Interpretation of van gogh cafe de nuit PDF

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INTERPRETATION OF VAN GOGH’S ‘CAFE DE NUIT’

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Le Café De nuit or The Night Café is a well known painting painted by the famous
painter Vincent van Gogh in 1888. The Painting shows the interior of a café. In order to be more
specific, this can be said that the café has been depicted with a doorway that is half-curtained and
that is leading towards some private quarters. It has been noticed that there are five customers
and a waiter at that café along with a billiard table, facing towards the viewers. This painting has
been executed on (30 size) prime canvas1. The medium of this painting is oil paint and the
signature of the painter has been inscribed with the title of the picture beneath the painting. It has
been said that the painting has been based on a real café that used to be situated at Lamartine and
used to be run by Joseph Ginoux and Marie.
The five customers that have been depicted in this painting have been shown as being
drunk on the verge of sleep2. It can be assumed that the cafe is crowded with local prostitutes that
have been seen as being slouched at tables. On the other hand, the perspective of the painting is
downwards the floor of the café as if someone is looking from the ceiling downwards the floor.
The painter used vibrant colors that contrast each other. For example, the upper walls of the café
are painted with red while the ceiling is painted with green. Yellow is the most prominent color
that can be seen vividly in this painting. One of the most important facts lies in the fact that there
are six men and only one woman in this painting3. This feature foregrounds the society of that
time when women were scarcely seen in cafes at night. Other than the customers and the centre
billiard table, there are few other things such as a depiction of a bar, a flower vase and some
1 Bellone, Francesco and Luigi. "THE COMMON EVOLUTION OF GEOMETRY,” 122.
2 Gerson,. "The Night Café,” 197.
3 Monico et al., "Degradation process,” 10804-10811.

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yellow lamps over the ceiling. These little details make this painting more realistic. For example,
the clock has been painted so that the viewers can predict the timeframe of this painting.
Apart from the general interpretation of the visuals, perspective plays an important role
here. It can be said that this painting is a less viewer oriented painting and more painter centered
painting. In other words, this can be stated that the painter has shown an exaggerated perspective
through this painting where there are instances of disoriented angles. Night has always been a
common theme in Van Gogh’s paintings. According to Van Gogh, night is a time of the day that
can be painted more vibrantly than daytime4. As per the condition of the drunk and half-asleep
customers, it can be said that they are planning to stay at the café for the whole night as they
have nowhere to go. It can also be mentioned that those customers have been seen as travelers
with no native land by the painter5. From the above mentioned interpretation, it can be said that
the figures of this painting focuses on the unemployment issue of that time when people used to
spend their nights at café because they had no secure homes.
In this context, it can be added that depiction of the drunken travelers, contrasting colors
and disoriented strokes of oil paint imply the inner sadness of this painting. In other words, this
can be stated that there is a battle going on among the colors and also inside the minds of the
figures that are in that café because they are not happy with their lives. Though there is more
than one person in this painting but still loneliness has been shrieking through the painting6.
4 Liu, Raymond and Yuan. "Geometric tight frame,” 590-602
5 Monico et al., "Full spectral XANES,” 613-626.
6 Putri, , Ramakrishnan and Kourosh, "Artistic Style,” 378-385.