Word-of-art: What is the impact of Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night on the destination image of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence?

Abstract

This paper seeks to determine whether approximations can be found between tourists’ destination image and van Gogh’s The Starry Night which may suggest this artwork’s influence on visitors’ image of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where it was painted. A novel approach, comparing a semiotic analysis of the artwork with a content analysis of visitors’ answers to a survey (N=205), is used to identify approximations and divergences between artwork and image. Results suggest the work’s semiotic content has little influence on destination image, which rather mirrors a stereotyped image of Provence. Notwithstanding, van Gogh’s figure is central to Saint-Rémy’s image, and is mentioned by over half of the respondents. This leads to the conclusion that there is indeed an influence of art on destination image, despite this being more due to a superficial image of the artist and his work than to The Starry Night’s semiotic content.