What kind of art is Cafe Terrace at night?
Famous Artwork: Café Terrace at Night. The Cafe Van Gogh in Provence was the inspiration for Van Gogh's painting. The Café Terrace at Night is an oil on canvas painting famed for being an inspiration of the 20th century German Expressionism movement. The painting is one of the many works attributed to 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh.
Where is Vincent van Gogh’s Café Terrace at night (1888) painting now?
The Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night real location is in the village of Arles’ Place du Forum in the southern parts of France. The café is real and changed its name to “Café Van Gogh” to commemorate Vincent Van Gogh. Where Is Vincent van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night (1888) Painting Now?
What color is the sky in Cafe Terrace at night?
"Café Terrace at Night" is one of three Arles paintings that feature Van Gogh's distinctive star-filled sky. Starry Night Over the Rhone and Starry Night complete the trilogy. 6. Although a night scene, the painting is devoid of the color black.
What size canvas was used for the Cafe Terrace at night?
An industrially primed canvas of the size 25 was used to execute the Café Terrace at Night. Van Gogh uses a lot of contrasting colors and tones for this painting bringing in a pulse of colors that defy the darkening night sky.
What kind of painting is Café Terrace at Night?
Post-ImpressionismCafé Terrace at Night (1888) by Vincent van Gogh in ContextArtistVincent van GoghDate Painted1888MediumOil on canvasGenreGenre paintingPeriod / MovementPost-Impressionism4 more rows•May 4, 2022
What type of art does the night cafe represent?
The Night Café (French: Le Café de nuit) is an oil painting created by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh in September 1888 in Arles. Its title is inscribed lower right beneath the signature. The painting is owned by Yale University and is currently held at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut.
How would you describe Café Terrace at Night?
The Café Terrace at Night painting is set on a canvas with dimensions of 31.8 inches by 25.7 inches. The painting depicts the terrace of the Place du Forum with several people seated on tables seen in the background. The painting's foreground depicts empty tables and chairs and the entrance to the coffee house.
How was Café Terrace night painted?
How was Café Terrace at Night painted? Van Gogh set up his easel at the northeastern corner of the Place du Forum facing south towards the lantern lit terrace of a popular coffee house – The Café Terrace. An industrially primed canvas of the size 25 was used to execute the Café Terrace at Night.
Is Night Cafe An example of Impressionism?
The work has been called one of Van Gogh's masterpieces and one of his most famous. Unlike typical Impressionist works, the painter does not project a neutral stance towards the world or an attitude of enjoyment of the beauty of nature or of the moment.
What is the subject of The Night Café?
"Night Café" depicts the interior of a pool in Arles' Place Lamartine. A more striking van Gogh canvas would be difficult to find, but no one could call this particular picture beautiful. It was the artist's intention to show the lowest edge of humanity, without adornment, with as much impact and sincerity as possible.
What elements of art are used in Café Terrace at Night?
Elements of Art - this aesthetic criteria exemplifies why Cafe Terrace at Night is a work of art. Van Gogh is known for is Impressionist style paintings. His use of line, texture and vivid colors are almost immediately recognizable. The colors in this painting are bold and vibrant.
What was Van Gogh's style?
Post‑Impre...PointillismNeo‑Impre...Vincent van Gogh/Periods
What kind of brush strokes did Van Gogh use?
Van Gogh is well known for his brushstokes of thickly laid-on paint. This technique is called Impasto. An artist lays a thick layer of paint on canvas, brushstrokes get more noticeable, adding a special texture to the painting. Vincent liked to use a thick, undiluted flat color with a brush or a palette knife.
What does value mean in art?
Value defines how light or dark a given color or hue can be. Values are best understood when visualized as a scale or gradient, from dark to light. The more tonal variants in an image, the lower the contrast. When shades of similar value are used together, they also create a low contrast image.
Artist Abstract: Who Was Vincent van Gogh?
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Post-Impressionist artist born in the Netherlands in the town of Zundert; his day and year of birth were March 30, 1853. Van Gogh grew up exploring art and he was under the tutelage of Constant Cornelis Huijsmans when he attended a school in Tilburg.
Café Terrace at Night (1888) by Vincent van Gogh in Context
Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night should not be confused with his other famous night scene painting that often steals the show titled, The Starry Night, which was painted in 1889, only a few months after.
Formal Analysis: A Brief Compositional Overview
Café Terrace at Night was initially titled Coffeehouse, in the evening, or in French, Café, le soir, and it was this name that was also used for its initial exhibition in 1891. When Van Gogh painted it he spent his time studying the night sky and his nightly surroundings like the café at the Place du Forum.
