Art centre · Parc des Ateliers
LUMA Arles
Maja Hoffmann's arts campus in old railway workshops, around Frank Gehry's stainless-steel tower.
Look for: The spiral staircase inside the tower.
Free
Go further, look closer.
Cities · Europe · 43°40′N 4°37′E
Arles
A Roman town where Van Gogh painted 300 works in fifteen months, and which now hosts the world's great photography festival.
Best monthsJuly–September (Les Rencontres) and April–June
Art calendarLes Rencontres d'Arles (July–September) · Festival OFF Arles (spring)
This guide4 essentials · 5 places off-piste
Essentials
Foundation · Rue du Docteur-Fanton
Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles
A foundation that shows one or two Van Goghs at a time beside contemporary artists in dialogue with him.
Look for: The coloured-glass canopy over the courtyard.
Closed Mondays outside summer
Museum · Grand Prieuré
Musée Réattu
A museum in the former Priory of the Knights of Malta, with a photography collection and drawings Picasso gave the city.
Look for: The Picasso drawings.
Closed Mondays
Museum · By the Rhône
Musée départemental Arles antique
Roman Arles, including a 31-metre barge pulled from the Rhône with its cargo.
Look for: The barge, Arles-Rhône 3.
Closed Tuesdays
Off the list
Off-Piste in Arles
Rooms, ruins and curiosities: the city's other museum.
Cemetery · South of the centre
Les Alyscamps
A Roman and medieval necropolis, an avenue of empty stone sarcophagi under poplars. Van Gogh and Gauguin painted it together in 1888.
Late afternoon, as in their paintings.
Cloister · Place de la République
Cloister of Saint-Trophime
A Romanesque and Gothic cloister with carved capitals.
The portal outside.
Courtyard · Place Félix-Rey
Espace Van Gogh
The hospital where Van Gogh was treated in 1889, with the garden replanted after his painting.
Compare the garden with his painting.
Archaeological site · Under the Hôtel de Ville
The cryptoporticus
Underground Roman galleries in a horseshoe shape, which held up the forum. Cool, dark and nearly empty.
Go at midday in summer.
Interior · Place du Forum
Hôtel Nord-Pinus
The bullfighters' hotel, where Picasso and Cocteau stayed, with corrida posters and a bull's head in the bar.
A drink in the bar.
Nearby
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
The asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, where Van Gogh painted The Starry Night, 30 minutes away.
If you have one day
Musée départemental Arles antique → Les Alyscamps → lunch → LUMA → Fondation Vincent van Gogh → evening on the Place du Forum.