The Sunny Charms of Arles

      It is mid-August when the heat is at its peak and when I usually blog about Sun flowers from my garden. This year I visited a charming town in France called Arles, where I saw farms upon farms bursting with Sunflowers (see below).

Sunflower Farm

Succulent in bloom!

      Arles is a charming town where time seems to have stood still. Its main points of interest are the Rhone river and the handsome ruins of an amphitheater that is still used to stage performances. The new and the old buildings co-exist in harmony (see below). It is always bright and sunny with not a trace of cloud or rain. Coming from Massachusetts, USA it was a novelty for me to see the human response to this environment and hence an opportunity to create a sunny post!

Sunny Facades

      As you walk in this town, it is a joy to see sunny facades in light, pastel tones of color that reflect the heat. The fenestrations are tiny to keep the interiors cool. The streets are narrow and hence well shaded by the buildings. There is not a blade of grass and all the streets are hard paved. There are no gardens and people satiate their nature neurons with boxed planters attached to the windows. The vegetation includes grape vines and succulents, plants that thrive on lots of sun and little water. It is a common sight to see a grape vine leaping to life out of may be a square foot of unpaved land as its leaves and fruits burst with green life in the backdrop of a sunny façade. The images below depict all this  well.

      The quality of daylight is ideal for outdoor sketching and painting. That explains why Van Gogh made his painting of Sunflowers in this town. The color palette of new buildings includes pastel shades of beige, pink, peach, gray….hmmm the French aesthetic. As the sun sets it creates lovely hues of color on the facades that seem slowly baked in a long day’s sunlight (see the image in second row, third column).

      As I wrap up, let me just say that with the passage of time, a human mind becomes like a multi-layered onion. From Sunflowers to sunny facades to succulents, the beautiful sights of Arles touched the architect, artist, author and gardener in me. Ah! the power of Arles!

Ratna

Photo Credit: SMD

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Without new experiences something inside us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.

– Frank Herbert