Cafe Terrace at Night (September 1888) depicts the warmth of a
café in Arles in southern France.
Cafe Terrace at Night, also known as The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, is a painting by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh that he painted in Arles, France in September 1888. Van Gogh used oil paint on canvas and the painting is 81 × 65.5 cm (32" × 26"). The painting is currently at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands.
In the painting van Gogh tried to express his new impressions from southern France and the painting depicts an actual café in Arles; the café was then called Cafe Terrace and is now renamed to Cafe Van Gogh. The painting is unique in style for van Gogh in several ways, with the warmth in colours and depth. Van Gogh's enthusiasm for this particular painting is documented in a letter to his sister after finishing the picture: Here you have a night picture without any black in it, done with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green. […] It amuses me enormously to paint the night right on the spot.
This was the first painting by van Gogh in a series where he used starry backgrounds. Starry Night Over the Rhone was painted the same month, and the more famous Starry Night was painted a year later. Also a portrait, the Portrait of Eugene Boch used a starlight background.
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Last updated: 10-10-2005 05:20:07
