Interior of a Restaurant in Arles

This vibrant interior scene captures a modest restaurant near Van Gogh's Yellow House in Arles, where diners are gathered along the far side of a long table. The composition is anchored by three wine carafes in the foreground and punctuated by vases of flowers, through which a female server is framed. Empty chairs in the foreground invite the viewer into the scene, a recurring motif in Van Gogh's work that suggests both presence and absence.

Van Gogh never mentioned this painting in any surviving letter, making its precise dating a challenge for scholars. Art historian Pierre Leprohon placed it in late August 1888, partly based on the blossoming sunflowers visible in the scene. For years the interior was assumed to belong to the Hotel Carrel, but later research suggests it more likely depicts the restaurant adjacent to the Yellow House.

Some scholars have interpreted the arrangement of figures as Van Gogh's attempt at a modern Last Supper, drawing on Renaissance compositional conventions. The central serving figure and the arrangement of diners along one side of the table echo Leonardo da Vinci's famous fresco, suggesting Van Gogh was experimenting with sacred symbolism embedded within everyday life.