Speakasso › Paintings › Café Terrace at Night
Café Terrace at Night
Vincent van Gogh, 1888
A warm September evening on the Place du Forum in Arles. Beneath the café's yellow awning a gas lamp glows, customers sit at the tables, a waiter in white carries a tray, and stars are scattered above the dark houses. Van Gogh painted on the spot, at night, by lamplight, and deliberately without black: the darkness is made of blues and violets. He wrote to his sister that night is 'richer in colour than the day'. The café on the square still exists and is painted the same yellow.
What is in the painting
- Yellow awning. The bright yellow wall and canopy of the café fill the left half.
- Lit cobblestones. The pavement shimmers in orange and green strokes.
- Dark house at right. A blue building with an open doorway and a bare tree above it.
Did you know? This was Van Gogh's first night scene with a starry sky, soon followed by Starry Night Over the Rhône and The Starry Night.
About the painting
- Artist
- Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
- Year
- 1888
- Style
- Post-Impressionism
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 80.7 × 65.3 cm
- Where to see it
- Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
How to describe it in Speakasso
In Speakasso you describe the painting in your own words and an AI draws it again. These words are forbidden in this round — each one costs 15 points:
A description that scores high
On the left, a bright yellow awning and wall glow over outdoor tables where people sit, and a man in a white apron carries a tray. A big hanging gas light shines under the awning. The cobblestones shimmer in orange and green. On the right, dark blue buildings and a bare tree; above, a deep blue evening sky sprinkled with little white-yellow sparkles like flowers. No black at all, thick lively brushstrokes.
The tricky part: Describe the sky dots as little white-yellow flower-like sparkles in deep blue, and the server as a man in a white apron with a tray.
The method behind it: what is painted first, then where things are, then colour and light, then the style. Read the full guide
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