Van Gogh Café Terrace at Night: Painted Outdoors by Candlelight, the First Starry Night

Last updated: May 2026 · By Stanislav Arnautov · Berlin

Vincent van Gogh (Zundert, 1853 – Auvers-sur-Oise, 1890) painted the Café Terrace at Night (La terrasse du café le soir, sometimes called Café Terrace on the Place du Forum) in September 1888, when he had been living in Arles for seven months. The painting is oil on canvas, 81 × 65.5 cm. The Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands has held it since the 1930s, when Helene Kröller-Müller purchased it as part of her extensive Van Gogh collection (the Kröller-Müller holds 90 Van Gogh paintings and 180 drawings — the second largest Van Gogh collection in the world after the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam). DeckArts Berlin reproduces the Café Terrace at Night on Grade-A Canadian maple from approximately $140, shipping from Berlin.

Painted at Night, Outdoors: The Plein-Air Nocturnal

The Café Terrace at Night is one of the very few canonical Western paintings made outdoors at night — what Van Gogh called "painting at night, on the spot." He described this specifically in a letter to his sister Wil (Letter W7, September 1888): "Here is a nocturnal painting without black, nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green, and in these surroundings the lighted square acquires a pale sulphur and greenish citron-yellow colour. It amuses me enormously to paint the night right there on the spot."

The technical challenge of painting outdoors at night in 1888 — without electric light, without studio illumination — was significant. Van Gogh used candles attached to his hat brim and to the easel frame to illuminate his canvas while painting the gaslit terrace before him. The specific quality of light in the Café Terrace at Night — the warm gaslight of the terrace against the cool star-studded sky — was directly observed rather than imagined or reconstructed from memory. The painting's specific warm-cool contrast between the chrome yellow terrace and the Prussian blue night sky is a documentary record of what a 19th-century gaslit Provençal café terrace looked like to a painter standing in the adjacent alley at night.

Place du Forum, Arles: The Real Location

The Café du Forum (later renamed the Café la Nuit in honour of the Van Gogh painting) at the Place du Forum in Arles is still operating in 2026, repainted in chrome yellow and blue to match Van Gogh's depiction. The street depicted in the painting — the narrow alley running off the square — is identifiable from the current streetscape; the cobblestones and the building alignment match the composition. Van Gogh stood in the alley to the right of the café to paint the terrace, looking northwest. The stars in the painting, which Van Gogh identified as the constellation Aries above Arles, have been confirmed by astronomical analysis of the September 1888 Arles night sky to be in the correct position for the depicted season and time.

The First Starry Night: 9 Months Before MoMA

The Café Terrace at Night (September 1888) is the first nocturnal painting in which Van Gogh used stars as a primary compositional element — predating the Starry Night on the Rhône (September 1888, also Arles, Musée d'Orsay Paris) by approximately two weeks, and predating the MoMA Starry Night (June 1889, Saint-Rémy) by approximately nine months. Van Gogh's letter to Theo about the Café Terrace (Letter 691, September 1888) contains the first documented statement of his interest in nocturnal painting: "I have a tremendous desire to do a starry night with cypresses or — perhaps over a field of wheat. What a beautiful thing a starry night is."

The Café Terrace at Night is therefore the origin of the MoMA Starry Night — the specific moment when Van Gogh first articulated and realised the nocturnal star-and-warm-light composition that he would develop through three nocturnal paintings before arriving at the Saint-Rémy version. For a collector of Van Gogh works, the Café Terrace at Night has a specific significance: it is the painting in which the Starry Night was first conceived.

Chrome Yellow vs Prussian Blue: The Complementary Drama

The Café Terrace at Night's specific chromatic event is the warm-cool contrast between the chrome yellow terrace (the warm gaslit interior of the café and terrace furniture) and the Prussian blue night sky (the cool exterior atmosphere). Both are complementary — yellow and blue occupy opposite positions on the colour wheel — and both are at maximum saturation in Van Gogh's palette. The result is the most dramatically warm-cool contrasted composition in Van Gogh's Arles period: the warm terrace advances from the cool night, the cool night recedes behind the warm terrace, and the stars (pale yellow-white chrome yellow points on the Prussian blue field) repeat the warm-cool pair at the smallest scale across the upper third of the composition.

Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo: The Second Largest Van Gogh Collection

The Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, holds 90 Van Gogh paintings and 180 drawings — the second largest Van Gogh collection in the world after the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam (200+ paintings). The collection was assembled by Helene Kröller-Müller (1869–1939) between approximately 1907 and 1939, guided by the art critic and dealer H.P. Bremmer. Helene Kröller-Müller purchased the Café Terrace at Night in the 1920s or 1930s; the exact acquisition date is not publicly documented. The museum building — designed by Henry van de Velde — is located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park and requires a bicycle or park bus to reach from the entrance, which gives the visit a specific quality unlike any other major art museum.

Café Terrace for Dining Room: The Social Nocturnal

The Café Terrace at Night is the most contextually specific Van Gogh work for a dining room installation: it depicts an outdoor café terrace — the social eating space par excellence — at night under warm gaslight, with the cool night sky above and the warm yellow terrace below. The compositional argument for a dining room: this painting has been depicting people eating outdoors in warm light under a star-filled sky for 138 years. In your dining room, under warm LED 2700K, the chrome yellow terrace corresponds to your table's warm light, and the Prussian blue sky provides the cool nocturnal ambient above.

Best dining room installation: single deck (~$140) or diptych (~$230) above a sideboard or credenza on warm white or pale plaster wall. The chrome yellow advances as the warm dominant; the Prussian blue provides the cool accent; the pale yellow stars repeat the warm-cool pair at the smallest scale. Under warm LED 2700K, an actual candle on the dining table, and the Café Terrace above: the closest domestic approximation to the original painting condition.

DeckArts

Van Gogh — Nocturnal Works from ~$140

Café Terrace at Night (September 1888): painted outdoors at night with candles on hat brim. First starry night — 9 months before MoMA Starry Night. Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo. On Canadian maple from ~$140.

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FAQ

Where is Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night?

Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night (September 1888, oil on canvas, 81 × 65.5 cm) is at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, which holds 90 Van Gogh paintings and 180 drawings — the second largest Van Gogh collection in the world. The real café (Place du Forum, Arles) still operates, repainted in chrome yellow and blue to match the painting. DeckArts reproduces nocturnal Van Gogh works on Canadian maple from ~$140.

Is Café Terrace at Night the same as Starry Night?

No. Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night (September 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo) and the Starry Night (June 1889, Museum of Modern Art New York) are different paintings. The Café Terrace was painted 9 months earlier, outdoors at night in Place du Forum, Arles, depicting a gaslit café terrace. The MoMA Starry Night was painted from Van Gogh's asylum window in Saint-Rémy, combining observed and remembered landscape elements. The Café Terrace is the first documented Van Gogh nocturnal and the origin of his starry night subject matter. DeckArts from ~$140.

Summary

Van Gogh (Zundert 1853 – Auvers-sur-Oise 1890) painted Café Terrace at Night (September 1888, oil on canvas, 81 × 65.5 cm) outdoors at night with candles on hat brim and easel frame, Place du Forum, Arles. First documented Van Gogh nocturnal with stars; first articulation of Starry Night concept (Letter 691: "tremendous desire to do a starry night"). Predates Starry Night on Rhône by ~2 weeks; predates MoMA Starry Night by 9 months. Chrome yellow terrace (warm gaslight) vs Prussian blue sky (cool night): maximum complementary contrast. Stars = astronomical position for September 1888 Arles confirmed. Café du Forum still operates in 2026, repainted chrome yellow/blue. Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo (90 Van Gogh paintings, 180 drawings — 2nd largest collection). Dining room installation: chrome yellow terrace = warm dominant, Prussian blue = cool accent. DeckArts from ~$140. Canadian maple. UV archival 100+ years. Berlin. 30-day return.

About the Author

Stanislav Arnautov is the founder of DeckArts and a creative director from Ukraine based in Berlin.