The fabricated finances of the fake Van Gogh brasserie in Arles – Technologist

At the end of March, the managers of Café la Nuit in the southern French town of Arles couldn’t take advantage of the Easter holidays for one simple reason: the establishment had been closed for legal reasons since July 2023. Every day, tourists pose in front of the famous restaurant, an identical reconstruction of a bistro painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1888. The Café Terrace at Night is one of the Dutch artist’s best-known pieces of work. Exhibited in the Netherlands at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, it was painted during his stay in Arles. In another painting, Café at Night, Van Gogh painted the interior of the establishment and its billiard room.

“The reconstruction of the place is a job well done, except that it’s a rip-off,” smiled a neighboring shopkeeper. The café painted by Van Gogh was not located on Place du Forum, in the heart of Arles’ historic center, opposite the statue of Provençal literature Nobel Prize-winner Frédéric Mistral (1830-1914). Instead, it used to sit in Place Lamartine, near where the painter lived. However, the original site was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944. A porcelain store once stood where the fake Café la Nuit now stands.

Going back even further, this location was the site of the old Café Bœuf. An unknown author from the late 19^th century, whose work was quoted by Arles historian Remi Venture in his book Arles. Histoire, Territoires et Cultures (“Arles. History, Territory and Culture”) hailed the place as a landmark: “A historic café! A café that will perhaps go down in the annals of the town! (…) It is frequented by all the most serious people in town (…) It is Arles’ little stock exchange…”

Not paying taxes

In the early 2000s, three Arles residents had the idea of resurrecting the place painted by Van Gogh and setting it up on the Place du Forum. It was christened Café la Nuit. The trio was made up of a property developer, a heritage conservationist and Jean-Pierre Zaoui, a journalist in charge of the local branch of the daily newspaper La Provence. His daughter Julie Zaoui, who also worked as a journalist for the same newspaper, recalled: “My father was a man of ideas. He didn’t put any money into the project, but he was part of this group of friends who loved this town and wanted to do everything they could to revitalize it.”

The three made a deal with a Marseille businessman, Roland Zemmour, who became the owner of the establishment. The café was recreated down to the last detail, especially the façade, which was repainted yellow. Its owners turned it into one of the most iconic places in the city, which is classed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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