| -- End Ad Box ---> | | | | "I have tried to express the terrible passions of |
| Vincent's Two Cafes | | | | humanity by means of red and green," van Gogh |
| "I often think that the night is more alive and more richly | | | | wrote. Yellow walls give on to blood-red walls that |
| colored than the day." Vincent van Gogh | | | | lead to an obtrusive green ceiling, and lining the walls |
| Van Gogh's two ultra-famous café scenes | | | | are the locals at the bar tables, hunched over in |
| comprise a study in opposites. Though both paintings | | | | late-night stupor. Lamps hang from the ceiling, |
| employ Vincent's famous bold and furious | | | | surrounded by Vincent's wheels of curving yellow |
| brushstrokes and striking colors, the two pictures feel | | | | strokes. |
| entirely different. One, "Café Terrace at Night," is | | | | A stark black and white clock depends in the |
| lovely and full of a frothy light, a night scene with stars | | | | background, impossible to miss. It is almost a quarter |
| outside the café on the Place de Forum. The other, | | | | past midnight in this desolate scene. "Night Café" is |
| "Night Café," is, in the artist's own words, "
one of | | | | one of Vincent's most powerful communications |
| the ugliest I have ever done," a collection of clashing | | | | through art of the human condition and human |
| colors in the dreariest atmosphere. | | | | emotions. |
| Both paintings were made in Arles after van Gogh had | | | | The other van Gogh café painting, "Café Terrace |
| lived and studied in Paris, and met various French | | | | at Night," shows the exterior of a café which still |
| impressionists. His own style became much lighter, less | | | | stands in Arles, though it was renamed The van Gogh |
| moralistic and more rife with color. | | | | Café and remodeled to closely resemble the |
| "Night Café" depicts the interior of a pool in Arles' | | | | painting which immortalized it. He painted this work in a |
| Place Lamartine. A more striking van Gogh canvas | | | | flurry, using many of the same techniques he |
| would be difficult to find, but no one could call this | | | | employed in his drawings. This is one of his most |
| particular picture beautiful. It was the artist's intention to | | | | beautiful paintings, full of the light and peace he sought, |
| show the lowest edge of humanity, without adornment, | | | | but never found. |
| with as much impact and sincerity as possible. | | | | Perspective and warm complementary colors draw |
| There is no doubt he succeeded. Upon first glance, the | | | | the viewer into the painting and beyond. The graphic |
| viewer almost tends to glance away, as if burned. Fully | | | | texture of the street's cobblestones invite the eye |
| two-thirds of the painting is the floor of the café, | | | | toward the little café itself, with its tiny white tables |
| executed in sulphuric yellow with exaggerated lines of | | | | on the street, repeating the spheres of Vincent's stars |
| perspective that yank the eye into the painting. Next, a | | | | hung in the Prussian blue sky. The awning and walls of |
| green billiard table, outlined in heavy black, stops us | | | | the café, warm yellow, cut into the sky to enhance |
| cold. Beside the table stands a figure in a light-colored | | | | both colors and form the main composition. |
| coat, staring out at us without expression. | | | | |