Vincent van Gogh
Today is another Saturday with a masterpiece from the magnificent collection of Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands. Please enjoy!
Van Gogh had intended to make a nocturnal painting for some time. He did not want to paint one in the conventional manner, in shades of black and grey, but actually with an abundance of colours. Equally unconventional is that he paints this gas-lit terrace of a café in Arles in situ and in the dark, because colours have a different appearance during the day than by night. The most eye-catching aspect is the sharp contrast between the warm yellow, green and orange colours under the marquise and the deep blue of the starry sky, which is reinforced by the dark blue of the houses in the background. Van Gogh was pleased with the effect, stating: “I believe that an abundance of gaslight, which, after all, is yellow and orange, intensifies blue.” He writes to his sister Wil: “I enormously enjoy painting on the spot at night.” The fact that he keenly observes is borne out of later astronomical research. He painted the constellations precisely as they appeared on the night of 16 or 17 September 1888.