The Loti Month in Arles
He read Loti's Japanese novel; before him lay Provence — two landscapes merged in his hand into one.
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F431 The Old Mill 1888 -
F429 Wheat Field with Sheaves 1888
Painting
The Old Mill, Wheat Field with Sheaves — paintings of this period carry a strong "decorative" quality: clear outlines, flat colour blocks, large areas of pure colour. The visual grammar comes directly from Japanese prints, yet what he saw was Provence. Loti's novel Madame Chrysanthème acted as a chemical reaction — a French book about Japan, letting him hold the keys to French and Japanese at once.
Letter
July 1888, Arles. He wrote: "I have just read Loti's Madame Chrysanthème — it is a charming book." Another letter: "If we study Japanese art, we see a man undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent." He oscillated between Loti's novel and Japanese prints — Madame Chrysanthème appears six times in the letters of this single month. This was a month when reader and translator talents erupted together.
Place
Arles, the Yellow House. Provençal July — he went to the fields each day to paint, came back to read Loti. Madame Chrysanthème wrote about Nagasaki in the 1880s, but as he read it in Arles, Nagasaki and Arles merged in his mind. Three landscapes existed at once — what he saw, what he read, and what he was painting.
Events
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 640
Finished reading Loti's Madame Chrysanthème — a French novel about 1880s Nagasaki
- The Translator · Letter 640
'If we study Japanese art, we see a man wise, philosophic, intelligent — what is he studying? A single blade of grass.'
- The Translator · Letter 638
Applied Japanese print grammar to Provence — flat colour blocks, clear outlines, asymmetric composition appearing in the canvas at once
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 641
Also reading Voltaire's Candide — 'studying Japan' and 'studying Voltaire's scepticism' in the same month
- The Translator · Letter 645
Keywords japan/japanese appear 15 times across the month's letters — peak month of the translator talent in Arles period
From the Letters
Je viens de lire Madame Chrysanthème de Loti — c'est un livre charmant. I have just read Loti's Madame Chrysanthème — it is a charming book.
Si on étudie l'art japonais, on voit un homme incontestablement sage, philosophe et intelligent. If we study Japanese art, we see a man undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent.
Loti décrit le Japon comme un peintre — avec des touches légères, des silences. Loti describes Japan like a painter — with light touches, with silences.
Ce livre me fait penser que nous autres peintres, nous pouvons apprendre des écrivains à simplifier. This book makes me think that we painters can learn from writers how to simplify.
La lecture de Loti et le travail en plein air — les deux ensemble me donnent le Japon. Reading Loti and working in the open air — the two together give me Japan.
Je voudrais faire des figures comme Loti fait des phrases — nettes, claires, sans rien de trop. I would like to make figures the way Loti makes sentences — clean, clear, with nothing superfluous.
Letter Sources
Van Gogh letter records referenced on this page, linked to the Van Gogh Letters Project. vangoghletters.org