cloister of Saint Trophime. Beneath the city lies the Cryptoporticus, the silent, scooped out foundation above which a bustling Roman forum once stood. A century passes with every step as you quite literally descend into ancient Rome, emerging into a world of shadowed arches and cool, dank vaults.

But Arles is no museum town either. A city of renewal and epochal shifts, the latest reinvention lies in a former railway yard. The celebrated architect Frank Gehry’s Luma Arts centre rises over the city like crushed tin uncrumpling into a double helix- the reflective metal supposedly a tribute to van Gogh’s quest for light.

A mixture of galleries, studios and gardens, and now the host of the internationally acclaimed Rencontres d’Arles photography festival, Arles was conceived by the art patron Maja Hoffman to be a major player on France’s arts circuit. Van Gogh had arrived in Arles with the intention of creating an artist’s colony - 130 years later and that dream, much like his paintings, now looks rather visionary.

The immovable stone slabs of a Roman colosseum and the reflective metal and glass of a modern arts centre, barely a kilometer apart, are the epochal equivalents of cave paintings and formaldehyde sharks. But this is a city that thrives in contrasts. The necropolis of Alyscamps has been used as a runway for modern fashion shows; in such august surroundings one can only speculate what sort of catwalk couture could halt the Emperor’s quivering thumb from tipping upwards: toga crop-top, sequinned fanny pack and a pair of dust-caked Roman sandals, perhaps ‘casual empire’ vibes.

Outside of the city, as well as the iconic sunflower fields, lie the Camargue: wetlands populated by pink flamingos, white horses and red rice. Two restaurants there epitomise the contrasts of Arles: La Telline, a rustic auberge with chequered tablecloths and old world charm, and La Chassagnette, Hoffman’s Michelin-starred spot, with the more refined dishes of nouvelle cuisine. Old Arles and new Arles, 10 minutes apart.

Van Gogh was captivated by the light of southern France, yet one of the city’s subtler enchantments is the view of its streets from above. Standing at the top of the amphitheatre, in stark contrast to resolute slabs of Roman stone, medieval streets snake between rooftops of reds and pinks and yellow hues - such character and irregularity, perfect in their imperfection - stretching higgledy-piggledy toward a panorama of Arles and the expanse of the Rhône and the distant horizon. Worth the admission price alone.

“Guard this object like a treasure”, said van Gogh to the recipient of his severed ear. Immortal, contradictory and romantic - words that could be said of Arles itself.