[2][3] Following months of correspondence, Paul Gauguin joined Van Gogh in Arles in October 1888.

Over time the grounds were overtaken by factories and the railroad, leaving the Allee des Tombeaux, (the avenue of tombs), a lane of shady poplar trees that led to a Romanesque chapel.

The couples depicted in the painting are taking a romantic stroll in the evening and it was this aspect of the scene that especially attracted the artists' attention.

Through careful analysis it appears that the two men worked together at Les Alyscamps between October 28 and 31, just before an onslaught of heavy rains that forced them indoors.

[6] Van Gogh made another pair of paintings at Les Alyscamps called Falling Autumn Leaves.