A café terrace in Arles under a gas lamp, a cobbled street, and above it a deep blue sky full of stars. Van Gogh painted it on the spot, at night, in September 1888. It was the first time he painted a starry sky.

He wrote to his sister that he was pleased to paint a night without black, using only blue, violet and green. The café is still there on the Place du Forum, repainted yellow to match.