Van Gogh Journal — Café Terrace at Night 1888 Arles Post-Impressionism

In September 1888, Van Gogh sat outside a café on the Place du Forum in Arles and drew what he saw — reed pen in hand, gas lamps lit, cobblestones receding into the dark. The sketch came before the painting. This journal carries both: the original Post-Impressionist canvas on the front, and the ink drawing inverted into cyanotype blue on the back.

The front cover reproduces Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night (1888), oil on canvas, painted on the spot at night in Arles — warm golden yellows of the gas-lit terrace contrasting with deep Prussian blue of the starlit sky, rendered in his characteristic bold Post-Impressionist brushstrokes, now held at the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. The back cover presents Van Gogh's original reed pen ink sketch of the same scene, inverted into a cyanotype negative — white lines on deep blue — revealing the underlying compositional geometry: the diagonal street, the angular awning, the rhythmic tables and chairs that preceded the painted masterpiece.

Product Details

• Format: 5.75 × 8 in (14.6 × 20.3 cm)
• Pages: 150 lined pages (75 sheets)
• Perforated pages — tear out cleanly without damaging the binding
• Paper weight: 100 gsm, suitable for fountain pens and pencils
• Hardcover with matte finish, casewrap sewn binding
• Weight: 400 g (14.1 oz)

Perfect For

• Van Gogh admirers and Post-Impressionism enthusiasts
• Art lovers drawn to the relationship between drawing and painting
• France travelers and Arles visitors
• Night owls and café dreamers inspired by starlit skies
• Creative writers and artists working by lamplight
• Thoughtful gifts for art history lovers and journal keepers

Read more: The Sketch and the Painting: How Van Gogh Built Café Terrace at Night