The Cafe Terrace at Night

Van Gogh painted The Cafe Terrace at Night in September 1888, during his first months in Arles. It is one of three night paintings he produced that month, alongside Starry Night over the Rhone and The Night Cafe. A cafe terrace glows with yellow and orange light under a deep blue sky. The cafe occupies the lower left of the canvas, its awning extending over tables where customers sit. The terrace is lit by gas lamps, their light spreading across the cobblestones in the foreground. Behind the cafe, the street recedes into darkness, with figures walking under the streetlamps. The sky above is a deep blue, filled with stars. The constellation Aquarius is visible, accurately placed for the date and location. Van Gogh had arrived in Arles in February 1888. He was fascinated by the night sky and the quality of southern light. He wrote to his sister Willemien: "The night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day." He painted this scene on the Place du Forum, a small square in the center of Arles. The cafe still exists, now called the Cafe Van Gogh, and the square looks much as it did in 1888. This painting is one of Van Gogh's most accomplished Arles works. The contrast between the warm yellow of the cafe and the cool blue of the sky creates a tension that runs through the entire canvas. The perspective is carefully constructed, with the street receding to a vanishing point at the upper right. The stars are painted as bright yellow dots against the blue, a technique Van Gogh would develop further in The Starry Night, painted the following year at Saint-Remy. Oil on canvas, 81 by 65.5 centimeters. Van Gogh used thick, directional strokes for the sky, with the stars built up in ridges of yellow paint. The cafe is painted in warmer, thinner strokes, with the light spreading across the foreground in broad marks. This painting works well in a dining room, living room, or restaurant setting. The 16x20 framed version in a black frame is the most versatile choice. The warm yellows and deep blues pair with most color schemes. The painting is in the Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo. This is a public domain artwork, sourced from Wikimedia Commons. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 24x36 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.