Starry Night over the Rhone is a painting by Vincent van Gogh, executed in late September 1888. The painting shows Arles at night, the city where van Gogh lived at that time. The artist was fascinated of painting at night and the theme of lightning effects and the nightly sky is also to be found in several other paintings by van Gogh. The most famous one is without doubt Starry Night.

In a letter to his sister, Wilhelmina van Gogh wrote that the night seemed to him often „more colored than the day”. While some stars appear lemon or fire pink, others were rather green or bluish. To van Gogh it was clear that painting a starry night is much more than just ptting some white dots on black bleu.

The painting was first exhibited in 1889 at the annual exhibition of Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris, together with his painting Irises, submitted by his brother Theo. Currently the painting is to be seen at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

The Cafe Terrace at Night (French: Terrasse du café le soir or sometimes Café Terrace on the Place du Forum) is a painting by Vincent van Gogh, painted during September 1888 in Arles, France. Van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace as oil on canvas, having the dimensions of 81 cm × 65.5 cm. Currently it can be seen in the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (the Netherlands).

Though Café Terrace is not signed by van Gogh, Vincent mentioned it in several letters, thus ownership has never been a matter for discussions. Vincent described the painting in a letter to his sister Wilhelmina:

“On the terrace there are small figures of people drinking. An immense yellow lantern illuminates the terrace, the facade, the side walk and even casts light on the paving stones of the road which take a pinkish violet tone. The gables of the houses, like a fading road below a blue sky studded with stars, are dark blue or violet with a green tree. Here you have a night painting without black, with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green and in this surrounding the illuminated area colours itself sulfur pale yellow and citron green.”

In the same letter, van Gogh stressed again, how much he liked to paint at night. While the usual way to paint a nocturnal scene was to paint during day time he preferred to paint immediately. „It is the only way to get away from our conventional night with poor pale whitish light, while even a simple candle already provides us with the richest of yellows and oranges”, as he explained in the same letter.

This painting should not be confused with Night Cafe (Cafe de Nuit).

The Night Cafe is a painting executed in Arles during September 1888 Vincent van Gogh. The original title Le Café de nuit is included in the painting itself, just below the signature.

The Night Cafe shows the interior of the Cafe held by Joseph Michel and his wife Marie Ginoux in Arles. The scene happens at night, actually some 15 minutes after midnight as the clock in the back of the room indicates. The large room is typical for the nineteenth century, is lighted by gas lamps and features a pool table in the middle. Furthermore, tables and chairs. Being watched by the waiter, a couple and some few other lonely customers create a tired atmosphere.
A preliminary study for van Gogh’s Night Cafe shows the same scene but with a heavy use of the complementary colors red and green. Van Gogh himself stated about Night Cafe that he „… just finished a painting that represents the interior of a cafe at night lit by lamps. Some poor wanderers of night sleep in a corner. The room is painted red and the gas lamps cast a huge shadow of the billiard table on the floor. There are 6 or 7 different reds” in the painting. Van Gogh wanted to express with Night Cafe, that in cafe, one could ruin oneself, go insane or commit a crime.

Van Gogh’s painting Night Cafe was hailed by critics as masterpiece and is for sure one of his most famous works.