Entries about the yellow house

A side trip from Paris to Amsterdam is an easy train ride. For me, the primary purpose of a visit to Amsterdam was to see the Van Gogh museum. I have long been intrigued by his life and his art and on a previous trip to France, I went to Arles and St. Remy where he painted so many of his finest works. Of course, he also was hospitalized there after a break down. His short, tragic life ended nearby.

I knew he spent time in Paris and that his brother, who supported him throughout his life, lived in Paris. A few days before visiting the museum in Amsterdam, I found where Theo lived and photographed his door in Montmartre a few blocks from my apartment. Nearby, you can visit the Moulin Galette. There were several paintings in the Van Gogh Museum that reflected scenes from my neighborhood. There is, in fact, a painting called "View from Theo's Apartment" and several paintings of the windmill at Moulin Galette.

One of my favorite paintings in the Van Gogh museum is of "The Yellow House" which still stands in Arles as a cafe.

The most moving part of the visit for me was to see excerpts from the letters Vincent and Theo wrote back and forth throughout their lives. I was struck by the beauty of their penmanship and by the fact that they wrote hundreds of letters to one another throughout their lives. Now, we email. Or text. We will never again have such documentation of a relationship, of two people pouring out their lives, thoughts, feelings, to one another.

The letters were published and I have placed them on my "must read" list. What is on yours? Let me know in the "comments."