Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night — Hand-Painted Oil Reproduction

A hand-painted Café Terrace at Night from our studio — note the warm gaslight spilling onto the street.

Price by canvas size

Estimates only — the final quote depends on your exact size, frame and destination. Frame and shipping quoted separately. Duties and import taxes are the buyer's responsibility (DAP).

Why this painting needs a real brush

Café Terrace at Night is a painting about two lights meeting: the cold blue of a Provence night and the warm gaslight of the café awning. Getting that contrast right is not a matter of printing the right pixels — it depends on how the paint itself sits on the canvas. The blue sky is laid in directional strokes that let the darker underlayer show through; the yellow terrace is painted thicker so it genuinely glows.

Stroke detail — the paint stands off the canvas, which is why the lit areas read as light rather than as yellow ink.

A print reproduces the colours and loses the light. That is the whole difference.

The painting itself

Van Gogh painted this in Arles in September 1888, working outdoors at night — unusual for him, and he wrote to his brother Theo that he found the night "more richly coloured than the day." It is one of three night paintings from that period, alongside Starry Night Over the Rhône and the later The Starry Night.

Notably, there is no black anywhere in the sky. The darkness is built from deep blues, violets and greens — which is exactly why the yellow terrace feels so luminous beside it. A painter copying this has to mix the night, not just reach for a dark tube.

How our painters reproduce it

1. Composition and ground. The perspective of the terrace and street is laid out in a thin underpainting, matched to your chosen canvas proportions.
2. Building the night. The sky is worked in layers of ultramarine, cobalt and viridian, with the stroke direction following Van Gogh's — this is what gives the sky its movement.
3. The gaslight. The yellow awning, lit windows and the reflected cobbles go on thicker, in warm chromes and Naples yellow, so the light genuinely sits forward in the picture plane.
4. Drying and inspection. Layers need days to set. Then the canvas is checked against the reference for colour temperature, composition and stroke character.

Where it hangs best

• Living room or lounge — the classic placement; the warm light suits evening rooms.
• Dining room or bar area — the café subject matter is a natural fit.
• Hotel lounge, restaurant, wine bar — frequently ordered at the larger sizes for hospitality walls.
• Home office — the deep blues read calm rather than busy behind a desk.

Framing

Gold suits the warm gaslight, matte black makes the blues read deeper, walnut warms a traditional room, or choose gallery-wrap canvas with no frame. Quoted separately and packed with corner protection.

How ordering works

1. Tell us the size and frame. WhatsApp is fastest — a wall photo helps if you want sizing advice.
2. Get an exact quote with the timeline confirmed in writing.
3. 70% deposit starts the painting — bank transfer, PayPal, credit card or Wise.
4. We send photographs of the finished painting. You approve before anything ships; if something clearly does not match your order notes, tell us and we adjust it.
5. Pay the 30% balance, then we ship — tracked worldwide, rolled in a rigid tube or crated if framed.

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