European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A simple Gravestone adorns Vincent Van Gogh s grave in avers sur Roise near Paris. A below Van Gogh s Quot portrait of Adeline Savoux Quot painted a month before he killed himself. Below Center the wheat Fields around avers appear in a number of Van Gogh s works. Below right Quot portrait of or cachet Quot Viv i. _ Irvng it t v. A o Quot m \ a a t v k Kef. In $ a it it a a i ? Filu Drew a pistol to his Side and for the first time in his wounded wretched life succeeded. A a bleeding profusely Van cough. Staggered Back to the inn climbed the stairs and cried out Quot i be shot myself and this time did t miss Quot a two nights later the. A i. His bedside Vincent died. A suicide letter Semi explained Quot my life  at its very Root and my Steps  a. A local obituary summarized the life of this Man thus Quot Van Gogh Vincent 38. A dutch stranger and _.  a. A. A As tradition dictates Quot the suicide s room at Savoux Quot. Was never rented again. It was never altered never Pretti fied. It is precisely As he left it in All its bleakness. Quot now you understand Quot Janssens says gravely As a. Visitor emerges after Long moments within the dark. In Janssens plan for the place the furniture will be restored and the adjoining attic lodgings partly converted into contemplation spate modelled after a similar space in Anne Frank s House. Quot people need a place to Stop. Afterwards and very quietly Well show slides of his words and paintings. It will lie very effective i . But first he s got to finish building the museum. It has been five years in the planning and there s a tale in that. It s about the Frenchman s famous mistrust of foreigners. About the collision Between Commerce and Art and of the lesson of v an cough a that dreams May All too often outreach practicalities. Except for three stoplights along a Blacktop Mam Street avers today remains much the same Village painted by Vincent a and also by Corot Daubigny and Pissarro. Willows shelter red tiled roofs and narrow Back lanes wind into Chestnut Groves. In fall a dense fog rises off the Oise holding the Village in its cold embrace until april. In Spring it remains framed by the wheat Fields Vincent painted. Only 25 minutes from Paris it has so far avoided the sadder Fate of ambitious sprawling neighbors. Its population of 6,000 is merely twice what it was in Van Gogh s Day. A. A a avers has no factories a spokesman for the mayor s Cabinet describes the Village s business As  Industrial would be closer to the truth. It has one Industry and that is Van cough. In an average year More than 50,000 people come to avers to celebrate Vincent. To visit his grave a one must trek up a lonely Hill past the Church and through Fields to a Stonewall cemetery where covered with a bed of Ivy a Granite Stone reads simply Quot Here lies Vincent Van  Vincent and Theo lie Side by Side. Down in the Village there Are two postcard shops on Charles de Gaulle Street and a to shirt rack in a Tea room but no exploitative knit a Knacks no Vincent land no pizza to cough for the Freni a dutch and japanese busloads yet. Until this summer the biggest thing to Ever hit Here was the 1 955 film Lut Tor Lite and in Quot to Abacus Quot pensioners speak of Kerk dog lass Quot with the reverence West Texas spinsters Reserve for porch swing nights and James Dean \ngiant., a last year however was the Vincent Van Gogh h Centennial. Quot the streets were Black with people Quot says one local. A t. And so avers slowed $1 million a Tore than to percent of its annual budget a into promotion and. Physical improvement in preparation for its Vincent Centennial. New signage. Two municipal parking lots Art shows lectures and plays. The tourists came saw the grave site and wandered the town but they did not get to see Maison Van Gogh avers literal and  pit re e. F or years one of. The town s most popular tourist Tatrai Hon it has been. Closed to the Public since Janssens in night it and began an elaborate restoration to turn it into a shrine ind. Spectacular modern museum to Vincent Van Gogh it is As though avers gave a parly  t it agr a to buy Beer. Some tourists were i appointed. And so were some townspeople. To Walka he is reels of . Ii h i Jon n is pie hades Janssens is 1o t rear1 it Obi j lest or us Ai it ii i v. Sou let nuns when he enters a room there is sudden  e. In Village cafes Here filled with the conspirator Ial Steep. .1 dark cot tee . O and red wine1, there Are those Ulm re Ter to him Runly it tsp in,.it  january 31, 1991 stripes Magazine s