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The Night Café in the Place Lamartine in Arles

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Details
Oil on canvas
70.0 x 89.0 cm.
Arles: 5-8 September 1888
F 463, JH 1575

New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery

History
Provenance
Exhibitions

Analysis
See below


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The Night Café in the Place Lamartine in Arles is one of Vincent van Gogh's best known paintings from his Arles period. The work depicts the interior of the Café de la Gare, an all night tavern owned by Joseph-Michel Ginoux and his wife Marie.

Van Gogh often visited brothels and disreputable drinking establishments. The desolate setting of the Café de la Gare served as an inspiration for Van Gogh who wrote of the painting to his brother, Theo:

In my picture of the "Night Café" I have tried to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad or commit a crime. So I have tried to express, as it were, the powers of darkness in a low public house, by soft Louis XV green and malachite, contrasting with yellow-green and harsh blue-greens, and all this in an atmosphere like a devil's furnace, of pale sulphur.

Letter 534
9 September 1888

The subject matter conveys a sense of loneliness and desperation. The slouched drinkers and lone figure (the owner, Joseph-Michel Ginoux) behind the billiard table, along with the skewed perspective and stark colouring, create a jarring and disturbing work. Van Gogh himself compared the tone of the painting as delirium tremens in full swing (Letter 534).

In another letter to Theo, Van Gogh acknowledged the disturbing nature of the painting, but felt that this was, in fact, why the work was successful:

The idea of the "The Sower" continues to haunt me all the time. Exaggerated studies like the "Sower" and like this "Night Café" usually seem to me atrociously ugly and bad, but when I am moved by something, as now by this little article on Dostoievsky, then these are the only ones which appear to have any deep meaning.

Letter 535
9 September 1888

As a general rule, Van Gogh only signed the works that he felt were the most well executed. In the lower right corner of this painting Van Gogh wrote "Vincent le café de nuit".

Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh's friend and fellow artist, would come to live with Vincent shortly after The Night Café was painted. In fact, Gauguin himself would paint his own version. The atmosphere of the two works is quite different. In Van Gogh's version, one finds isolation and despair, while Gauguin's is more lively with a focus on Madame Ginoux. Gauguin wrote to Emile Bernard about his painting: " . . . a café that Vincent likes a lot and that I like less. At bottom it's not my sort of thing and local low life doesn't work for me. I like it well enough when others do it but it always makes me uneasy."

The different flavours of both works may reflect the personalities of the two artists. Gauguin, being more sociable and outgoing, creates a lighter and more bustling atmosphere, whereas Van Gogh, troubled by his own isolation and inner torments chose to produce a more disturbing environment.1

In comparison . . . .

Vincent van Gogh also produced a watercolour version of Night Café to send to his brother, Theo (shown at right).

Click here to the watercolour version of Van Gogh's 'Night Café'

On site . . . .

A brief video of a viewing of Night Café at the Yale University Art Gallery.


Footnotes

1. The Night Café: Gauguin's vs. Van Gogh's.


Provenance

Owner City Country Date acquired Comments
Johanna van Gogh-Bonger Amsterdam Netherlands

Bernheim-Jeune Art Gallery Paris France April, 1907  
Ivan Morosov Moscow Russia 1908 Acquired at the exhibition of the Golden Fleece, Moscow.
Museum of Modern Art Moscow Russia

Knoedler Art Gallery New York United States
 
Stephen C. Clark New York United States 1933 or 1934  
Yale University Art Gallery New Haven (Conn.) United States 1961 Stephen Carlton Clark bequest.


Exhibitions

Year City Country Venue Exhibition Name Start Date End Date No.
1905 Amsterdam Netherlands Stedelijk Museum Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh 15 July 1905 1 August 1905 133
1905 Utrecht Netherlands Vereeniging 'Voor de Kunst' Tentoonstelling van schilderijen door Vincent van Gogh 10 September 1905 1 October 1905 43
1906 Rotterdam Netherlands Kunstzalen Oldenzeel Tentoonstelling Vincent van Gogh 26 January 1906 28 February 1906 39
1908 Moscow Russia
Exp. 'Toison d'or'  
 
