Interior of a Restaurant in Arles

Interior of a Restaurant in Arles

Artist	Vincent van Gogh
Year	1888
Catalogue	F549a JH1573
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	65.5 cm × 81.0 cm (25.8 in × 31.9 in)
Location	Private collection

Interior of the Restaurant Carrel in Arles

Artist	Vincent van Gogh
Year	1888
Catalogue	F549 JH1572
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	54.0 cm × 64.5 cm (21.3 in × 25.4 in)
Location	Private collection

Interior of a Restaurant in Arles is a colored oil painting executed by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh on an industrially primed canvas of size 25 (Toile de 25 figure) in Arles, France, late August, 1888.

Accurately dating Interior of a Restaurant in Arles has been difficult, largely because van Gogh never mentioned the painting in any existing letter.^[1] Pierre Leprohon placed it in late August, 1888, due in part to the blossoming sunflowers^[2] and this has been generally accepted, including by leading 20th century van Gogh scholar Jan Hulsker.^[3] It is one of two studies Vincent created of this restaurant, the other being Interior of the Restaurant Carrel in Arles. Long supposed to be a view from inside the Hotel Carrel, de la Faille remarks they were probably the interior of the restaurant next to the Yellow House.^[4]

Genesis

While certainly a representation of diners in Arles (regardless of the cafe), in his article Van Gogh's Last Supper: Transforming "the guise of observable reality," ^[5] Baxter argues this is van Gogh's initial attempt in creating a Symbolist or sacred realism ^[6] Last Supper:

There are a number of similarities between this painting and Renaissance Last Suppers. In the center is a serving figure. Most of the diners are stretched along the far side of the table. Three wine carafes feature prominently in the foreground. Admittedly, not much, but it is a start ...

Although Hulsker argued that determining whether this or its sister painting came first would be speculation,^{[Notes 1]}^[3] Baxter offers the following argument: the second version is painted in a Cloisonnist style, giving it a stained glass window effect, a suitable medium for a Last Supper painting; and van Gogh has made a number of changes to the final version, most notably: adding bread and placing a new wine bottle before the central serving figure, giving it emphasis. Furthermore, van Gogh added more diners, including the figure hiding behind, what was once a vase of flowers, now appears to be a palm frond. Also, the flower arrangement on the left now resembles the top of a poll axe and is at about the same position where Simon Peter wields a blade in Leonardo da Vinci's version. But most importantly, right next to it, van Gogh has replicated Leonardo’s leaning image of the apostle John, van Gogh’s favorite.^[7]

Finally, van Gogh has enframed a female serving figure within vases of flowers, a motif he would return to months later with his Berceuse triptych.^[8] And lastly, all the empty chairs, which can be immediately recognizable from Vincent’s Chair, also his Bedroom in Arles, and he’d just bought twelve to furnish the Yellow House literally hours before beginning his final Symoblist's Last Supper Café Terrace at Night^[9]

Notes

↑ Hulsker did not believe JH1572 was a preliminary sketch for JH1573 and suggested that Vincent made two near identical copies because one was intended for the owner of the cafe.

References

↑ See www.vangoghletters.org
↑ Leprohon, Pierre, Tel fut Van Gogh, Editions du Sud, 1964, p 415
1 2 Hulsker p. 356
↑ De La Faille p. 232
↑ See Art History Supplement, Vol. 4, Issue 1, January, 2014
↑ See Silverman, Debora, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Search for Sacred Art, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000
↑ See Naifeh & Smith, 2011
↑ Van Uitert, Evert, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin in competition: Vincent’s original contribution, in Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 11, No. 2 (1980), pp. 81-106
↑ See www.vangoghletters.org Letter 677, note 2

Bibliography

de la Faille, Jacob-BaartThe Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1970. ISBN 978-1556608117
Hulsker, Jan. The Complete Van Gogh. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980. ISBN 0-7148-2028-8
Naifeh, Steven; Smith, Gregory White. Van Gogh: The Life. Profile Books, 2011. ISBN 978-1846680106
Tralbaut, Marc Edo. Vincent van Gogh, Macmillan, London 1969, ISBN 0-333-10910-4

Vincent van Gogh

General	Biography Chronology Health Death Posthumous fame Cultural depictions List of works Post-Impressionism Auberge Ravoux The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

Family	Theo van Gogh Wil van Gogh Johanna van Gogh-Bonger Andries Bonger Theo van Gogh (film director) Anton Mauve Johannes Stricker

Friends	Anthon van Rappard Paul Gachet Paul Gauguin Émile Bernard John Peter Russell Eugène Boch Anna Boch Agostina Segatori

Groups of works	Portraits Early works Lost early works Sien Peasant Character Studies Cottages Van Gogh's family in his art Montmartre Le Moulin de la Galette Asnières Seine Wheat Fields Flowering Orchards Almond Blossoms Langlois Bridge at Arles Paintings of Children Décoration for the Yellow House The Roulin Family Hospital in Arles Butterflies Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy The Enclosed Wheat Field at Saint-Rémy Copies by Vincent van Gogh Olive Trees Display at Les XX, 1890 Auvers size 30 canvases Auvers Double-squares and Squares Japonaiserie Sunflowers Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands) Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Paris) Meadows near Rijswijk and the Schenkweg

Paintings	Farmhouse Among Trees Cart with Black Ox Cart with Red and White Ox The Potato Eaters The Night Café Poppy Flowers Interior of a Restaurant in Arles The Yellow House Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) Cafe Terrace at Night Starry Night Over the Rhone Bedroom in Arles L'Arlésienne The Red Vineyard Falling Autumn Leaves Les Arènes View of Arles, Flowering Orchards Arles: View from the Wheat Fields Portrait of the Artist's Mother Ivy Farmhouse in Provence The Starry Night Enclosed Field with Peasant At Eternity's Gate Irises Portrait of Dr. Gachet Doctor Gachet's Garden in Auvers The Church at Auvers Wheatfield with Crows View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic Daubigny's Garden Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin Portrait of Père Tanguy Farms near Auvers Thatched Cottages and Houses White House at Night A Lane near Arles Blossoming Chestnut Branches A Meadow in the Mountains: Le Mas de Saint-Paul Wheat Field with a Lark Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette Road with Cypress and Star Tree Roots Sunset at Montmajour View of the Asylum and Chapel of Saint-Rémy Green Wheat Field with Cypress Crab on its Back Two Crabs Houses at Auvers Self-portrait (1889) Girl in White The 'Laakmolen' near The Hague

Other works	Drawings, water-colours and prints 87 Hackford Road Sorrow

Public collections	Van Gogh Museum Kröller-Müller Museum Musée d'Orsay

Portrayals	Lust for Life novel film Van Gogh (1991 film) Van Gogh (1948 film) Vincent Vincent & Theo Vincent in Brixton "Vincent and the Doctor"

Cataloguers	Jacob Baart de la Faille (1928 & 1970; F) Jan Hulsker (1978, revised 1989; JH)

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