Note: The text below is the transcript of the YouTube video above.
“I don’t need Japanese pictures here, for I am always telling myself that here I am in Japan.”
Van Gogh wrote this from Arles in 1888. As a Japanese artist, I had to see what he found in person.
In this video, I’ll take you with me as I walk in his footsteps, and I’ll show you today’s Arles art scene – something he could never have imagined.
But here’s the big question – did I actually find the Japan he was talking about?
Hi, I’m Satomi, a Japanese artist based in London.
I’m on my way to Arles from Perpignan, and I’m genuinely excited to see what Van Gogh saw here.
In February 1888, at the age of 34, Van Gogh left Paris by night train and travelled south to this small town. Paris was hectic and expensive, and he longed for brighter colours, clearer light, and a calmer way of life.
There are two main things he wanted to do in Arles.
First, he dreamed of creating what he called a “Studio of the South” — an artist community where painters could live and work together, away from the pressures of Paris.
Second, He wanted to bring the colour and clarity he admired in Japanese prints into his own painting. The light and vivid tones of Arles made him believe he could find his “Japan of the South,” and in his letters he even wrote that he hoped to live here “like a Japanese.”
Now, if you’ve never heard of ukiyo-e, let me quickly explain. They are Japanese woodblock prints. From the 1860s, especially after the 1867 Paris Exposition, these prints spread through Europe and were sold in Paris markets. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists were fascinated by their bold outlines, flat areas of colour, and unusual viewpoints.
Here are a couple of his Japanese-inspired paintings. This one is adapted from a Hiroshige print. And this one is based on an image by Eisen.
He wrote to his brother Theo: “All my work is based to some extent on Japanese art.”
But Van Gogh never actually visited Japan. His idea of “Japan” came from imagination and a few hundred woodblock prints.
VAN GOGH’S YELLOW CAFÉ
As soon as I arrived in Arles, I came straight here.
This is where Van Gogh painted Café Terrace at Night. That yellow is so vivid and intense.
He came here for the light, to paint with the bold simplicity he admired in Japanese prints.
As a Japanese artist, I doubt those exact “Japanese” colours were ever here — as you might expect, the palette is Provençal, shaped by different light, climate and local pigments. So he transformed what he saw into his own language.
About the colours in this Café Terrace at Night, he wrote in a letter: “It often seems to me that the night is even more richly coloured than the day, coloured in the most intense violets, blues and greens.”
VAN GOGH and PAUL GAUGUIN
When he painted this café, Van Gogh was productive but fragile. He was waiting for Paul Gauguin to join him, dreaming of a small artists’ commune.
Gauguin arrived in October 1888, and for about nine weeks they lived and worked together in Van Gogh’s home, the Yellow House. At first, it seemed perfect, but their personalities clashed. Gauguin was self-assured, sometimes domineering, whereas Van Gogh was intensely sensitive and changeable. Conflict was almost inevitable.
Now, you’ve probably heard this next part before — it’s become one of the most famous stories in art history.
On 23 December, after a heated argument, Gauguin left for a hotel. Later that night, Vincent cut off part of his left ear.
VAN GOGH in ARLE’S HOSPITAL
This is Espace Van Gogh, where Van Gogh was treated after the incident.
In the first days his condition was unstable; doctors kept him under observation and, for two or three days, placed him in an isolation cell. Reports from the time say he had hallucinations and feared he was being poisoned.
But as he recovered, this courtyard became a refuge. Spring flowers, irises, forget-me-nots, oleanders, drew his eye. He painted ‘The Garden of the Hospital’ and ‘Ward in the Hospital’, turning pain into colour. When he was discharged in January, he tried to return to normal life. By late February, the neighbours had had enough. About thirty local residents signed a petition asking the mayor to have him committed, and the police closed the Yellow House. Vincent wrote on 19 March: “My house has been shut up by the police.”
VAN GOGH in SAINT-REMY’S ASYLUM
That rejection changed everything. He knew he couldn’t stay in Arles anymore. In May 1889, he voluntarily entered the asylum at Saint-Rémy so he could recover safely and keep painting.
So I wanted to see Saint-Rémy for myself. I took a taxi – about a 30-minute drive. This place hit me even harder emotionally. I still think about it sometimes.
On the way, I saw crop fields. For the first time in Arles, I felt a small echo of Japan, not the same, but a similar stillness.
When I got to the asylum, oh my goodness, I got goosebumps. It was strangely quiet, maybe just too quiet, that emptiness. The silence was almost frightening.
Walking along the corridor, you will see glass cabinets of medical instruments and nurses’ uniforms – quite unsettling.
