Art of the Day: Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, September 1888. Oil on canvas, 28.5 × 36.3 in. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven.
Before moving into the Yellow House in Arles, Vincent van Gogh found temporary lodging above the nearby Café de la Gare. Although he was friendly with the cafés owner, Joseph Ginoux, the two had argued over rent payments. "To revenge myself for paying him so much money for nothing," he told his brother Theo, "I offered to paint the whole of his rotten joint."
In Van Gogh's view of the The Night Café, Joseph Ginoux can be seen standing proudly beside the billiard table in his white coat and apron.
Vincent van Gogh, The Yellow House (The Street), September 1888. Oil on canvas, 72 x 91.5 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
In 1888, Vincent van Gogh rented four rooms in a dilapidated house on the place Lamartine in Arles, France. It was hardly the stuff of dreams, but to Vincent, it was paradise. Where others saw an interior of peeling whitewash, rough brick floors, and cramped rooms, Vincent saw a serene, churchlike space. "In this I can live and breathe, meditate and paint," he wrote. "I feel that I can make something lasting out of it."
