The Night Cafe by Van Gogh gives a real sense of melancholy, which is an outcome of the deep night glow in the cafe. This canvas has a very specific character. Painted in 1888, the Night Cafe is the pictorial transcription of sentimental and emotional tribulations that haunted the painter. Delusions between schizophrenia and glasses of absinthe, the pictorial world of Van Gogh appeared to have been the materialization of his moods. He buried his personal symbolism within his paintings. Thus, the work of Van Gogh became the symbol of a new artistic concept, because expression of the artist's emotion became inevitable in his/her work.
It is through this work, the Night Cafe, that we can understand the importance of this painter in the field of art history. Indeed, although disparaged in his time, Van Gogh was one of the main figures of the post-academic period. The work of the artist is only a pretext to externalize the contradictory feelings that inhabit it. Thus, this scene in a coffee transcribed melancholy and loneliness that animated Van Gogh. It was easy to discern the latter sense, thanks in particular to the presence of these chairs scattered, as if not long before the coffee was packed and people suddenly disappeared.
These abandoned and chairs scattered here and there suggested an earlier presence, and an inherent loneliness. Similarly, the pool in the foreground, whose function is simply to contribute to social cohesion, was removed from any activity here since utility is also lonely as Van Gogh in his existential delusions. Imposing, massive, it appears as an allegory of loneliness, especially as its central location increases the status and gives the feeling prominently throughout the painter's work. Similarly, excessive shade that spreads the pool on the floor seems to respond to the "melancholy" (black humor) haunted Van Gogh.
Tags: Night Caf, Van Gogh, painter's work, contradictory feelings
[...] Also note the importance of accelerated perspective, due to its crushing action on the composition and depth accentuates the impression of bidimentionnalité, which also become apparent very shortly after this, in the works of Matisse, for example. But the line is undoubtedly the cornerstone of the style of Van Gogh. Indeed, the painter does not hesitate to simplify forms. Proof of this is the treatment of flowers. Thus, he uses both solid colors for the floor as well as lines for light halos. Although we are still far from the scrolls that characterized the recent paintings at the approach of his suicide, a new artistic era , was indeed being born . [...]
[...] Thus, Paul Gauguin painted a table that looked substantially like the Van Gogh painting a few months later. But the legacy of the artist was felt in a much more intense way a few years later . Indeed, Fauvism took its roots in arbitrary colors that Van Gogh developed in his work. Even the name sounds like a break in the artistic sphere. Thus, if we ignore the anachronism, we can say that the work of Van Gogh illustrates perfectly the words of Derain, a fauvist painter: “The resemblance does not pass the reality”. [...]
[...] Simplification of Forms. Solid colors for the floor and impasto painting. Using features to bright halos. [...]
[...] Note also that the table is predominantly yellow : a warm color, and whose power spatializes, and gives the impression that the floor is "advancing" . This is enhanced with accelerated perspective mentioned in later printing. But the yellow color is light. Light plays a major role in this painting, as it helps enable the comparison of colors, in addition to dark circles, but also give the impression of a mirror game. Indeed , the brightness of the picture appears to come from the end of the contrast and intensity of complementary colors , as well as from three lamps hanging from the ceiling , so that the light from it can be reflected on the floor . [...]
[...] It is easy to discern the latter sense, thanks to the presence of the chairs scattered, as if shortly before, the cafe was crowded and people disappeared quickly. These abandoned and scattered chairs evoke an earlier presence inherent in loneliness . Similarly, the pool in the foreground, whose function is simply to contribute to social cohesion is devoid of any utility and is as lonely as Van Gogh in his existential delusions. Imposing in its structure, it appears as an allegory of solitude, especially as its central position accentuates status and gives the feeling which is prominently present in all the work of the painter. [...]
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