The Wheat of Virgin Spaces

To Auvers-sur-Oise, where a small absinthe antiques market was held at Marie Claude Delahayes’ Musee d’Absinthe. All the usual crowd were there - small time dealers, collectors looking to exchange duplicates, bemused onlookers who’d wandered off the street. As is often the case, the interesting business was done in private, away from the tables…

Auvers-sur-Oise, about 45 minutes north of Paris, was the home of Van Gogh - he’s buried, alongside his devoted brother Theo (who only survived him by a year), in the small cemetery on the hill above the village. Near the cemetery are the fields where he painted many of his most famous works - and the crows he often depicted still come out at sunset and fly low over the grass. It’s an odly unspoilt and touching place - although close to Paris it’s hard to get to by train or bus, and so has been spared the worst of the tourist onslaught.