{"id":2283,"date":"2019-09-23T11:59:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T11:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/?p=2283"},"modified":"2019-09-23T11:59:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T11:59:05","slug":"the-starry-nights-of-vincent-van-gogh-1-cafe-terrace-at-night-in-arles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/2019\/09\/23\/the-starry-nights-of-vincent-van-gogh-1-cafe-terrace-at-night-in-arles\/","title":{"rendered":"The Starry Nights of Vincent Van Gogh (1) :  Caf\u00e9 Terrace at Night, in Arles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>&#8220;In which space do our dreams live? What is the dynamism of our nightlife? Is the space of our sleep really a rest area? Is it not rather an incessant and confused movement? On all these problems we have little light because we do not find, when the day comes, only fragments of night life.<\/em> &#8220;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">In these texts written from 1942 to 1962 (gathered in <em>Le Droit de r\u00eaver<\/em>, PUF, collection &#8220;Quadrige&#8221;, 2010), Gaston Bachelard celebrates the difficult synthesis of imagination and reflection that seems to him to guarantee, for writers as for artists such as Baudelaire and Van Gogh&#8217;s, fidelity to dreamlike values. &#8220;<em>A Van Gogh&#8217;s yellow is like an alchemical gold, a gold butine like a solar honey. It is never simply the gold of the wheat, the flame, or the straw chair; it is a gold forever individualized by the endless dreams of genius. It no longer belongs to the world, but it is the good of a man, the heart of a man, the elementary truth found in the contemplation of a lifetime.<\/em> &#8220;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2290\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2290\" style=\"width: 1294px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Coucher-de-soleil-sur-champ-de-ble\u0301-pre\u0300s-dArles-1888.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2290\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Coucher-de-soleil-sur-champ-de-ble\u0301-pre\u0300s-dArles-1888.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1294\" height=\"1029\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Coucher-de-soleil-sur-champ-de-ble\u0301-pre\u0300s-dArles-1888.jpg 1294w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Coucher-de-soleil-sur-champ-de-ble\u0301-pre\u0300s-dArles-1888-450x358.jpg 450w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Coucher-de-soleil-sur-champ-de-ble\u0301-pre\u0300s-dArles-1888-768x611.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Coucher-de-soleil-sur-champ-de-ble\u0301-pre\u0300s-dArles-1888-1024x814.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1294px) 100vw, 1294px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2290\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coucher de soleil sur champ de ble\u0301 pre\u0300s d\u2019Arles (Sunset on wheatfield near Arles), 1888<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">In the series of notes that I begin here, I will analyze in detail the extraordinary reports that Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1889) maintained with the vision of the Proven\u00e7al sky.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">On February 20, 1888, aged 35, Vincent, the man from dark-heavened Northern Europe, moved to the old city of Arles, in the South of France. Although he arrived in the city by a snowy day, he discovered the Proven\u00e7al light, brighting day and night. Stunned by the transparency of the firmament, he writes to his brother Theo: &#8220;<em>The deep blue sky was spotted with clouds deeper blue than the fundamental blue of an intense cobalt, and others of a blue clearer, like the blue whiteness of the milky ways. In the background, the stars sparkled, clear, green, yellow, white, lighter pink, diamond-like diamonds.<\/em> &#8221; From then sprout in him the crazy project of painting the sky.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2291\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2291\" style=\"width: 688px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Van_Gogh_self_portrait_as_an_artist-1888.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2291\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Van_Gogh_self_portrait_as_an_artist-1888.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"688\" height=\"914\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Van_Gogh_self_portrait_as_an_artist-1888.jpg 688w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Van_Gogh_self_portrait_as_an_artist-1888-339x450.jpg 339w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 688px) 100vw, 688px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2291\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Van_Gogh : Self portrait as an artist, Arles1888<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">On April 12, he wrote to his friend the painter \u00c9mile Bernard: &#8220;<em>A starry sky, for example, well \u2014 it\u2019s a thing that I\u2019d like to try to do, just as in the daytime I\u2019ll try to paint a green meadow studded with dandelions<\/em>&#8220;. He hesitates however and procrastinates, intimidated by the subject. On June 19, he expressed his hesitation to \u00c9mile Bernard: &#8220;<em>But when will I do the starry sky, then, that painting that\u2019s always on my mind? Alas, alas, [&#8230;] the most beautiful paintings are those one dreams of while smoking a pipe in one\u2019s bed, but which one doesn\u2019t make. But it\u2019s a matter of attacking them nevertheless, however incompetent one may feel vis-\u00e0-vis the ineffable perfections of nature\u2019s glorious splendours.<\/em> &#8220;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">On 9th (or 10th) of July 1888 he confesses to Theo: &#8220;<em>But the sight of the stars always makes me dream in as simple a way as the black spots on the map, representing towns and villages, make me dream<\/em>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">From word to deed takes place between 9 and 14 September. In fact, he begins on the 9th a long letter addressed to his sister Willemien: &#8220;<em>I definitely want to paint a starry sky now. It often seems to me that the night is even more richly coloured than the day, coloured in the most intense violets, blues and greens. <\/em><em>If you look carefully you\u2019ll see that some stars are lemony, others have a pink, green, forget-me-not blue glow. And without labouring the point, it\u2019s clear that to paint a starry sky it\u2019s not nearly enough to put white spots on blue-black.