Van Gogh in

Restaurant Carrel

During his first two months in Arles, Vincent stayed in a room at the Carrel hotel-restaurant, owned by Albert Carrel and his wife, Cathérine Carrel-Garcin. The hotel was a two-storey building with a small roof terrace and a first-floor balcony. Shortly after arriving in Arles, Vincent wrote to his brother Theo:

“At times it seems to me that my blood is more or less ready to start circulating again, which wasn’t the case lately in Paris, I really couldn’t stand it any more.” Read the complete letter

With a renewed desire to work, Vincent produced three studies in his first three days in Arles: An old woman of Arles, Landscape with Snow and View of a Butcher’s Shop. They heralded the productive period that would follow.

Soon after his arrival in Arles, Vincent complained about the hotel where he was staying and working. He wrote that he constantly felt as if he was being swindled and overcharged and claimed he was never served decent food. The owner, for his part, protested that Vincent used up more space than others with his painting materials. After a discussion regarding the increased rent, Vincent left the Carrel hotel on 7 May and took a room at the Café de la Gare. The hotelkeeper Carrel refused to return his possessions but was ordered by court to return them. Vincent had also begun renting a room in the “Yellow House” for use as a studio on 1 May. He later recalled his unhappiness at the Carrel hotel and said his health had suffered because of the bad food and wine, which he called “real poison”.