Life here followed a simple, supervised routine. He was still struggling with hallucinations and severe mood swings, but his doctor gave him a small room to paint in, and he kept working in that tiny space.
What stayed with me was the next room. It’s one of the places I’ll never forget from my time in the south of France. It’s a reconstruction of his bedroom. Seeing it was overwhelming, knowing what he had been through. I couldn’t help wondering how he felt here — looking out through that small window and painting through his darkest period.
I hope you’ll have the chance to see it for yourself one day. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
But Above all, this tiny space is where one of the world’s most famous paintings was born: The Starry Night. You’ve probably seen it in a schoolbook
Through The Starry Night, Van Gogh wanted to capture more than what he could see. Nature’s energy and movement, and a spiritual connection between earth and sky.. It wasn’t about realistic representation, it’s the emotion the landscape stirred in him.
TODAY’S ART SCENE IN ARLES
I headed back to Arles, and now let me show you today’s art scene in Arles.
The two places you shouldn’t miss are LUMA Arles and Lee Ufan Arles. These places might represent what Van Gogh was trying to create.
LUMA was built by Swiss collector Maja Hoffmann. She invested at around $150 million to create one of Europe’s largest contemporary art complexes. Frank Gehry designed the tower, saying he wanted to ‘evoke’ Van Gogh’s The Starry Night.
Here, contemporary artists explore with the same questions Van Gogh had: How do you capture light? How do you make the ordinary transcendent?
It’s striking to see how strongly the town now revolves around art, largely thanks to his legacy.
And then there’s Lee Ufan Arles. Lee Ufan was one of my favorite artists. He’s Korean-born but moved to Japan and became the leading theorist of Mono-ha, Japan’s first internationally recognized contemporary art movement.
This museum was designed by Tadao Ando. I have such vivid memories of Lee Ufan’s museum on Naoshima Island in Japan, also designed by Ando. Experiencing their collaboration again, this time in France, was incredibly moving.
Perhaps Lee Ufan was looking for something Van Gogh wanted, but from the opposite direction—not vibrant expression, but quiet contemplation. The ma, the negative space, that speaks to something deep in Japanese aesthetics.
Decades later, what Van Gogh wanted to create in the 1880s is here. His vision of an artists’ community became reality.
SOUTH OF FRANE – CURATED GUIDEBOOK FOR ART LOVERS
So before getting into my conclusion,
I couldn’t show everything I saw in Arles in this video, but I created a curated guide introducing the places that inspired me during my two months in the south of France. If you’re an art lover, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. It also includes backstories of the places I visited. You can find the link below, and your support always helps me keep creating, so thank you so much.
SO DID I FIND THE “JAPAN” IN ARLES?
My conclusion to the question, did I find the Japan Van Gogh mentioned?
Obviously, it wasn’t Japan at all. The lighting, the colours, the architecture.. Everything feels entirely Provençal.
But here’s what I discovered: maybe imagination is more powerful than reality for artists. Van Gogh’s imagined Japan inspired revolutionary art.
Van Gogh once wrote to Gauguin: “How I watched out to see ‘if it was like Japan yet’! Childish, isn’t it?” Even he knew his search was somewhat naïve.
I think he was looking for a place where he could just calm down and focus on creation – the bright colours he couldn’t see in Paris, the simplified way of seeing he learned from ukiyo-e prints.
As someone from Japan who’s lived in London for eight years, I feel this in some ways. The light in London wasn’t bright enough for me to get inspiration sometimes. The busy life juggling a full-time job and painting. I felt that same urgency Van Gogh probably felt.
Sometimes not seeing a place in person gives the imagination depth. The sense of longing is powerful. I felt it when I first moved to London, a city I’d long dreamed of living in back in Japan. But that pure, delicate feeling never quite returns once you’re used to a place.
We can do a Google Images search for any place on earth now. Van Gogh had only imagination and a few woodblock prints. Yet his ‘Japan’ feels more alive, more urgent than anything I can find online.
After two months in the south of France, I started to feel drawn back to Japan — to see the ‘real’ Japan he might have wanted to visit — with my own eyes shaped by eight years in London.
Maybe that’s what we search for when we travel, not new places, but new eyes. Van Gogh found the discipline of looking he borrowed from Japanese art. And perhaps that’s enough – that beautiful collision between our dreams and reality.
Next, the last destination on my South of France trip is Aix-en-Provence. This is where Paul Cézanne was born and created his masterpieces, and I got to visualise my dream there. There are still so many places and experiences I want to share with you, so don’t forget to subscribe to my channel.
Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one.