Interesting Facts and Possible Inspiration
From the same letter to his sister mentioned above, Van Gogh was possibly inspired by the novel Bel-Ami (1885) by Guy de Maupassant and the type of setting that relates to his subject matter for Café Terrace at Night.
Van Gogh: A Jewel Amongst the Stars
Vincent van Gogh produced nightly painted scenes that truly shone like the beacons of light they portrayed, whether stars or artificial light. In Café Terrace at Night Van Gogh painted a scene at night that exemplified his love for color and how this gave the night a new hue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Although Van Gogh painted Café Terrace at Night as a stand-alone painting, it was part of his series of paintings that explored the night and the stars.
What is the Café Terrace at Night painting?
The Café Terrace at Night painting together with many other paintings from Vincent van Gogh was used in the German Expressionism movement of the early 20th century. The painting was featured in 2010 in the hit television series “Doctor Who.” The Place du Forum, the café on which the painting is based, has become a top tourist attraction in the city of Arles. In 2010, a claimant who said the item was stolen from their family was worth between $120 million and $159 million. However, the Yale University where the painting has been hanging in its art gallery for more than 50 years said they could not estimate its worth.
What is the setting of the painting Café Terrace at Night?
The painting’s foreground depicts empty tables and chairs and the entrance to the coffee house. The green windows on the café’s first floor are open. The atmosphere in the painting is a nocturnal setting with the sky being star-lit and the tables are lit by overhanging lanterns. On the right side of the painting, several buildings as well as branches of a tree are depicted.
What is the left part of the painting based on?
Scholars believe the painting is based on Van Gogh’s life at the time. The left part of the painting is extravagantly lit from the numerous lanterns with further lighting emanating from the café’s opened windows. This well-lit area of the painting is thought to symbolize the positive mood the painter had at the time.
What was Vincent van Gogh's inspiration for his painting?
The Cafe Van Gogh in Provence was the inspiration for Van Gogh's painting. The Café Terrace at Night is an oil on canvas painting famed for being an inspiration of the 20th century German Expressionism movement. The painting is one of the many works attributed to 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The inspiration behind the painting was ...
What is the atmosphere in the painting of the café?
The green windows on the café’s first floor are open. The atmosphere in the painting is a nocturnal setting with the sky being star-lit and the tables are lit by overhanging lanterns. On the right side of the painting, several buildings as well as branches of a tree are depicted.
What is the right section of Van Gogh's painting?
The right section of the painting is poorly lit and is thought to represent Van Gogh’s dark and depressed past. This poorly lit section contrasts the left section which scholars believe is a representation of Van Gogh's periods of positive and joyous moods contrasted with the depression he felt.
Where is the Place du Forum painting?
The painting is currently displayed at the Kroller-Muller Museum in the Netherlands .
When was the coffeehouse painted?
Key Facts and Ideas. It was first exhibited in 1891, then titled Coffeehouse, in the Evening (Café, Le Soir). Van Gogh painted on location. You can stand in the same spot he painted and see the café which was renamed Café Van Gogh (now that is smart marketing!). "I enormously enjoy painting on the spot at night.
What is the contrast between the busy café and the rest of the painting?
The busy café is much lighter than the rest of the painting. So there's contrast in both hue (yellow against blue) and value (light against shadow). (Tip: If you really want to make a statement in your painting, overlap two or three contrasting elements.
Why did Van Gogh use black?
Van Gogh used black for outlining and for the dark buildings in the distance. The use of black is clever—it makes the sky look alive and filled with color by comparison. “It often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens.
How to make a painting safer?
A safer approach might be to rely on observation but push certain elements that really speak to you. For example, say you’re painting a landscape with some beautiful flowers in the foreground. You might want to push the saturation of those flowers to draw attention to them, whilst staying true to observation for the rest of the painting.)
What color is the lighted square?
With nothing but beautiful blue, violet and green, and in these surroundings the lighted square is coloured pale sulphur, lemon green.". Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his sister, 14 September 1888. The painting features striking colors, as you might expect from van Gogh.
What color is Van Gogh's terrace?
A huge yellow lantern lights the terrace, the façade, the pavement, and even projects light over the cobblestones of the street, which takes on a violet-pink tinge. The gables of the houses on a street that leads away under the blue sky studded ...
When was Van Gogh's painting made?
