DAIO - Cindy Baik

Cindy Baik

Ms. Wieringa

Drawing

Oct.2.2007

DAIO

I am goint to introduce one of my favorite painting, Cafe-Terrace At Night (1888)by Vincent van Gogh, who was a famous Dutch artist and the most great Post Impressionist painter. The painting was hand-painted with oil on canvas. There is a night scene in the painting and the stars are depicted by very bright color of yellow. Also, that light effects of the night. We can easily see that Van Gogh has achieved an effect of luminosity with the use of contrasting colors and tones. In the painting, the darks compliment the lights, the blues intensify the oranges, and the purples bring out the yellows. The painting is not symmetrical, but Van Gogh expressed the perspective by drawing things big which is close to him, and drawing small which is far from him. So in the painting we can surely see that there is a cafe-terrace following on the side street.

In Cafe-Terrace At Night, there are some people on the terrace in the bright lamplight, and also can see a couple who are walking forward to the cafe together. I think, Van Gogh was trying to say about his loneliness. Looking at the people in the cafe, probably Van Gogh, who was painting the picture on the side road by himself must be lonely. He undoubtedly was thinking about his sister and about his solitude.

In the painting, Van Gogh painted a night painting without black, with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green and in this surrounding the illuminated area colors itself sulfur pale yellow and citron green. Those colors are not very related, but they are contrasted by each other. I think it is much beautiful because of that contrasting. He aslo painted by oil, not by other usual paints. So it made a painting much realistic by expressing of the sight of night.

When I first heard about this project, Vincent van Gogh was in my mind. I don't know it was because he was one of the most popular artists out of very few ones to me, or not. Anyway, I looked for things about his paintings. Then, eventually, I picked Cafe-Terrace At Night, because it attracted me at the first sight and I have thought about this painting that it was a very nice before. After searching this painting, I knew that using oil, even though it needs very hard work, if I use good colors, I can express more than what I expected. So in my personal opinion, I think this painting is very special.