Interior of a Restaurant in Arles

''Interior of a Restaurant in Arles'' is a colored oil painting by 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 it in any existing letter. Pierre Leprohon placed it in late August, 1888, due in part to the blossoming sunflowers; this has been generally accepted by authorities such as 20th century van Gogh scholar Jan Hulsker.Hulsker p. 356 It is one of two studies van Gogh created of the restaurant, the other being ''Interior of the Restaurant Carrel in Arles''. Long assumed 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''.

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,"'' Baxter argues this is van Gogh's initial attempt in creating a Symbolist or ''sacred realism'' ''Last Supper'':

Although Hulsker argued that determining whether this or its sister painting came first would be speculation,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. 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.

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. 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 Symbolist's ''Last Supper'' ''Café Terrace at Night''See www.vangoghletters.org Letter 677, note 2
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Notes

References

Bibliography

* de la Faille, Jacob-Baart''The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings''. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1970.
* Hulsker, Jan. ''The Complete Van Gogh''. Oxford: Phaidon, 1980.
* Naifeh, Steven; Smith, Gregory White. ''Van Gogh: The Life''. Profile Books, 2011.
* Tralbaut, Marc Edo. ''Vincent van Gogh'', Macmillan, London 1969,

{{Vincent van Gogh

Paintings of Arles by Vincent van Gogh
1888 paintings
Food and drink paintings