What is Van Gogh's most ugly masterpiece 'Night Cafe'?

Finnish van Gogh , known for paintings such as " Sunflower " " Self-portrait with a bandage and a pipe " is known as a painter representing the Dutch post-impressionist . Such Van Gogh was referring his own " Night Cafe " as "the most ugly painting". A movie that explains why Van Gogh regarded the night cafe as ugly and what kind of technique is used in the evening cafe is on YouTube.

Van Gogh's Ugliest Masterpiece


Van Gogh mentioned the painting in the letter written for his brother Theodorus van Gogh and wrote that "This is the most ugly painting I drew."

At this time Van Gogh pointed out is a painting drawn in September 1888 called "Night's Cafe."

In the cafe at night, there is a place where you can feel the disgusting disharmony somewhere somewhere.

As well as this, the famous cafe festival of Van Gogh is famous for " Cafe Terrace at Night ", but it seems that the romantic image of Europe is drifting here.

In this painting that depicts people gathering at a cafe on summer evenings, people are having a chat about chatting about table seats.

Glittering stars and blinking in the blue night sky, the orange and yellow gas lamp full of terrace is also beautiful ......

The cobblestone is a fantastic atmosphere with purple and pink.

Meanwhile, the café at night seems to have seemingly dull air.

The cafeteria of the night facing outside is as beautiful as a dream, and it is a place where people are having a chat with each other ... ...

The cafe in the night closed in the room looks as if the interior was bad and the people were sunk.

Van Gogh also wrote in his letter to his brother about the ugliness of the night cafe, "It collapses itself, runs himself up and runs to crime". Actually, Van Gogh was deliberately directing the ugliness in the evening cafe.

Van Gogh is skillful in drawing paintings by using colors well in paintings ... ...

It seems that in the evening cafe that depicts a cafe in the middle of the night, it is daringly making coloring that makes people uneasy.

In a letter addressed to his younger brother, Van Gogh said, "I've been trying to express human fearful passions using red and green, the difference between green and red is conflict and antithesis everywhere" It is.

Van Gogh had a strong inquiry about color theory and was studying the color analysis method written by Charles Blanc , a French artist, and color theory by Michelle Eugene Shouvel .

Among them, when he saw two or more juxtaposed colors at the same time, he learned the concept of " simultaneous contrast " which has an effect different from that when looking at only one color due to the influence of each other's color And that.

In addition, since paint mixes with each other, it becomes darker as it is mixed, so if you mix various colors trying to reproduce light from the outside world, the picture will become dark. To avoid this, Van Gogh knew about a method called " visual mixing " that creates mixed colors on the retina by juxtaposing the colors to be mixed on campus.

Van Gogh is very enthusiastic about the effect of color, he said that he used the full power of color in the evening cafe.

Red and green used in night cafes are complementary colors , bringing synergistic effects that complement each other's colors.

Among the complementary colors, the combination of blue and orange gives the screen a pleasing ambience ... ...

Green and red have an unpleasant impression, Ogden Rued , an American natural scientist, says.

Van Gogh painted a painting called " Zuave soldier " about three months before drawing a night cafe. Red and green are used in this painting as well as a night cafe, and Van Gogh was experimenting on a combination of red and green.

In the letter addressed to his younger brother, Van Gogh notes that red and green are different combinations and handling is not easy.

Meanwhile, Van Gogh also used a combination of red and green in "Self-portrait (Self-portrait with a bandage and pipes added") drawn in January 1889 after several months of drawing a night cafe. However, red and green in this self-portrait are surprisingly stable and looks calm.

The reason is that it seems to be because it combines orange and blue complementary color at the top of the screen with the line of the eye as the border, and color as the complementary color of red and green at the bottom.

In Zuab soldiers, unintentionally it became unstable by the combination of red and green, but in self-portrait, Van Gogh deepens the understanding of color in the way that intentionally stabilizes the combination of red and green You can see that it is.

And Van Gogh is using red and green to succeed in creating "intentionally unstable" paintings in the evening cafe.

The repressive walls occupying the top of the screen at the night cafe are drawn in red like blood ......

Green is used on the ceiling. Red and green drawn with an unstable balance on the upper half of the canvas are said to create tension on the screen.

The remaining space is filled with sulfur yellow and the billiard table is green.

The top of the table is blue.

Men's clothes are drawn white. This color scheme is that Van Gogh intentionally attempted to give anxiety to the entire screen.

The shadow is drawn only on the central billiard table ... ...

People wear a hat and join their arms, it seems to refuse the viewer.

The position of the chair is also shifted at a strange angle ... ...

The glasses and bottles on the table also give an unstable impression.

Both lines reflected on the screen do not overlap with the horizontal line, they are slightly curved, and let people embrace uneasiness as if they are involved in paintings. People wander their line of sight seeking an exit ......

The other side is closed with a sofa and there is no exit in the night cafe. Because of these various factors, night cafes are "the most ugly paintings".

In late October of the following month that drew a night cafe, Van Gogh will start living with Paul Gauguin ... ...

Gauguin leaves Van Gogh and at the end of December Van Gogh cuts his left ear.

Van Gogh is a very sensitive person, and that sense is reflected in the acceptance of the surrounding world and the attitude of drawing paintings.

That is why even after one century after the death of Van Gogh a lot of people were attracted to Van Gogh's painting ... ...

That's why the night cafe is the "most ugly masterpiece".