The positioning of the stars is accurate. Astronomers have since used the stars to trace the painting's creation date to 16 or 17 September 1888 (source: Kröller-Müller Museum, where the painting is held today).
Who painted the cafe terrace at night?
Café Terrace at Night, 1888 by Vincent Van Gogh. This painting of a colorful outdoor view is a picturesque work, the vision of a relaxed spectator who enjoys the charm of his surrounding without any moral concern.
What is the name of the painting that features Van Gogh's star-filled sky?
4. Van Gogh's iconic Post-Impressionistic star-filled sky appears for the first time in his "Café Terrace at Night.". 5. "Café Terrace at Night" is one of three Arles paintings that feature Van Gogh's distinctive star-filled sky.
What is the silhouette of the starry sky?
The silhouette of the starry sky is key to the patterning of the whole; the poetic idea of the work - the double illumination and contrast of the cafe and the night sky - is developed through this jagged form. In the silhouette of the orange cafe floor and the adjoining window and doors, we discover the inverted shape of the blue sky; the scattered disks of the stars are matched in the elliptical tabletops below.
What is the contrast between the marquise and the starry sky?
The most eye-catching aspect of the painting is the sharp contrast between the warm yellow, green and orange colours under the marquise and the deep blue of the starry sky, which is reinforced by the dark blue of the houses in the background. Van Gogh was pleased with the effect: "I believe that an abundance of gaslight, which, after all, ...
How many people are in the painting Van Gogh?
Indeed, a close study of the painting reveals that the main characters include one central figure with long hair surrounded by 12 individuals, plus a cross shines in the background of the composition, and Van Gogh has included additional cross-like shapes throughout the artwork.
Which Van Gogh painting holds the first place?
Van Gogh's "Starry Night" holds first place. 10. The positions of the stars in the night sky of "Café Terrace at Night" is accurate, according to astronomical data.
Is the café in the painting Van Gogh still in existence?
The café in the painting is still in existence, renamed the Café Van Gogh. 9. "Café Terrace at Night" ranks second in a list of the top ten most reproduced artworks from 2000 to 2010. Van Gogh's "Starry Night" holds first place.
What side of the painting has the yellow orange cafe?
People are spread all over the scene but they are not the subject. The painting can be divided into vertical halves; the left side has the yellow-orange lit café while the right side has the blue-green city.
When did Van Gogh paint the night scene?
Let’s go back to September 1888 when Van Gogh decided to take a different approach in painting a night scene and captured the beautiful essence of a French café filled with patrons, emanating light and warmth in the cold and blue night.
What is the name of the painting that Van Gogh said the night is more colorful than the day?
Another name for this painting is Caf é Terrace on the Place du Forum. In his letters to his sister, Van Gogh said that the night is more colorful than the day. And by looking at the painting, he was true.
What is the first painting of Vincent Van Gogh?
When you think of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings, what is that one painting that comes to your mind? Most probably The Starry Night, it is, after all, his most famous painting. But before The Starry Night, there was another night just as starry, just as beautiful. The Café Terrace at Night is the first painting featuring a deep-blue night sky lit with tiny discs of stars, the same blue sky which many people know Van Gogh for.
How many people are in the Van Gogh café?
At the back, the window frame makes a cross behind. This could indicate the man in white as Christ. There are 12 people in the café, 11 seated and one standing close to the café, possibly referring to Judas. It can be true since Van Gogh was religious.
What color is night in Van Gogh's letters?
And by looking at the painting, he was true. The interaction of blues, yellows, orange, and green brings the true color of the night. This is why it makes you feel what it would be like to sit under the gaslight in the café, ...
When did Van Gogh say he wanted to paint this painting in-situ?
The position of the stars is scientifically accurate and that has allowed us to track the date he made this painting. It was September 17 or 18 in 1888 that this night was captured.
What is the magical aspect of Café Terrace at Night?
The magical aspect of ‘Café Terrace at Night’ is its myriad of ideas infused in the painting. For many critics, this painting was incomprehensible and an object of ridicule because nobody peeled off its layers. So let’s dive right into the properties and nuances of this famous oil painting.
What color are the people in the café?
If we look at the people sitting in the café, we see that they are wearing outfits which are either brown or black. Both of these colours dominate the two inanimate objects of the painting, namely the café which has brown doors and the road which is pitch black. Also, standing amongst this crowd of customers is a waiter whose uniform shares colours with the table which is white.
What is the technique Van Gogh uses to paint?
