Night Café at Arles

In October 1888, Gauguin went to Arles at Vincent van Gogh's invitation, to try and build up an artist’s community which van Gogh had long dreamed to create. Gauguin arrived at Arles on October 20th. By December 25th, all hopes had vanished, all plans were destroyed. Gauguin and van Gogh were driven by widely different temperaments and motivations and the relationship finally failed when Gauguin made it clear he had no wish to be part of an ‘artist’s community’. Accounts tell of how van Gogh threatened Gauguin with a razor on hearing this after which Gauguin fled to stay the night in a hotel. In response to this rejection, van Gogh sliced off a part of his ear leading to his arrest and hospitalisation. Soon after this, Gauguin left Arles without ever seeing his tempestuous friend again, something that Van Gogh was to always remain bitter about.

At Arles, Gauguin and van Gogh worked on the same subjects. Night Café at Arles (Madame Ginoux) was a re-interpretation by Gauguin of two of Van Gogh's paintings: The Night Café and the Portrait of Madame Ginoux (see the painting from yesterday). Gauguin later reworked the canvas, adding the figure to the extreme left-hand side and the man conversing with the prostitutes. These two figures, and Madame Ginoux herself, had already been portrayed by Van Gogh in other works. The work is signed in two places: on the marble table and on the edge of the billiard table.