Confessions of an Art-aholic

The tiny village of Le Garn in the south of France, a place which has inspired Monet, Van Gogh and Cézanne, is in the middle of the most beautiful nowhere I'd ever seen.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

2010-09-07-banner1.jpg

Hello, my name is Edward Goldman, and I am an art-aholic. There, I've said it. Dope, drugs, and alcohol don't do much for me, but art... that is another matter. Art has held me in its grip for as long as I can remember. If, God forbid, there is no museum or art gallery within thirty minutes of wherever I am, my blood pressure drops dangerously to the point where demons start dancing in front of my eyes.

2010-09-07-lavender.jpg

For years I've been avoiding anything that normal people think of as a vacation: idyllic places with picturesque scenery, good food, lots of sleep... ugh... But last month I summoned the courage to accept an invitation to spend two whole weeks in the tiny village of Le Garn in the south of France -- in the middle of nowhere. It took me a day and a half just to get there. By planes, trains, and automobiles I reached this small village: population 221, a few dozen houses, one church, and not a single store or café -- just miles of sprawling fields of sunflowers, vineyards, and blossoming lavender. Oh my, how would I survive in a setting so perfect, so paradisical, so far away from any place to feed my art addiction?

2010-09-07-house.jpg

To the rescue came great friends bearing gifts: Monet, whose landscapes were all around me as I walked through fields of lavender swaying gently in the breeze. Van Gogh, whose canvases I literally stepped into upon discovering fields of sunflowers stretching to the horizon. The short, parallel brushstrokes of his landscapes still echo the rhythm of the rough old stones comprising the walls of the village buildings.

2010-09-07-shadowwindow.jpg

And even when I descended 1500 feet below ground into the famous prehistoric Orgnac l'Aven cave, one of the Grand Sites of France, its stunning stalactites and stalagmites looked surprisingly familiar. It felt as if I'd stepped into a monumental, semi-abstract composition by Anselm Kiefer, the celebrated German artist who several years ago moved his studio to this remote region in search of peace and quiet. And what is the name of this snow-covered mountain on the horizon, I asked my hostess? Her reply simply floored me; it was Mont Saint Victoire, a life-long obsession of Cézanne, who immortalized it in hundreds of his paintings.

2010-09-07-cave.jpg

So, there I was, in the middle of the most beautiful nowhere I'd ever seen, a place which has inspired generations of great artists. In spite of my deep resistance to taking photos while traveling, I simply had to grab the camera in a desperate attempt to capture the magic of the place that turned out to be a treasure trove of artistic discoveries.

2010-09-07-bridge.jpg

Edward Goldman is an art critic and the host of Art Talk, a program on art and culture for NPR affiliate KCRW 89.9 FM.

To listen to the complete show and hear Edward's charming Russian accent, visit Art Talk on KCRW.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot