Vincent's Arles

"Seidel acts as a guide to the places immortalized by Van Gogh in this Provençal city." -- Martin Bailey * The Art Newspaper *
"Vincent van Gogh’s 15-month stay in Arles, France, is where he created some of his most iconic paintings, including Cafe Terrace at Night and his Sunflowers series. Art history professor Seidel explores the French town as it was in the late 19th century, when Van Gogh and other artists moved there in search of inspiration, as well as what it’s like today as a visitor." * Book Riot, "Most Anticipated Travel Books of 2023" *
"Vincent’s Arles returns to the Alyscamps and Saint Trophime to further consider how Arles’s distant past informs our understanding of van Gogh’s Arlesian paintings. In Seidel, we can have no better guide. . . . Seidel has spent her career researching medieval reliquaries, pilgrimages, and religious devotion. She reminds us that the ancient and medieval history pulsing through the heart of Arles has become overshadowed by van Gogh’s residence, a fifteen-month sojourn that ended with an unfortunate ear-slicing incident and subsequent hospitalization in nearby Saint-Rémy. . . . Seidel deftly connects our own obsession with van Gogh’s life to the medieval pilgrims’ relationship to holy relics, anchoring her study in a dialogue at the intersection of art, travel, and myth. In a carefully researched, tenderly written call to reacquaint ourselves with the Roman traces and beacons of early Christianity in Arles, Seidel shows that they have not only offered hope to pilgrims for centuries but are also intertwined with van Gogh’s painterly practice." * H-France *
"In a fascinating blend of travel, history, and art, Seidel tours the culturally rich town of Arles in southern France and incorporates stories and letters from legendary artist Vincent Van Gogh's life to shed light on the key sites." * The Bookseller (UK) *
“Vincent’s Arles takes us step by step on a fascinating journey around Arles as it was in Vincent’s time and how it is today. Offering many surprises and fresh reflections, Seidel’s authoritative and intimate voice delves meticulously into history, myth, and legend. We explore the city’s Roman heritage, tombs, and churches that enchanted van Gogh, sacred places that have been a crossroads of pilgrimages for centuries. Vincent, a voracious reader, would have loved these pages.” -- Mariella Guzzoni, author of "Vincent’s Books"
“It is a circumstance that would become crucial to the history of modern art that Vincent van Gogh often found himself living in places of profound natural beauty, in places with impressive architectural or even archaeological histories, or both, and that so many of his greatest paintings were set in these gorgeous places. Now Seidel takes us on an intimate journey, beautifully written, through one such place, helping us to see Arles as van Gogh himself saw it, and therefore revealing how he reimagined the places he lived for artistic impact.” -- Steven Naifeh, Pulitzer Prize–winning coauthor of "Van Gogh: The Life"
"Like a medieval pilgrimage to a shrine celebrating the dead, this book is a journey through time more than space. Van Gogh's encounter with the portal of the church of Saint Trophime in Arles generates a riveting reflection on the matter of experience. What produces an event? What lies behind a painting? What comes into view? Seidel takes us from what van Gogh saw to the mist of images stored in his mind to stories of which he was unaware but that shaped every street on which he laid his eyes. The result is a gentle, most beautiful contemplation of the magical entanglements of history." -- Emanuele Lugli, author of "Knots, or the Violence of Desire in Renaissance Florence"