Description of the painting by Vincent van Gogh “Night Cafe”

Description of the painting by Vincent van Gogh Night Cafe

The painting “Night Cafe” was painted by artists in September 1888.

For three nights, Vincent Van Gogh visited the station café in the city of Arles in the south of France, watching the night visitors wandering aimlessly at their drinks.

The vagueness of the lines, the negligence of the strokes, the blurred faces of the cafe’s visitors indicate the author’s desire to convey the condition of a not sober person.

The interior of the room is filled with a mass of nuances that, in contrast with each other, convey the depressed state of the artist. The green color of the ceiling speaks more about the sensation of soreness aggravated by the anxiety of the red walls, and the abundance of warm yellow tones adds the stifling and smoky atmosphere of the establishment. An abandoned pool table, a large number of bottles and empty glasses on empty tables further emphasizes abandonment and uselessness.

Night time is underlined by the clock, which shows that it is already well past midnight, the night scenery in the window, brightly glowing four lamps and a couple sitting up at the corner table at the entrance.

Asleep visitor, two pretty drunk interlocutors reinforce the oppressive impression. A visitor in a yellow suit who looks roofing felts directly at the artist, roofing felts right in the eye completes the effect.

The artist wrote to his brother Theo, that in this picture he tried to convey the situation and the pernicious passion in which the self-destruction of a person takes place, where he goes mad or becomes a criminal.

This picture was highly appreciated by critics and won the title of one of the masterpieces of Van Gogh. Subsequently, she gave birth to a new style – expressionism.

Later, the artist will repeat it in watercolor.

To date, the painting “Night Cafe” is stored in the Art Gallery of Yale University.


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Description of the painting by Vincent van Gogh “Night Cafe”