OTTERLO.- The Kröller-Müller Museum holds boasts of Vincent van Gogh's most famous paintings: Terrace of a Café at Night (Place du Forum). People travel here from all over the world just to admire the painting in real life. The museum receives many loan requests from other museums, but the work has (until now) rarely been loaned out, precisely because it is a highlight of our collection. That is about to change.

On tour

Terrace of a Café at Night will not be on display at the museum until September 2026. For the first time in twenty years, the painting is on tour; it will be exhibited in Kobe, Fukushima and Tokyo in Japan. This is a golden opportunity for Van Gogh enthusiasts in Japan, but at the Kröller-Müller Museum we will have to do without Terrace of a Café at Night for a year. To give visitors a chance to experience the work in a different way, we are bringing it to life at the museum. A life-size replica of the Place du Forum has been created, offering visitors the opportunity to take a photo of themselves in a Van Gogh painting.

Your own Van Gogh in the museum

Be inspired by countless creative interpretations of Terrace of a Café at Night. You will certainly not be the first; you can see the café terrace as a drawing, a stage set or even a costume. Are you also inspired by Van Gogh? Create your own version of Terrace of a Café at Night and send it to us. We will include a selection of the entries in the presentation. So you might just see your work in the museum.

The painting

In September 1888 Vincent van Gogh captured this spot in his Terrace of a Café at Night (Place du Forum). It was the first time he painted a starry night. Van Gogh paints the scene on location in the evening when the gas lamps are lit. Remarkably, he does not paint the night in conventional grey and black tones, but rather with a multitude of colours. The warm, yellow light on the terrace contrasts beautifully with the dark blue of the starry sky.