The restaurant Rispal in Asnieres

Painted in 1887 during Van Gogh's Paris period, this view of the Restaurant Rispal in Asnières captures one of the suburban dining spots frequented by artists working in the area north of Paris. Van Gogh painted in and around Asnières multiple times, drawn to the suburban mix of leisure and labor along the Seine. Restaurant scenes were a staple subject of Impressionist painting — Manet, Renoir, and Degas had all explored the café and restaurant as a theater of modern urban life — and Van Gogh's version brings his characteristic directness to a setting associated with the pleasures of bourgeois Paris.

The composition is relatively direct — the restaurant facade viewed at close range with its striped awning and outdoor tables. Van Gogh applies paint in varied, confident strokes, with the architectural elements rendered more firmly than the surrounding vegetation. The palette is lighter and more varied than his Dutch period work, reflecting Impressionist influence.