<\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2292\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2292\" style=\"width: 1017px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Portraits-Bernard-Theo-Will.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2292\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Portraits-Bernard-Theo-Will.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1017\" height=\"459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Portraits-Bernard-Theo-Will.jpg 1017w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Portraits-Bernard-Theo-Will-450x203.jpg 450w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Portraits-Bernard-Theo-Will-768x347.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1017px) 100vw, 1017px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2292\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right, self-portrait of Emile Bernard, friend of Vincent, photographic portraits of his brother Theo and his sister Willemien.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">He did not post it and resumed his letter on the 14th. In the meantime he painted his first starry night, the painting is called Cafe Terrace at night (currently at the Kr\u00f6ller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, the Netherlands):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">&#8220;<em>I started this letter several days ago, up to here, and I\u2019m picking it up again now.\u00a0 <span id=\"zone-pb-2r-5-icon\" class=\"fac-icon\"><\/span>I was interrupted precisely by the work that a new painting of the outside of a caf\u00e9 in the evening has been giving me these past few days. On the terrace, there are little figures of people drinking. A huge yellow lantern lights the terrace, the fa\u00e7ade, the pavement, and even projects light over the cobblestones of the street, which takes on a violet-pink tinge. The gables of the houses on a street that leads away under the blue sky studded with stars are dark blue or violet, with a green tree. Now there\u2019s a painting of night without black. With nothing but beautiful blue, violet and green, and in these surroundings the lighted square is coloured pale sulphur, lemon green. I enormously enjoy painting on the spot at night<\/em>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2293\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2293\" style=\"width: 596px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Terrasse-de-cafe\u0301.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2293\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Terrasse-de-cafe\u0301.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"596\" height=\"735\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Terrasse-de-cafe\u0301.jpg 596w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Terrasse-de-cafe\u0301-365x450.jpg 365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2293\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Terrasse de caf\u00e9 le soir<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">And on September 16th, he describes his painting to Theo more briefly: &#8220;<em>The second [painting of this week] shows the outside of a <span id=\"zone-pb-1v-3-icon\" class=\"fac-icon\"><\/span> caf\u00e9, lit on the terrace outside by a large gas-lamp in the blue night, with a patch of starry blue sky.represents the outside of a cafe illuminated on the terrace by a large gas lantern in the blue night. with a corner of starry blue sky.<\/em> [&#8230;] <em>The question of painting night scenes or effects, on the spot and actually at night, interests me enormously.<\/em>&#8220;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">We know exactly where the painting was executed: Place des hommes, now renamed Place du Forum. The map of Arles in Van Gogh&#8217;s time, shown below, shows its location, as well as other intramural sites where Vincent settled to paint <em>La Maison jaune (The Yellow House<\/em>) in September 1888), the <em>Pont m\u00e9tallique de Trinquetaille (the Metallic Bridge of Trinquetaille<\/em>) in October 1888) and <em>Nuit \u00e9toil\u00e9e sur le Rh\u00f4ne<\/em> <em>(Starry Night on the Rhone)<\/em>, on which I will return at length in the following post.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/planArles-copie.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2294\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/planArles-copie.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1260\" height=\"948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/planArles-copie.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/planArles-copie-450x339.jpg 450w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/planArles-copie-768x578.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/planArles-copie-1024x770.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The caf\u00e9, which at that time was called the Terrace, has since been renamed Caf\u00e9 Van Gogh. Fortunately, the historic site has not been ransacked by modern constructions as is so often the case elsewhere, and even today the walker immediately recognizes the layout of the streets and buildings painted by Vincent, day and night.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2299\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2299\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Terrasse2018jour-nuit-3.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2299\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Terrasse2018jour-nuit-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"891\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Terrasse2018jour-nuit-3.jpg 630w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Terrasse2018jour-nuit-3-318x450.jpg 318w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2299\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Caf\u00e9 Van Gogh nowadays. Night photography shows the light pollution characteristic of urban lighting, violent and useless projectors erasing all traces of the firmament. A huge loss of cosmic feeling &#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Now a question that arises is: are the stars he has represented on the canvas randomly arranged, or do they correspond to a real configuration of the night sky?<\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In the preparatory study for the painting shown below, the sky is just sketched with wiggling lines, without any star. It is quite possible that Vincent made this study during the day .<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2300\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2300\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Cafe_Terrace_at_Night_1888.jpeg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2300\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Cafe_Terrace_at_Night_1888.