Langlois Bridge

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The picture of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum

Coordinates: 43 ° 39 ′ 25 "  N , 4 ° 37 ′ 16.1"  E

Map: Bouches-du-Rhône
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Langlois Bridge​
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Bouches-du-Rhône

Pont de Langlois, actually Langlois Bridge or Arles Bridge , was the common name for a wooden bascule bridge near Arles at the end of the nineteenth century . Langlois was the name of their bridge keeper .

This bridge became world-famous through Vincent van Gogh , whom it probably reminded of his homeland when he drew and painted it in several versions between mid-March and mid-May 1888. The “drawbridge” motif also appears on one of his pictures from 1883 (F 1098). In letter 488 he wrote to his brother: “Many of the motifs are the same in character as in Holland.” However, the artist misinterpreted the name of the bridge because he hardly understood the Provencal language : in letters 469 and 488 he called it Pont de l 'Anglais (Bridge of the Englishman), through which the spelling Pont de l'Anglois is occasionally preserved to this day, and also the unfortunate translation into German as the bridge of Langlois .

In addition to sketches, drawings and a watercolor, his work on this motif resulted in four important oil paintings. After an early sketch that van Gogh had sent his friend Émile Bernard (JH 1370 in B2), he had started a (presumably first) painting, which, however, failed and was only preserved as a fragment. It only shows the lovers, a theme that the artist (probably last) took up again in a reed pen drawing of the bridge.

The oldest of the oil paintings is now in the Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo, Netherlands); the other three are in the  Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam), the  Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (Cologne) and are privately owned. In addition to the aforementioned fragment in oil, five other versions of the subject are known, namely a watercolor as well as drawings and sketches.

Van Gogh's pictures

  • The Langlois Bridge

  • Lovers (fragment, based on a sketch from JH 1370, March, private collection)

  • ... with laundresses (F 397, March, Kröller-Müller-Museum)

  • ... with a road along the canal (F 400, March, Van Gogh Museum)

  • (F 571, April, private property)

  • (F 570, May, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum)

  • Letter sketch (YH 1370, mid-March.)

  • Watercolor (F 1480, April)

  • Study (F 1416v, May)

  • Bourdon tube drawing (F 1470, May)

  • Drawing (F 1471, May)

The bridge

Of the eleven identical drawbridges that a Dutch engineer had built between 1820 and 1830 along the Canal d'Arles à Bouc , which opened in 1834, only that of Fos-sur-Mer survived World War II. In 1944, with this exception, all bridges over the canal were destroyed by German troops. The one painted by van Gogh, however, was replaced by a reinforced concrete bridge around 1930.

location

In 1888 there were two bridges over the canal near Arles, of which the first was about 70 meters and a second about 540 meters from the junction of the canal from the river Rhone , which at that time was next to today's road N113 ( sketch ).

Since a bridge can be seen in the background of the Amsterdam oil painting (F 400) on the left edge of the picture and the church towers of Saint-Césaire, Saint-Martin and Saint-Trophime in the middle , the painter's theme was the southern one. During the later renovation of the canal entrance, the lock canal (canal de l'écluse) , only this was preserved.

Today's Van Gogh Bridge

This is the only surviving example of the original construction. It was dismantled in Fos in 1959, installed at Arles in 1962 and completely restored in 1997. It is now about 2 km as the crow flies south of the former Langlois Bridge on Rue Gaspard Monge , but a bit outside the city in a landscape that is similar to the one that the painter so much liked. The location of the real Langlois bridge would be in a built-up area and therefore would not have been an option for traffic reasons.

  • Langlois Bridge, 19th century

  • Langlois Bridge, 1902

  • Van Gogh Bridge, 2007

  • Van Gogh Bridge, 2003

  • Langlois Bridge (red) and Van Gogh Bridge  (green); Canal entrance 1888 (blue).

Technical specifications

The bridge is a wooden, symmetrically constructed swing-rod bridge ( Dutch bridge), i.e. a bascule bridge, with a small amount of metal (chains, bolts). The high counterweights are typical. The support is made of masonry. The two bridge flaps are each four meters long, so they span eight meters. When open, the passage width between the free ends of the bridge flaps is also four meters. The piers on which the swing rods are stored are about five meters high, the swing rods are 8.3 meters long.

Remarks

  1. ↑ In order to clearly identify the works of van Gogh, the numbering according to de la Faille's catalog of works is customary; Jan Hulsker's later catalog is often given afterwards, and at least for sheets that de la Faille does not register.
  2. ↑ Letters that only have numbers were addressed to Theo. Other letters are cataloged with introductory letters. Source: "Geanned Pictures", ISBN 978-3-8321-9157-3 (catalog for the 2008 exhibition in the Albertina in Vienna), p. 258.
  3. ↑ Coordinates: 43 ° 40 ′ 28.6 "  N , 4 ° 37 ′ 9.5"  E and 43 ° 40 ′ 16.7 "  N , 4 ° 37 ′ 22.1"  E
  4. ↑ a b Cultural property in Arles ( Memento of the original from October 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.patrimoine.ville-arles.fr
  5. ↑ Coordinates: 43 ° 39 ′ 25 ″  N , 4 ° 37 ′ 16.1 ″  E

literature

Web links

Commons : Langlois Bridge  - Collection of Images