Van Gogh Night Cafe
Artist: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch b. 1853 d. 1890)
Date: 1888
Dimensions: 72.4 x 92.1 cm
Medium: oil on canvas
Current location: Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Period: Post-Impressionism
Genre: no traditional genre
Quick Notes:
“In my picture of the Night Café, I have tried to express the idea that the café is a place where
one can destroy oneself, go mad or commit a crime. In short, I have tried, by contrasting soft
pink with blood-red and wine-red, soft Louis XV green and Veronese green with yellow-greens
and harsh blue-greens, all this in an atmosphere of an infernal furnace in pale sulphur, to
express the powers of darkness in a common tavern.” Translation by Arnold Pomerans
Suggested Compare-Contrast Target:
Writing Prompts:
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Date: 1888
Dimensions: 72.4 x 92.1 cm
Medium: oil on canvas
Current location: Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Period: Post-Impressionism
Genre: no traditional genre
Quick Notes:
- Van Gogh began his career as an artist in 1880, and most of his important works date
from the five year period between 1885 and his suicide in 1890. - Van Gogh built up paint thickly on the surface of the canvas; this technique is called
impasto. As a result, his colors are always highly saturated, but the thick rivulets of paint
can only truly be appreciated by seeing his work in person. - Describing this painting to his brother Theo in a letter dated 9 September 1888, Van
Gogh wrote:
“In my picture of the Night Café, I have tried to express the idea that the café is a place where
one can destroy oneself, go mad or commit a crime. In short, I have tried, by contrasting soft
pink with blood-red and wine-red, soft Louis XV green and Veronese green with yellow-greens
and harsh blue-greens, all this in an atmosphere of an infernal furnace in pale sulphur, to
express the powers of darkness in a common tavern.” Translation by Arnold Pomerans
Suggested Compare-Contrast Target:
- Pablo Picasso, At the Lapin Agile
- Edgar Degas, The Glass of Absinthe
Writing Prompts:
- How does Van Gogh use color to create meaning in this composition?
- How does this piece relate to Van Gogh's biography?
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