CAFE TERRACE AT NIGHT

'''Cafe Terrace at Night''', also known as ''The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum'', is a painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh which he rendered 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 expressed his new impressions from southern France and the painting depicts a café in Arles, then ''Café Terrace'' (now renamed to ''Café van Gogh''.) In French, the "terrace" (''terrasse'') of a café simply denotes the outside area where patrons can sit. The style of the painting is unique for Van Gogh with the warmth of colours and the depth of the perspective.
This is the first painting in which he used starry backgrounds. He went on to paint star filled skies in ''Starry Night Over the Rhone'', painted the same month, and the better known ''Starry Night'' a year later. Also, in ''Portrait of Eugene Boch'' Van Gogh painted a starlight background.
After finishing ''Cafe Terrace at Night'', Van Gogh wrote a letter to his sister^[1] expressing his enthusiasm:
:
The façade of the café has recently been repainted in the exact same tones as it appears on the painting - that is, in a mixture of yellow and green hues (see picture.)

Contents

Notes

External links

Notes

1. Letter (in French) (English translation) from Vincent van Gogh to Wilhelmina van Gogh, Arles, 9 and 16 September 1888. Accessed 1 May 2006.

External links

★ The Vincent van Gogh Gallery entry about ''Cafe Terrace at Night''.