Café terrace at Night by van Gogh

Also known as The Café Terrace, Van Gogh painting of this café at night on industrially primed canvas in Arles, France, mid-September 1888. He painted it on the spot, instead of in his studio from sketches.

In the uptown Café Terrace at Night Van Gogh represented the Café du Forum as a more cheerful locale, using strong yellows and deep Prussian blues to convey the way artificial illumination transformed and colored the night.

The presence of stars in this painting might be taken as benign, their grouping underlining the companionship of seated and strolling couples featured on the streets or on the café terrace. This is the firsts painting he did with his famous starry background.

During his 15 months stay as Arles, Van Gogh painted some 200 pictures, but did not sell one.

It is ironic that paintings the citizens of Arles thought so little of are now so expensive that nether the Espace Van Gogh or the Foundation Vincent Van Gogh Arles can afford one, with the result that there are now none of Vincent’s paintings in the town.
Café terrace at Night by van Gogh