Cafe Terrace at Night by Vincent van Gogh Triptych

Van Gogh created Café Terrace at Night in Arles, France, in mid-September 1888. Although the painting itself isn’t signed, Van Gogh discussed it in three of his letters. Visitors can now stand at the northeastern corner of the Place du Forum, where Van Gogh set up his easel. The site was renovated in 1990 and 1991 to match the scene depicted in the painting. From this spot, Van Gogh looked south towards the brightly lit terrace of the popular café and into the darkened rue du Palais, which leads up to a building structure (to the left, not shown) and, beyond it, the tower of a former church now known as Musée Lapidaire. To the right of the painting, Van Gogh depicted a lit shop and some branches of surrounding trees, but he left out the nearby Roman monuments beside the shop.