Vincent van Gogh – Café Terrace at Night

Café Terrace at Night is the painting Vincent van Gogh made in Arles in mid-September 1888: the lit terrace of a café on the Place du Forum, with guests at their tables, under a deep blue sky scattered with stars. It is the first painting in which he used a starry sky. The original measures 65.3 x 80.7 cm and hangs in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 15 sizes from 40 x 50 to 164 x 210 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting to approve before dispatch.

Café Terrace at Night – Vincent van Gogh

What does Café Terrace at Night show?

The painting shows the terrace of a café on the Place du Forum in Arles, late in the evening. On the left, under a large yellow awning, the terrace spreads out with round tables where guests sit, while a waiter moves between the tables taking orders. A big lantern under the awning lights the terrace, the façade and the cobbles of the square, which take on a violet-pink tinge in its glow.

To the right the street runs off into the dark, between dark blue and violet houses with lit windows, past a tree and a small lit shop on the corner. At the end of the street rises the tower of a former church. Above it all opens a deep blue sky with large, bright stars.

How did Van Gogh paint outdoors at night?

Van Gogh had wanted to make a night painting for some time, and not in the conventional way, in shades of black and grey, but in full colour. Just as unusual, he painted the gas-lit terrace on the spot and in the dark, because colours look different at night than in daylight. He wrote to his sister Wil: “I enormously enjoy painting on the spot at night.”

In the same letter he described the work: little figures of people drinking on the terrace, a huge yellow lantern lighting the terrace, the façade and the pavement, and a blue sky studded with stars above the street. In the past, he added, painters drew at night and painted from the drawing in the daytime, but it suited him to paint the thing straight away, even if in the dark he might take a blue for a green.

Why is there no black, and what do the stars mean?

The most striking thing is the sharp contrast between the warm yellow, green and orange under the awning and the deep blue of the starry sky, reinforced by the dark blue of the houses behind. Van Gogh was pleased with the effect: “I believe that an abundance of gaslight, which, after all, is yellow and orange, intensifies blue.” He told his sister that here at last was a painting of night without black, with nothing but beautiful blue, violet and green.

The stars are not invented. Later astronomical research showed that he painted the constellations precisely as they appeared on the night of 16 or 17 September 1888. Two weeks later he wrote to his brother Theo that he had a terrible need for religion, so he went outside at night to paint the stars.

Where does the original hang, and does the café still exist?

The original hangs in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands (inventory number KM 108.565). Van Gogh never signed it, but he described and mentioned it in his letters, so its authorship is not in doubt.

The café still stands on the Place du Forum in Arles. In 1990 and 1991 it was refurbished to look like the painting again, so visitors can stand on the same corner of the square and see nearly the same view south, towards the tower of the former church that now houses the Musée Lapidaire.

Café Terrace at Night or The Night Café – which painting is which?

This painting shows the café terrace outdoors, on the Place du Forum, under a starry sky. The Night Café is another painting from Arles: it shows the inside of the Café de la Gare. If you want a warm night scene outdoors with a starry sky, choose the terrace; if an interior café scene appeals to you more, choose The Night Café.

The starry sky that began on this terrace continues in The Starry Night, painted a year later in Saint-Rémy. The Yellow House also comes from Arles, and that same autumn he painted The Red Vineyard, with grape pickers at work. We paint all of them by hand as well.

How is our hand-painted Café Terrace at Night made?

The painter first draws the awning, the façade and the street receding into the distance, then lays in the deep blue sky and the houses, and only at the end adds the yellow light of the terrace, the tables, the guests and the stars. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand on canvas, with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as in the original.

The first photograph shows the painting in a room setting: our finished painting in a light wooden frame hangs above a blue sofa. The second photograph shows the finished canvas, unframed, on an easel in our workshop. The third photograph is a close-up of the terrace with guests, tables and the waiter, and the fourth a close-up of the yellow awning, where the thickly applied paint is easy to see.

Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.

Which size of Café Terrace at Night for which wall?

Short answer: 90 x 113 or 100 x 130 cm above a sofa or a sideboard, 54 x 65 or 65 x 81 cm above a chest of drawers, a bed in a smaller room or in a hallway, and 127 x 165 or 164 x 210 cm for a tall empty wall or a stairwell.

There are 15 sizes, from 40 x 50 to 164 x 210 cm. The original is 65.3 cm wide and 80.7 cm high, so our 65 x 81 cm size is practically the same as the painting in Otterlo. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it; an upright canvas can be narrower when it hangs above a slim piece of furniture. As it is a night scene, give it a wall where a lamp can light it in the evening – that is when the yellow terrace comes alive.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor, leaving 20 to 30 cm between a sofa or sideboard and the bottom of the canvas.

