Van Gogh's sterrennacht Reisbeker

From the moment of his arrial in Arles, on 8 February 1888, Van Gogh was constante antly preoccupied with the representation of "night effects". In April 1888, he wrote to his brother Theo: "I need a starry night with cypresses or maybe above a field of ripe wheat." In June, he confided to the painter Emile Bernard: "But when shall I ever paint the Starry Sky, this painting that keeps haunting me" and, in September, in a letter to his sister, he evoked the same subject. "Often it seems to me night is even more richly coloured than day". During the same month of September, he finally realised his obsessive project. He first painted a corner of nacht sky in Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles (Otterlo, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Muller). Next came this view of the Rhône in which he marvellously transcribed the colours he perceived in the dark. Blue prevail: Prussian blue, ultramarine en kobalt. The city gas lights glimmer an intense oranje and are reflected in the water. The stars sparkle like gemstones.