Van Gogh Cafe Terrace

March 17, 2011 - PRLog -- Van Gogh Cafe Terrace, also known as The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, was painted in Arles, France, in September 1888. It is one of the most well-know Van Gogh paintings. The painting is not signed, but described and mentioned by the artist in his letters on various occasions—and, as well, there is a large pen drawing of the composition which originates from the artist’s estate.

The painting depicts the exterior of a Café on the street in Arles. The perspective and warmth of the complementary colors used draw viewers into the painting and beyond. Meanwhile, the graphic texture of the cobblestones invites the eye towards the little café itself, with its cozy atmosphere and little white tables, the tables themselves repeating the spheres of Van Gogh’s stars in the mighty dark blue sky. Meanwhile, the awning and walls of the café, with the warm yellow radiance, cut into this sky to enhance the colors and form the main composition of the painting.

It was Van Gogh’s first time to use a starry back ground in his painting. He later on painted star filled skies in both Starry Night Over the Rhone, and the Starry Night, painted a year later. When doing The Café Terrace at Night, Van Gogh worked in a flurry, using many of the techniques he also employed in his drawings. The end result is definitely among the most beautiful paintings he made, full of the light and peace he sought for but never quite found for himself.

Van Gogh’s interest in painting the colors of night stemmed from his desire to create a truly original art and, by extension, move away from realism. Painting by night was a way for the artist to distort his perception. Unable to see clearly, he was almost forced to infuse his pictures with his singular imagination as well as to develop a brilliant and at times shocking palette.

The result of his "nighttime" efforts is a series of pictures comprised of exhilarating and unusual juxtapositions of bright-hues that lend to his oeuvre an abstract and otherworldly quality.

In Cafe Terrace at Night Van Gogh continues to explore the colors of night. Here, however, the night sky is illuminated by artificial gas lanterns of the partially depicted exterior of a Parisian cafe. His enthusiasm for this work is well documented.

Upon finishing Cafe Terrace at Night he proudly wrote to his sister of his completion of a night scene without using black. He was particularly delighted by the pinkish violet tone of the paving stones of the road as well as the fact that he painted the night on the spot rather than painting during the daytime after the sketch. This dedication to immediacy and keen ability to depict the colors of an instant is precisely what made Van Gogh the supreme colorist of his time.

Today, Cafe terrace at night is loved by so many people and it is one of the most popular oil painting reproductions.

Museum quality reproduction of Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace painting is now available at http://www.outpost-art.org/the-cafe-terrace-p-19333.html