 
1928 Moscow Russia Museum of Modern Art  
 
 
81
1934 Chicago United States Art Institute of Chicago A Century of Progress, Paintings and Sculpture 1 June 1934 1 November 1934 312
1934-35 New York United States Museum of Modern Art Modern Work of Art 20 November 1934 20 January 1935 17
1935-36 New York United States Museum of Modern Art Vincent van Gogh 5 November 1935 5 January 1936 34
1936 Philadelphia United States Philadelphia Museum of Art Vincent van Gogh 11 January 1936 10 February 1936 34
1936 Boston United States Museum of Fine Arts Vincent van Gogh 19 February 1936 15 March 1936 34
1936 Cleveland (1) United States Cleveland Museum of Art Vincent van Gogh 25 March 1936 19 April 1936 34
1936 San Francisco United States California Palace of the Legion of Honor Vincent van Gogh 28 April 1936 24 May 1936 34
1936 Kansas City United States William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Atkins Museum Vincent van Gogh 9 June 1936 10 July 1936 34
1936 Minneapolis United States Minneapolis Institute of Arts Vincent van Gogh 20 July 1936 17 August 1936 34
1936 Chicago United States Art Institute of Chicago Vincent van Gogh 26 August 1936 23 September 1936 34
1936 Detroit United States Detroit Institute of Arts Vincent van Gogh 6 October 1936 28 October 1936 34
1940 New York (2) United States New York World's Fair Masterpieces of Art  
 
360
1940 Chicago United States Arts Club Origins of Modern Art  
 
32
1940 New York (1) United States Museum of Modern Art Modern Masters from European and American Collections 26 January 1940 24 March 1940 10
1942 New York United States Paul Rosenberg Vincent van Gogh Masterpieces 5 January 1942 31 January 1942 1
1943 New York (2) United States Wildenstein and Co. The Art and Life of Vincent van Gogh. Loan Exhibition in Aid of American and Dutch War Relief 6 October 1943 7 November 1943 32
1948 New York (1) United States M. Knoedler and Co. Vincent van Gogh: 14 Masterpieces 30 March 1948 17 April 1948 6
1948 Cleveland United States Cleveland Museum of Art Vincent van Gogh 3 November 1948 12 December 1948 11
1949-50 New York United States Metropolitan Museum of Art Vincent van Gogh Paintings and Drawings. A Special Loan Exhibition 21 October 1949 15 January 1950 80a
1950 Chicago United States Art Institute of Chicago Vincent van Gogh Paintings and Drawings. A Special Loan Exhibition 1 February 1950 16 April 1950 80a
1955 New York (3) United States Museum of Modern Art Paintings from Private Collections 31 May 1955 5 September 1955 45
1958 New York (1) United States Metropolitan Museum of Art Paintings from Private Collections, Summer Loan Exhibition 1 July 1958 1 September 1958 65
1959 New York (2) United States Metropolitan Museum of Art Paintings from Private Collections, Summer Loan Exhibition 7 July 1959 6 September 1959 51
1960 New Haven United States Yale University Art Gallery Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, Collected by Yale Alumni 19 May 1960 26 June 1960 70
1960 New York (2) United States Metropolitan Museum of Art Paintings from Private Collections, Summer Loan Exhibition 6 July 1960 4 September 1960 47
1990 Amsterdam Netherlands Van Gogh Museum Vincent van Gogh. Schilderijen 30 March 1990 29 July 1990 58
1993 Essen Germany Museum Folkwang Morosow und Schtschukin, die Russischen Sammler: Monet bis Picasso 25 June 1993 31 October 1993  
1993-94 Moscow Russia Pushkin Museum Morosow und Schtschukin, die Russischen Sammler: Monet bis Picasso 30 November 1993 30 January 1994  
1994 St. Petersburg Russia Hermitage Morosow und Schtschukin, die Russischen Sammler: Monet bis Picasso 16 February 1994 16 April 1994  
2006 Williamstown, Massachusetts United States Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute The Clark Brothers Collect: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings from the Collections of Sterling and Stephen Clark 4 June 2006 4 September 2006 1
2007 New York (2) United States Metropolitan Museum Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings: The Clark Brothers Collect 22 May 2007 19 August 2007 ---
2008-09 New York United States Museum of Modern Art Van Gogh at the Colours of the Night 21 September 2008 5 January 2009 34


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