Café Terrace at Night

The vivid yellow glow of a gaslit café terrace spills onto the cobblestone street in Van Gogh's 1888 painting, capturing a moment of bustling night life in Arles, France. He painted this scene directly on the spot, preferring to work at night to observe the true colors of artificial light and shadow. The sky above is a deep, starry blue, a stark contrast to the conventional black often used for night scenes at the time. This work offers a unique perspective on night, where the absence of black allows for a rich interplay of blues, violets, and greens, with the café's light rendered in pale sulfur and lemon green. Visitors to Arles can still stand at the north-eastern corner of the Place du Forum, where Van Gogh set up his easel, and imagine the artist observing this very view.