Van Gogh Tote Bag - Dinner with Girl with a Pearl Earring Museum Art Parody

Van Gogh Tote Bag: Dinner on the Arles Terrace

What happens when Vincent van Gogh shares a cafe table with Vermeer's most famous sitter? This Van Gogh tote bag answers that question with a wink. It is a lightweight, water-resistant polyester canvas bag, printed in full color and sized for a tablet. Van Gogh slumps in a red shirt, orange beard and chin in hand. Across the table, the Girl with a Pearl Earring sips from a white cup, her turban blue and yellow. Behind them glows the orange awning of Cafe Terrace at Night, under a deep blue sky.

Product Details

• Material: Lightweight polyester canvas, water-resistant
• Weight: 2 oz
• Dimensions: 13 in W x 15 in H, with a 9 in handle drop
• Handles: Black woven handles with stitched interior seams
• Print: Full-color digital print on both sides of the bag
• Opening: Open top with a narrow opening that fits a tablet or small laptop. Too narrow for a binder.
• Product Number: EV1003

The Painting Behind the Table

Van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace at Night in Arles around 16 September 1888. He worked on the spot, after dark. The painting now hangs in the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo. He avoided black and built the night from blues, violets, and greens. He believed the yellow gaslight made the blue sky glow more deeply. Astronomers later found that his stars match the real sky over Arles that week. See more in our Van Gogh museum gifts collection.

The Girl at the Table

Johannes Vermeer painted Girl with a Pearl Earring around 1665. It lives in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. It is a tronie, a Dutch term for a character study rather than a portrait of a real sitter. The exotic turban and large pearl were typical tronie touches. A pearl of that size is undocumented, so it may be a varnished glass drop or pure invention. Fans of a Vermeer tote bag will spot her glowing face at once. Explore our Vermeer collection.

A Gentle Art Parody

Seating two eras at one table is a classic art joke. The Van Gogh tote bag works because each figure keeps its original style. Van Gogh's thick, ridged brushwork surrounds Vermeer's smooth, soft-lit finish. The digital print holds those saturated blues and golds across the canvas weave. This museum art tote bag carries the joke on both sides.

Display and Care

Carry it to a gallery or hang it from a hook as casual wall art. Spot clean with a damp cloth and air dry. The narrow opening holds a tablet snugly, so slide it in flat. Browse more art-inspired bags in our museum tote bags collection.

About the Artists

Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist who painted his best-known works in his final years. Arles, in the south of France, was where his color grew boldest. Vermeer (1632-1675) worked in Delft during the Dutch Golden Age. He left a small body of quiet, luminous paintings.

For More Reading from the Web

• Hear how Van Gogh chose his colors and why the stars are accurate: Terrace of a Cafe at Night (Place du Forum) - Kroller-Muller Museum
• Find out why that huge pearl may never have existed: Girl with a Pearl Earring - Mauritshuis at The Frick Collection