What if I need a custom size or a frame?

If none of the 15 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure. Keep the proportions close to the original, otherwise the street and the sky get squeezed or stretched. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote you a price and a delivery time. Every painting we make is mounted on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang.

Our 3D app shows each of our frame profiles on this painting. The app is for choosing the frame only. If you would like to see how the painting will look on your own wall, we offer that through our separate room placement service. A light wooden or gold frame suits the yellow and the blue, as you see in the first photograph.

How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?

Every painting is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. The size list shows the delivery time next to each size. We ship it on its stretcher, carefully packed (and framed, if you chose a frame), across the EU with no customs duty. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting to approve; if anything is not right, we correct it while the canvas is still in our workshop. Our returns policy applies to every order.

You will find more of Van Gogh’s famous paintings in our Vincent van Gogh gallery, and there is more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. For a gift, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose the size and the subject.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original Café Terrace at Night today?

In the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands. Its inventory number is KM 108.565, and the museum lists it as Terrace of a Café at Night (Place du Forum). The museum describes it as a night painting made on the spot and in the dark, with an abundance of colour instead of black and grey.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Café Terrace at Night?

In mid-September 1888 in Arles, in the south of France, around 16 September. He set up his easel at the north-east corner of the Place du Forum and painted the terrace on the spot, at night, by gaslight. The Kröller-Müller Museum dates it to about 16 September 1888, and the constellations in the sky confirm that night.

Does the café in Café Terrace at Night still exist?

Yes. The café still stands on the Place du Forum in Arles. In 1990 and 1991 it was refurbished to look like Van Gogh’s painting again, with its yellow façade and awning. Visitors can stand on the corner where he stood and see nearly the same view south, down the rue du Palais towards the tower of a former church, now the Musée Lapidaire. The fifth photograph shows the café as it looks today.

Why is there no black in Café Terrace at Night?

Because Van Gogh wanted to paint a night without black. He wrote to his sister that the painting is nothing but beautiful blue, violet and green, with the lit square a pale sulphur and lemon green. He believed the yellow and orange gaslight intensifies blue, so the sky and houses read as dark although not a single stroke on the canvas is black.

Are the stars in Café Terrace at Night real?

Yes. The Kröller-Müller Museum notes that later astronomical research bore out how keenly he observed: he painted the constellations precisely as they appeared on the night of 16 or 17 September 1888. That lets the painting be dated almost to the day. In Starry Night Over the Rhône, painted the same month, he treated the sky far more freely.

Is Café Terrace at Night the same painting as The Night Café?

No. Café Terrace at Night shows the outdoor terrace of a café on the Place du Forum under the stars, while The Night Café shows the inside of the Café de la Gare. Both were painted in Arles, so they are often confused. The other titles in the table above, such as Terrasse du café le soir, all refer to this painting.

Was Café Terrace at Night Van Gogh’s first starry sky?

Yes, it is the first painting in which he used a starry sky. Starry Night Over the Rhône followed the same month, and The Starry Night a year later, in June 1889 at Saint-Rémy. There is more on how the painting came about, the letters that mention it and its first exhibition title, Café, le soir, on Wikipedia.

What inspired Café Terrace at Night?

Above all, the wish to paint the night in colour. Van Gogh also wrote to his sister about Guy de Maupassant’s novel Bel-Ami, which, as he put it, opens with a starry night in Paris and the lighted cafés of the boulevard, saying he had painted something like the same subject. Van Gogh Museum curators see that passage as an inspiration, although Maupassant does not mention a starry sky.

Is your version of Café Terrace at Night a print?

No. Every canvas painting we make is painted by hand in oil on canvas, with the thick paint Van Gogh used. The second photograph shows the finished canvas on an easel in our workshop, and the third and fourth show the brushwork close up.

Does your version of Café Terrace at Night have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint it in impasto, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as on Van Gogh’s original. You see the relief best on the yellow awning and the cobbles, as in the fourth photograph. A print cannot have this relief: its surface is flat. The texture shows most clearly when the painting is lit from the side, by a window or a wall lamp.

• Subject: the lit terrace of a café on the Place du Forum in Arles under a starry sky, painted without black.
• Original: September 1888, Arles, 65.3 x 80.7 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 15 sizes from 40 x 50 to 164 x 210 cm or made to measure.