Restaurant Rispal at Asnières (Le restaurant Rispal à Asnières)

Van Gogh lived in Paris from March 1886 until February 1888 and regularly represented the industrial suburb of Asnières, to the northwest of the capital. Van Gogh was fascinated by scenes of café life, and here he represented a working-class restaurant, the name of which appears both on the side of the building and on a placard between two prominent trees to the right. The foreground figure wears the blue worker's smock that van Gogh himself is known to have worn at this time. The relatively uniform flecks of bright color, particularly in the foliage, indicate van Gogh's awareness of the work of the pointillists.