Van Gogh painted the original 'The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum at Night' in Arles, France, in September 1888. In 'The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum at Night' Van Gogh defies all the rules of perspective, according to which they ought all to be converging on a vanishing point. Van Gogh, however, quite deliberately sets out to flout the rules: only to establish new laws of his own within the picture. He believes that lines have other functions besides simply describing edges and frames. According to Van Gogh, they also convey a message concerning themselves.