Van Gogh has used numerous techniques which sets him poles apart from his contemporaries. The impasto is one of them and a vital secret ingredient in each of Gogh’s painting, including this one. Impasto is a painting technique which entails layering of multiple coats of paint with the same brush. This induces depth in the painting as it highlights each stroke of the brush, making the painting all too realistic. This had to be made realistic since this painting is of a beautiful café in Arles, France which was then locally called.
What is the contrast in Van Gogh's painting?
Van Gogh very smartly played with light, creating a contrast which spoke more than words ever could. The dark surroundings at the top of the painting is starkly juxtaposed with the bright lighting of the café and the lit windows of the small buildings around. The illuminating source is seen as only the café whose light is piercing into the darkness of the surroundings. The warmth of the yellow light amongst the darkness is symbolic of Van Gogh’s career and how he rose from being misunderstood and unrecognised to fame and fell into the comforting arms of his admirers.
How did Vincent Van Gogh manipulate the focus and colours?
Vincent Van Gogh manipulated the focus and colours to give an illusion. When you peep farther into the painting, the defined lines start to merge with each other. The carefully laid out structure of the café and the people walking on the street become blurry and faded out which stands contrasted with the meticulously drawn structures like the café and the stars. This gives the onlooker an illusion of motion which only Vincent Van Gogh could pull off.
What does the yellow in the painting mean?
The blast of yellow in the painting isn’t circumstantial but a portrayal of Gogh’s attachment to the colour which stands for happiness as well as religious allusion and can also be seen in his Yellow House.
Overview
Café Terrace at Night is an 1888 oil painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It is also known as The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, and, when first exhibited in 1891, was entitled Coffeehouse, in the evening (Café, le soir).
Van Gogh painted Café Terrace at Night in Arles, France, in mid-September 1888. The painting is not signed, but described and mentioned by the artist in t…
Genesis
After finishing Café Terrace at Night, Van Gogh wrote a letter to his sister expressing his enthusiasm:
I was interrupted precisely by the work that a new painting of the outside of a café in the evening has been giving me these past few days. On the terrace, there are little figures of people drinking. A huge yellow lantern lights the terrac…
Night effects
When exhibited for the first time, in 1891, the painting was entitled Coffeehouse, in the evening (Café, le soir).
This is the first painting in which he used starry backgrounds; he went on to paint star-filled skies in Starry Night Over the Rhône (painted the same month), and the better known The Starry Night a year later. Van Gogh also painted a starlight background in Portrait of Eugène Boch. Van Gogh …
In popular culture
The painting and the café were both featured in the 1956 film Lust for Life starring Kirk Douglas and later in "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010), the tenth episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and in the fully painted film Loving Vincent (2017). The café was also featured in the film Ronin (1998).
The 1980 BBC series 100 Great Paintings featured the painting.
Color
"This is a night painting without black, with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green and in this surrounding the illuminated area colors itself sulfur pale yellow and citron green."
External links
Media related to Cafe Terrace at Night (F467) at Wikimedia Commons
• The Vincent van Gogh Gallery entry about Cafe Terrace at Night.
• Discover van Gogh explores the Last Supper theory further.
• Van Gogh, paintings and drawings: a special loan exhibition, a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on this painting (see index)
Description
Background
- In the late 19th century, Vincent van Gogh embarked on a trip which led him to settle in the cities of Nuenen, Antwerp, and Paris. While on these trips, the painter was introduced to Impressionist art. In 1888, Vincent van Gogh left Paris, after spending about two years in the city. He settled in Arles, France where he was inspired by the city’s vibrant lifestyle. While in Arles, Vincent visited …
Symbolism
- Scholars believe the painting is based on Van Gogh’s life at the time. The left part of the painting is extravagantly lit from the numerous lanterns with further lighting emanating from the café’s opened windows. This well-lit area of the painting is thought to symbolize the positive mood the painter had at the time. The opened green windows symbolize the painter’s open mind and joyfu…
Vincent Willem Van Gogh
- Vincent van Gogh was a 19th-century Dutch painter whose works of art were used as key elements in German Expressionism. Vincent was born in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands on March 30th, 1853 to a local church minister and was home-schooled by his mother. The painter's interest in art began in his youth, and he harnessed his gift while studying art in the Academie Royale de…
Legacy
- The Café Terrace at Night painting together with many other paintings from Vincent van Gogh was used in the German Expressionism movement of the early 20th century. The painting was featured in 2010 in the hit television series “Doctor Who.” The Place du Forum, the café on which the painting is based, has become a top tourist attraction in the city of Arles. In 2010, a claimant …