The Dance Hall at Arles c. 1888

Clearly painted from the imagination with Gauguin's encouragement, Van Gogh experiments with a close-up point-of-view suggesting a crowding into the dance hall, the artist himself caught up in the midst of the festive crowd rather than merely being an observer at the edge. At this time, following a violent quarrel with Gauguin, Van Gogh cut off his own ear.