Van Gogh's Yellow House

Van Gogh's Yellow House On the corner of a cobblestone street, a yellow house stands, and nearby, a bistro to eat in, and a café where friends meet, are illuminated by a sulfur sun under a cobalt sky. A train barrels past the sunlit house of unfulfilled dreams, as I enter the building and grin, and let life pass me by, because I can’t see the future for the tears in my eyes. Through cracked open green shutters, as reclusive as I can be, I watch gawkers with their arms outstretched, and fingers pointing (saying to each other), “Look up there, the painter’s crazy.” My heart has grown cold and dry. Destiny has been mean to me. And now, the police come to my door to force me to leave, by decree of law, with a petition signed by the community. Still, the scenery inspires me, and I can’t relinquish my paints. I brush pink, and hues of gold and blue, on canvas and create, ‘The Street’ (with audience), on Two Place Lamartine, Arles, France. *** Note: On May 1, 1888, Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) rented four rooms in the Yellow House on Two Place Lamartine, Arles, France, and lived there from September 1, 1888, to March 1889. Fellow artist Paul Gauguin shared the house with Van Gogh from late October 1888 to December 1888. It was here that Vincent van Gogh painted many of his masterpieces. Van Gogh was forced to leave the house in March 1889 when the police (acting on a petition signed by thirty townspeople claiming Van Gogh was mad and a threat to the community) closed the house. The house was severely damaged by the Allies during a bombing raid in World War II and later demolished.