Café Terrace at Night by van Gogh

Illustration

Mark Cartwright
by Kröller-Müller Museum
published on 16 March 2022
Café Terrace at Night by van Gogh Download Full Size Image

An 1888 oil on canvas, Café Terrace at Night, by Vincent van Gogh (1853-90), the Dutch post-impressionist artist. Painted in September in the place du Forum of Arles, France. The artist here uses the strong contrasting colours of yellow and blue for dramatic effect. Deliberately distorting the perspective, van Gogh makes the roof of the café terrace the centre of the scene, and by placing the clients at the far end only, he draws in the eye of the viewer to the heart of the picture and the café. The artist was particularly keen to capture the black night using only blues and violets. The work was not done in the studio but plein air (open air) – the typical technique used by impressionists – so that the artist could accurately capture the colouring even if he himself noted it was not always easy to see which colours he was actually using in the dim light. (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands)

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APA Style

Museum, K. (2022, March 16). Café Terrace at Night by van Gogh. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15461/cafe-terrace-at-night-by-van-gogh/

Chicago Style

Museum, Kröller-Müller. "Café Terrace at Night by van Gogh." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 16, 2022. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15461/cafe-terrace-at-night-by-van-gogh/.

MLA Style

Museum, Kröller-Müller. "Café Terrace at Night by van Gogh." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 16 Mar 2022. Web. 31 Oct 2024.

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