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Night Cafe by Vincent van Gogh famously features a bar scene with a pool table initially taking most of the focus of the viewer
Aside from the table are the over bearing lamps which give the great impression of light running right through this painting, despite it's indoor setting. This particular bar is not the same as the one featured in The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum above, but instead is the Café de la Gare, 30 Place Lamartine. Both paintings came within September 1888 and so it is not surprising that many mistakenly think they are of the exterior and interior of the same cafe. Van Gogh actually produced a watercolour version of this painting which remains within a private collection but it is certainly the Night Cafe oil painting which gets most exposure, simply because the brightness of the oils is very much more his typical style, and also the method that most of the art public mainstream prefer.
In order to complete the Night Cafe oil painting, the artist stayed up for three consecutive nights and would happily sleep during the day to make sure his priority was finished correctly. Night Cafe and Cafe Terrace at Night are the two popular names for the series of paintings produced by Vincent van Gogh of a stylish parisien bar that have become respected as some of his most skilled paintings and also are amongst the most reproduced paintings by any artist from any period. This website brings you the stylish paintings of Cafe Terrace at Night and introduces detail on the career of Van Gogh too.
Cafe Terrace at Night by Vincent van Gogh
The original Cafe Terrace at Night is now displayed at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands. The original cafe still remains and has since been renamed after the artist, bringing in large numbers of tourists as a result. Many of these visitors flock to the north eastern corner of the Place du Forum in order to stand where the artist would have been and see the cafe from exactly the same angle. Cafe Terrace at Nighton the Place du Forum was commented on in several different letters within the months after producing it alongside Night Cafe in September, 1888. Anything that he discusses with his brother was always going to be something that he had a good belief in and the two paintings featured in this website are no different.
Interestingly, upon it's first display the painting was termed Coffeehouse, in the evening (Café, le soir) but was later changed after some consideration from the artist who realised it was a key work in his career. Cafe Terrace incorporates Van Gogh's love of starry night skies and was to continue this into many other paintings in future months. The sky was always a critical area for this artist and was used to portray the exact mood that he had in mind for each and every painting. The success here of Cafe Terrace at Night perhaps encouraged him to go on and create the masterpiece, Starry Night over the Rhone just a short period later.
The Cafe Terrace at Night and Night cafe paintings came around the same time, towards the end of Van Gogh's career and sadly mark the time at which he had probably reached his peak and soon after he had passed away as a result of his mental problems which had always inspired and driven the brighter works within his portfolio, such as Night Cafe as seen below with it's warmingly bright lamps that fill the room with color.
Other Paintings by Vincent van Gogh
Van Gogh Trees are seen throughout his career and cover a wide range of locations, with cyprusses amongst his prefered choice. The main reason for this was the greens that complemented his normal colours whilst the shape suited his swirling style, as seen in Wheatfield with Cyprusses. Vincent's Bedroom in Arles is a crucial insight into the life of the artist and you can find Van Gogh bedroom information here in a dedicated website. There was a series of three paintings following the original's layout but with experimental choices of colours after the original had been damaged in a flood.
Van Gogh Chair is another classic Van Gogh work which includes the Chair from the Bedroom in Arles work, but this time in far greater detail and with some objects on it which give a greater importance to the painting. Chair has Vincent's smoking papers, tobacco and a pipe placed on it which reminds us how the painter had taken up smoking in order to try to control his melancholic moods that he had suffered throughout most of his life. Irises offers the best use of flowers by Van Gogh and this bright painting combines purples into his normal palette. You can buy Van Gogh Irises prints from here. Irises were also seen in some still life paintings earlier in his career too.
Shoes and Boots offer Van Gogh's love for depicting the poor and deprived within his area. The heavily worn footwear was covered in exceptional detail and served to underline the harsh lives that were being lived in this part of society, a part which the artist himself had spent considerable time and so thought it more important to cover in his work than most other artists of that period. You can find Van Gogh Shoes paintings here.
by Tom Gurney
