Van Gogh became Van Gogh during his stay in Provence in the course of a few seasons: everything

has been written about this period! Everything has been shown, including the paintings and the sites

from which the painter got his inspiration. But there was room for a

book which would aim to take the reader into the heart of Van Gogh's

landscapes as he would have been able to see them today in the light

that only photography can create, and which would be able to convey

in writing the internal drama of the artist in the midst of the creative

process. He wanted to find Japan or Africa in Provence. He would

eventually find Provence, a dazzling Provence. He hoped he could forget

his loneliness, the psychological stresses and artistic

doubts that had marked his stay in Paris during 1886-87.

When he came to Arles, he was hoping to be

joined by friends and to found an atelier in the Midi

(the south of France, also noon in French). Instead,

he was consumed, as if burnt by the earth at noon,

at the peak of his life. The sun was a noon sun; Van

Gogh's paintings were the paintings of a man in the

noon of his life.