VAN GOGH Vincent. COQUIOT

Notebook of preparatory notes by Gustave Coquiot for the edition of his book on Vincent Van Gogh. Trip to Arles in May 1922. Notebook in-12 with full vellum cover. First cover decorated with a painting in the spirit of Van Gogh. All edges waxed red. 52 sheets (104 pages) of very legible writing in pencil, a hundred blank pages and 5 sheets (10 pages) of notes in ink (Press clippings - travel guide pasted at the end of the volume). 3 original drawings by the author (House of Van Gogh, Place Lamartine and Fronton of the hospital of Saint Rémy de Provence). Two defoliated leaves. A very interesting account of Gustave Coquiot's trip to Arles, we follow him in his approach to Provence and the places of inspiration of Vincent Van Gogh during his trip by omnibus train.... "In the fast train, I had to chop my words so much it galloped. The crossing of Valence "all the houses have a loggia adorned with dirty linen", of Loriol, Montélimar, the sweetness of Pierrelatte, Avignon "the evening falls, the sun gilds a corner of the walls of the station. What a happy day! In Avignon station, the friendly employees... How far away from Paris...". Coquiot sees around Tarascon a motif of the one he will call Vincent from now on, it is a camp of gypsies camping with a lighted lantern. Arrived for his stay in Arles in May 1922. Arrived during a starry night to discover Vincent's house, place Lamartine. He was immediately seduced by this city with its Italian landscapes, "with its beautiful old bricks at sunset"... Arles with "many hairdressers, cafes, restaurants, curtains in front of the doors to prevent flies. The Baret tours pass through here, alas! People are dumbed down with films from Paris. Vincent could get away with working as he did and going to bed early" and then the many brothels in the city "A brothel, Mireille in big yellow letters. Gustave Coquiot took as his address in Arles the Hôtel du Midi (a former shepherds' hut in the Camargue, where Vincent stayed in 1888). Drawing of Van Gogh's room. He discovers the Levi Bridge painted by the artist "Vincent was seeing his Holland again..." and notes that "For all the people of Arles, Vincent was crazy...". Discovery of the Lamartine square and its trees that we don't see on Vincent's paintings, this square where "men, at the end of the day, come to play boules" (Long description of the square, of the banks of the Rhone, of the Trinquetaille district. Drawing: plan of the square). Description of the Carrel hotel and meeting with Doctor Rey (May 4, 1922). The latter gives him some details about Vincent "He blinked while working" and about his painted portrait "sold by Camoin in 1901 to Molinard, a picture dealer in Marseille for 350 francs" and again "My portrait painted by Vincent was painted at the hospital in the interns' room...". Doctor Rey accompanied him to the hospital where nothing had changed (description of the cabin in which Vincent was locked up) and told him an anecdote about the painter's famous ear, which made it clear that "Vincent had a painful, suffering face and had difficulty speaking. Gustave Coquiot meets the daughter of the pastor Salles, Mrs. Carrel (former owner of the hotel where Vincent landed), Mrs. Armand (the wife of Vincent's paint seller) "He did not want to show his paintings to my husband". Escapade of G. Coquiot to Montmajour, Fontvieille, then the Camargue in the company of Doctor Rey, followed by a long description of the Camargue landscapes. Overwhelmed by the heat that cooks the landscape, the Parisian on the go notes "How under these burning and baking arrows of the sun, could Vincent hold out...". On May 9, a trip to the Mas du Pont de Rousty "What a good smell of wine, what a party here during the grape harvest!", "We see model bulls and white horses"... On May 10, trip to Saintes Marie de la Mer, stop at Signoret "Scourge of the Camargue...Mosquitoes...", at Saintes Marie "everything is new...Nothing reminds me of Vincent, a lot has been built and demolished" .... Thursday, May 11th. Return to Arles, where "cats come in pairs, loves last a long time here...". Copy of the letters of Van Gogh addressed from Saint Rémy to Mrs. Ginoux (2 letters of 6 sheets). Friday, May 12th. Departure to the Baux de Provence with its red earth and silver olive trees. Very impressed by the landscape "chaos of an enormous stone catastrophe, the houses climbed to the sky" but cannot help regretting "the exploitation by the hotel business, the postcards, the watercolors... It is to disgust you...". Stopover in Saint Rémy de Provence "small city cooked, blissful, quiet under the sun ... ". Visit of the asylum of Saint Rémy and its cloister "not at all sad retirement...Vincent was going to be rare