Café Terrace at Night

Café Terrace at Night is an oil painting Vincent van Gogh made in Arles, France, in 1888, showing a gas-lit café terrace on the Place du Forum under a starry sky. It belongs to the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands. In front of the canvas, the contrast between the warm terrace and the deep blue night is what holds the eye.

Where to see it

Café Terrace at Night is in the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, where it is recorded under the identifier KM 108.565. Works in a collection are not always on view, so check the Kröller-Müller Museum's official website for current display status before you plan your visit.

What to look for in person

A night scene painted without black

Step close and look at the sky: there is no black in it. Van Gogh told his sister Wil that he had made a night picture using blues, violets and greens, with the lamplit square set in pale sulphur yellow and lemon green. Compare the cool upper half of the canvas with the warm glow under the awning. Secondary sources identify Prussian blue and viridian in the dark passages, chrome lemon yellow for most of the yellows, and a mix of geranium lake with that yellow for the oranges.

The first starry sky

Above the rooftops, the stars appear as small bursts of pale colour scattered across the blue rather than as neat points. This is the first painting in which Van Gogh placed a starry background behind his subject. He worked on the spot, outdoors and in the dark, with the gas lighting of the terrace as his main source of light. In his letter to Wil he connected the scene to the opening of Guy de Maupassant's novel Bel-Ami, which evokes lighted cafés in Paris beneath a starry night.

Reading the square from the painter's spot

Van Gogh set up his easel at the north-eastern corner of the Place du Forum and faced south. Follow his line of sight: the lit terrace fills the left side, while the dark rue du Palais draws the eye back into the distance. At the far left edge, notice the blue door jamb. On the raised platform, three rows of green tables hold seated customers, and a waiter moves among them taking orders. On the right are a lighted shop and tree branches; the Roman remains beside that shop were left out.

About the painting

Van Gogh painted Café Terrace at Night in Arles in 1888. It is oil on canvas and measures 80.7 by 65.3 cm, a modest upright format that visitors can take in at a comfortable viewing distance. The scene is a café on the Place du Forum, observed directly from the square at night rather than composed later from memory; the Kröller-Müller Museum notes that he worked on site, in the dark, by the light of the gas lamps. The canvas carries no signature, yet its authorship is well documented, because Van Gogh referred to the picture in three of his letters. Writing to the painter Eugène Boch on 2 October 1888, he described it as a view of the café on the Place du Forum painted at night. In a letter to his sister Wil he dwelt on its colour, stressing that he had made a night painting without using black, and tied the subject to the opening pages of Maupassant's Bel-Ami. When the painting was first exhibited in 1891, it appeared under the title 'Café, le soir', meaning the café in the evening. The work is now held by the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands, under the identifier KM 108.565. The café itself still stands in Arles: it was later renamed Café van Gogh, and in the early 1990s it was restored and painted yellow to echo its appearance in the painting.

Key facts

Artist	Vincent van Gogh
Date	1888
Size	80.7 × 65.3 cm
Medium	oil paint, canvas
Collection	Kröller-Müller Museum

How to visit: Kröller-Müller Museum

Ede, Netherlands · Museum guide

Opening hours	Tue–Sun and public holidays 10:00–17:00 (museum and sculpture garden) Mon 21 Dec and Mon 28 Dec 2026 10:00–17:00 (special Christmas openings)
Closed	Mondays (except public holidays and announced exceptions); 1 January. Public holidays: Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, 25 and 26 December, King's Day 27 April, Liberation Day 5 May.
Admission	Adult (combined day ticket, museum + De Hoge Veluwe National Park) EUR 27.75 Youth 13–18 (combined day ticket) EUR 20.8 Child 6–12 (combined day ticket) EUR 6.95 Museumkaart / VriendenLoterij VIP-KAART holders (park only; museum free) EUR 13.85 (bring the card) Students / CJP / Cultuurkaart / EYCA (discounted museum ticket) EUR 6.95 (park ticket bought separately at the park entrance) Car / motorcycle in the park EUR 9.8 (parking at park entrance EUR 4.90) Audio tour (Podcatcher) EUR 2.5 (collection presentation only; max 90 minutes)
Free entry	Museum entry is free with a Museumkaart or VriendenLoterij VIP-KAART (park ticket still needed). Free with an ICOM or Vereniging Rembrandt card. One companion of a disabled-parking-permit holder enters the museum free. Park admission is required to reach the museum.
Booking	Booking is recommended; there is no timed entry.

The exhibition “Van Gogh, All Our Paintings” (15 Sep 2026 – 3 Jan 2027) requires an additional free exhibition ticket with a start time. From 4 October the collection tour follows a different route. No closure has been announced.

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Hours and prices can change. Please check the official website before you go. (Checked on: 2026-11-09)