Café at Arles

The figure in the foreground is Madame Ginoux, wife of the owner of a café by the railway station. It was located right across from Van Gogh’s apartment in Arles, where Paul Gauguin stayed for a few months in 1888.

The model appears in the same pose as other works, and we can see a feeble Mona Lisa-like smile on her face. The formal reason for this smile is Madame Ginoux’s professional hospitality: she has just brought absinthe for the painter and is inviting him to sit with her at the table.

However, the gloomy atmosphere of the smoky café, where drunkards and prostitutes often met (and about which Van Gogh once said: “Here one can commit suicide, a crime or go crazy”), hint at a different interpretation of the lady’s look. Her smile is a little sad and tired, as if she spends every night at this table and knows exactly what her guests will order, when they will leave, and how they will behave.

The men on the left side of “Café at Arles” are motionless and depressive figures, painted in a completely generalized manner. We cannot even really see their eyes. The only hint of action in this painting takes place behind Madame Ginoux’s back: a group of three women and a man is obviously absorbed in conversation. The man is easily recognizable – he is Roulin, the talkative postman of Arles. According to memories of Van Gogh and Gaugin, both artists often disputed with him on social and political topics.

Based on the dress of his companions, we can assume that they are local prostitutes, whom the artists also knew well. When Gaugin planned their shared budget with Van Gogh, he added a separate expense item – “nightly health-related walks”. A few months after this painting was completed, Van Gogh brought his cut-off earlobe to Rachel, one of the prostitutes.

The figure of the cat sitting under the billiard table reveals some specifics of Gaugin’s painting manner. It is almost ethereal with just a generalized contour, and the background shines through its body. If we look closely, many other fragments of “Café at Arles” are painted in the same way. Colors are sometimes bright but not at all expansive. Paint is applied in a thin layer, through which the canvas texture can be seen.

When Van Gogh invited Gaugin to Arles, he hoped to find a collaborator, a friend to help him start a new southern school of painting. However, their personalities and aesthetic views were too different.