The night is more alive and more richly colored than the day,
declared Vincent van Gogh, whose iconic, post-Impressionistic starry sky first appeared in this painting. He painted this scene on the spot shortly after his 1888 arrival in Arles and to this day, visitors to the South of France flock to the cafe. The painting appears on the cover of this blank 64-page notebook. Although his works fetch record-breaking prices at modern auctions, Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 90) sold only a single painting in his lifetime. The artist labored in obscurity, creating hundreds of paintings and more than 1,000 drawings in the 10-year period before his suicide. His posthumous fame grew quickly, and his influence on Expressionism, Fauvism, and other branches of modern art is beyond calculation.
