2021/10/20 (French: Café Terras bij nacht, English: Cafe Terrace at Night)
Open-air cafe at night 1888 Oil painting on canvas 81 length × 65.5 cm width
This painting is world famous painting , The first part of Van Gogh's Starry Night Trilogy ( Van Gogh's Starry Night Trilogy: Night Outdoor Cafe (1888), On the Rhone The Starry Night (1888), Starry Night (1890), depicts the outdoor scene of a cafe in Arles, with warm and bright yellow lights shining on the cobbled square, and stars twinkling in the dark blue night sky. , like blossoming lights. The whole picture is in sharp contrast with the interior scene of the cafe described by the painter. The colors are bright and the atmosphere is warm and comfortable.
Van Gogh often visited the cafe not far from his residence - Lankasan in the evening. It is located in the Place du Form and is called the "night cafe" because it is open all night. He often feels that the night is more full of vibrant colors and more energetic than the day. The dazzling lights of the museum and the stars filling the sky inspired his passion for painting. He once spent two nights painting a work inside a cafe. "Night Outdoor Cafe" is a composition of the same period. Precisely, use one vertical line, one horizontal line, and two diagonal lines to cut the picture. The convergence point of the perspective lines is located in the center of the picture. The whole picture is divided into two parts. The upper part is painted with blue to represent the night sky, and is dyed with dark blue. All around, the blue gradually fades; the night sky is deep and starry, showing the tranquility and serenity of the night. The cold tone of blue contrasts with the warm orange color of the cafe, making the open-air cafe on the street feel deserted at night. It shows a warm atmosphere, contrasting with the blue starry sky and full of romantic sentiment. uses a few strokes of white and bright yellow to depict the starlight in the sky. The strokes are crisscrossed, creating a starry effect. The stars seem to be in the night sky. Blossoming little flowers . The starry sky is like a shining blue curtain, setting off the dark roofs and houses, with yellow lights shining through the shadows. At the bottom of the screen, orange and yellow warm colors are used to show the bright lights of the cafe. The bright yellow wall attracts the viewer's attention. forms a homogeneous and inverse contrast with the dark blue starry sky, making the whole painting look beautiful and filled with a sense of wonder. A kind of peaceful poetry. In the picture, there is a waiter in white, the white coffee table placed on the porch is slightly shiny, and there are pedestrians in the square. . Surrounded by the warm and pleasant atmosphere of the cafe. The ground is alternated with brush strokes of different tones, with mottled light and shadow filled with blue starry sky and warm lights, and black outlines outline the uneven cobblestone ground. 's line of sight extends back along the ground/extended cafe roof and street in the foreground, looking towards the blue night sky, giving the picture a sense of depth and triggering a sense of fantasy and romance. The contrast between warm and cold in the entire picture of is very direct and has a strong color effect, making the picture full of vitality and vitality of color, while looks very calm. This is a night scene picture that does not use black. All scenes are in darkness, but there is no trace of black. The use of color to express the outdoor effect at night gives this painting a strong vitality. Color is a true representation of the painter's mental image.
From February 20, 1888 to May 8, 1889, Van Gogh lived in Arles, Provence - "a city with blue tones and happy colors". He painted like crazy and completed about 200 oil paintings, more than 100 paintings and watercolors. Most of his greatest works were completed here, which can be said to be the heyday of his artistic life. The cafe that Van Gogh painted in "Cafe de Café at Night" has now been renamed Cafe Van Gogh. It has always been a place for people in Arles to drink, and the yellow awning and other items are still preserved.
