Night Café Arles by Paul Gauguin, is a painting of Café de la Gare's interiors and a portrait of its owner Madam Ginoux. Its background depicts Van Gogh's postman friend Roulin. There is evidence from Van Gogh's painting - conversing with three prostitutes. This painting became part of a competition between the two artists, since Gauguin painted the interiors of the café that Van Gogh had already painted. However, he placed the owner in the foreground and put three prostitutes with the background's postman. His mood of the painting was friendly and lively. But Van Gogh's painting was an almost empty hall with a pool table. It neither had precise figures nor friendly people. Its mood was that of solitude and restlessness.
When he arrived in Arles, he convinced the hotel's proprietor, Madam Ginoux, to pose for an hour session with Van Gogh and him. They drew the same picture, but Van Gogh did an oil portrait while drawing a photo of her. They also painted the same landscape and used jute material for canvas. Because the fabric was course, they used heavy brush strokes and thick paint. Gauguin later reworked on the same Night café painting that van Gogh had done. He combined the two pictures that Van Gogh had already painted-one of the Night café Arles and Madam Ginoux's portrait. He added three prostitutes conversing with the postman and another figure to the extreme left. Van Gogh complained to his brother through a letter that Gauguin was recreating a picture that he had already painted.
They argued after Gogh found out his plans to leave. He accused Van Gogh of confronting him at knifepoint. Van Gogh decided to cut part of his left ear. He wrapped the tissue with a newspaper and gave it to a local prostitute. He then told her it was for remembering him, and he took him to the hospital. Gauguin left Arles. They did not see each other again, but they corresponded. At one time, he inquired from Gogh if they would set up a studio in Antwerp. Paul Gauguin's night café artwork is signed twice, on the marble table and the edge of the billboard. It's hanged in Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.
