At the age of 27, Vincent Van Gogh, fleeing the depression that gripped him, turned to painting. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he studied Japanese engraving and impressionist painting.
In the painting “The Night Terrace of the Cafe,” Van Gogh expressed new impressions of southern France. The work depicts a cafe located in the area of ​​the city of Arles in September 1888. The cafe itself was restored in the 90s and painted yellow, which, apparently, was not during the life of Van Gogh, except for yellow lighting at night. Subsequently, it will be renamed the "Van Gogh Cafe."
So it looks today, more than a hundred years later.
The intentions of the artist
Van Gogh himself described his plan in a letter to his sister Wilhelmina: “... A new picture represents the appearance of a night cafe. On the terrace there are small figures of drinkers. A huge yellow lantern illuminates it. It sheds light not only on the terrace, but also on the cobblestone pavement, which absorbs a pink hue from purple. The fronts of houses under the blue sky are filled with stars. And they themselves are not black, but cast in deep blue and purple tones. Nearby is a green tree. There is no black in this picture of the night. There are only beautiful blue, violet and green colors. In this yellow light, the lime of the surrounding houses turns pale gray. It’s extremely interesting and fun to draw the night there. I immediately realized how to approach the color. It’s enough in the dark to take blue for green, instead of blue lilac with pink shades. This is the only way out of the blackness of the night. "
A new direction in creativity
The style of the painting “Cafe Night Terrace” is exclusive, very original for Van Gogh, since he first depicted the depth of perspective and used warm colors. This is the first work in which he portrayed the starry sky.
Then he repeated it in the film "Starry Night on Rhone", and even later, the background with the stars appears in the "Portrait of Eugene Boch." The canvas “Night Terrace Cafe” enriched his style with lightness, airiness and humanity, although you can also find in it something that resembles a night's dream. The search for Van Gogh led to the creation of a new direction - post-impressionism.
Lighting
There are two dominants in Café Night Terrace: a cobalt-blue night sky with stars and a bright yellow light from a lantern illuminating the plane of the wall. It is heterogeneous. The lighting gives greenish and orange highlights on the wall and on the sidewalk of the cafe, on the cobblestones next to the cafe and is repeated in the windows and windows of the adjacent houses, giving the impression of a warm southern night.
At the tables there are small figures of visitors in red-orange clothes lit with a yellow lantern. They are spelled out schematically, conditionally, since they are not dominant. They have no independent meaning. They just create a natural background. Like those people who walk along the street in colorful clothes. The coloristic solution of the pavers is very interesting.
There are yellow reflections of the lantern, and lilac-pink shades of the night sky. A green glow of a tree standing next to it falls on a chair. And all together without diversity gives a complete picture of the night.
Sky
Separately, it is worth mentioning the deep night sky. It is filled with large golden stars giving a whitish light that enters some of the windows of the houses.
The sky occupies a third of the painting “Night Terrace Cafe”. Vincent Van Gogh wrote it in such a way that it is difficult to look away from him. Its color is heterogeneous: at times it becomes dark blue, in places it is highlighted. And only stars, like large jewels, sparkle on it. Its reflections lie on the upper floors of the walls with soft bluish and grayish colors, enriching the overall palette of the picture.
How does the new come about?
From an ordinary town, a simple street and a cafe, the artist creates a different reality that exists in his imagination. “I often think that night is richer in colors than day,” Van Gogh wrote. The “cafe night terrace” described above is distinguished by the fact that the creative imagination of the creator of another world goes beyond the perception of an ordinary person who, walking every day along the street, cannot notice anything new and poetic in it. Paraphrasing Zabolotsky, we can say that the painter transfers to the canvas "signs of a changing soul." In this case, it reflects the soul of the city and night, without even setting such a goal. It comes to light "by the side", subconsciously. Each great artist in his creations appears second and third plans, which, without his will, unconsciously show his nominal. In this case, the sharpness and tension of his confused consciousness, which was inherent in the artist, was replaced by almost childish softness and tenderness, mixed, however, with some fear.
The painting “The Night Terrace of the Cafe” (Van Gogh), painted in oil on canvas, is located in the Kröller-Muller Museum, Otterlo (Netherlands).