19:30 – 00:00
Throughout the year, Bice Curiger invites prominent figures from the world of the arts to talk about an aspect of the life and work of Vincent van Gogh that holds particular meaning for them.
Van Gogh’s Arles
Between personal testimony and open dialogue with Bice Curiger, Jean-Paul Capitani revisits the places and the people painted by Van Gogh during his stay in Arles from February 1888 to May 1889. Most of the Arles buildings and structures documented in Vincent’s work have now disappeared. Looking at Trinquetaille bridge or Langlois bridge as the artist painted or drew them, and comparing this with the face they present today, we can see how much the city has changed. The portraits that Vincent painted in Arles, such as his Seated Zouave of 1888, testify to Van Gogh’s passion for the human figure, which he studied throughout his career.
Born in Arles in 1944, Jean-Paul Capitani is an agronomist by training. He is today the director of the publishing company Éditions Actes Sud.