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Cafe_Terrace_at_Night_1888.jpeg 480w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Cafe_Terrace_at_Night_1888-343x450.jpeg 343w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2300\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Preparatory study for the painting, September 1888. Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">However, in view of van Gogh&#8217;s epistolary statements, everything suggests that he wanted to show a certain realism in the pictorial transposition of the firmament seen at night. Since, according to the letter that Vincent sent to his sister Willemien, we know the date of execution (between 9 and 14 September) within a few days, it is possible to check using a reconstitution software astronomical what portion of sky was represented by Vincent, seen from the Forum Square in a direction very close to the South (this is the orientation of the street).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Let&#8217;s use the excellent Stellarium software. Position us at the GPS coordinates of the Forum Square, namely 43 \u00b0 40 &#8216;39.7 &#8220;N 4 \u00b0 37&#8217; 37.6&#8221; E, set the date from September 9, 1888 at about 10 pm, let us look south and let the map scroll to find a stellar configuration possibly close to that of the table, between 20 and 30\u00b0 of declination (such is the height of the stars represented in the table).<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">I once read an article (which I lost references) claiming that it is the legs of the constellation Scorpio, with the stars \u03b1 (the brilliant Antares), \u03c3, \u03b2, \u03b4 and Scorpion \u03c0. The problem is that between 9 and 14 September, the constellation Scorpio is only above the horizon until 17h UT, after it passes below and can not be seen, even at the beginning of the night which in September falls well later. Also at that time the Moon was at its first crescent in the legs of Scorpio. This is not the correct identification.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/detail-le-ciel-etoile-1888-.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2301\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/detail-le-ciel-etoile-1888-.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/detail-le-ciel-etoile-1888-.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/detail-le-ciel-etoile-1888--450x297.jpg 450w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/detail-le-ciel-etoile-1888--768x506.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Let&#8217;s now examine the map of the sky seen between 9 and 14 September 1888 around 22h in the southern extension of the Forum Square: we see the stars of the constellation Aquarius up to magnitude 5, with its characteristic configuration shaped from Y.<\/div>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2302\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2302\" style=\"width: 922px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Arles-10-9-1888-22h-Magn5.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2302\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Arles-10-9-1888-22h-Magn5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"922\" height=\"748\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Arles-10-9-1888-22h-Magn5.jpg 922w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Arles-10-9-1888-22h-Magn5-450x365.jpg 450w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Arles-10-9-1888-22h-Magn5-768x623.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2302\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stars of the Aquarius constellation visible to the naked eye between 9 and 14 September 1888 at 22h in the direction of the Cafe de la Terrasse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00a0I added the profile of the buildings hiding part of the field of view, traced the characteristic lines connecting the most brilliant stars, and compared with Vincent&#8217;s painting:<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Comparaison.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2283]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2303\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Comparaison.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"589\" height=\"784\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Comparaison.jpg 589w, https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2019\/09\/Comparaison-338x450.jpg 338w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 589px) 100vw, 589px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The identification seems pretty convincing &#8230; It also reinforces the epistolary statements in which Vincent expressed his concern to represent a real sky and not imaginary.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"p indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">This will be even more spectacular in the two famous starry nights painted in Arles in 1888 and Saint-R\u00e9my in 1889. I will analyze them in the same way in the following posts, with the key to very unexpected surprises &#8230;<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;In which space do our dreams live? What is the dynamism of our nightlife? Is the space of our sleep really a rest area? Is it not rather an incessant and confused movement? On all these problems we have little light because we do not find, when the day comes, only fragments of night life. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/2019\/09\/23\/the-starry-nights-of-vincent-van-gogh-1-cafe-terrace-at-night-in-arles\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Starry Nights of Vincent Van Gogh (1) :  Caf\u00e9 Terrace at Night, in Arles<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8,198,13],"tags":[277,276,6,275],"class_list":["post-2283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-astronomy","category-plastic-arts","tag-arles","tag-starry-night","tag-une","tag-van-gogh"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Starry Nights of Vincent Van Gogh (1) : Caf\u00e9 Terrace at Night, in Arles, by Jean-Pierre Luminet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.futura-sciences.com\/e-luminet\/2019\/09\/23\/the-starry-nights-of-vincent-van-gogh-1-cafe-terrace-at-night-in-arles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Starry Nights of Vincent Van Gogh (1) : Caf\u00e9 Terrace at Night, in Arles, by Jean-Pierre Luminet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;In which space do our dreams live? What is the dynamism of our nightlife? Is the space of our sleep really a rest area? Is it not rather an incessant and confused movement? 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