Van Gogh’s Principles in Art

In the painting shown above Caf© Terrance at Night by Vincent Van Gogh was painted on September 6, 1888. I'm going to be doing an analysis on the paint shown Caf© Terrance at Night by writing about three elements and two principals used in the paint.

One of the main elements Van Gogh uses is movement. The way Van Gogh uses movement in his painting is that he draws people walking by and people inside the caf© and you can almost see people walking by. The effect movement gives this painting is the effect of seeing what Van Gogh saw when he painted the picture. This element is almost like he added the people in there just for the effect of movement.

Van Gogh also uses the element of time in his art shown. Time used in this painting is stopped and this can be combined with the artwork with the time of day being dark and having that bright yellow caf© shimmering bright. The effect that time gives this painting is stopping and seizing the moment of how bright the caf© is shining that not even darkness could put a blanket on it. This shows that even in darkness more color and light can shine out which, in the painting, the caf© is that eye catcher, the object that you can't look away from.

Van Gogh uses poly-chromatic colour in Caf© Terrance at Night. Colour in this art would be almost as vital as someone needing to eat without getting hungry, that is how vital colour is in the painting. Colour clashes with all the elements I have already listed. Colour is what gives feel in the painting, from the way Van Gogh draws the back-ground characters wearing coats to the darkness surrounding everything but the caf©. The colour used sets the mood and feel of the art. When I looked at this piece, I felt a sense of warmth come upon me because it was not just the clash of blue and yellow it was the way he used them. Van Gogh painted a dark night sky filled with stars and you get a sense of coldness used from the red and green coats wore by the background characters. The focal piece was the caf© which was shining so bright in the night it gave warmth to me like I was lost in cold darkness until I saw the caf©, it is brighter than the sun, sitting there and glowing brighter than any star in the sky. The clashes of Colours Van Gogh uses is simply outstanding to me.

Van Gogh uses the principle of emphasis in his art. Emphasis is giving something special importance or value, it can also be an expression of intensity. In the pain Caf© Terrance at Night Van Gogh gives emphasis to the caf© during the night and how it shines. The way Van Gogh preformed this task is with the special use of colour from making a dark background and a golden caf© in the middle of all that darkness. When I close my eyes and think about the painting, I can see the emphasis that Van Gogh used on the caf©, with the bright yellow in middle of darkness, I can see all of the colours he used in my head and the emphasis he used.

One last important principle Van Gogh used was variety. Variety is the counter weight to harmony causing more interest into visual appeal. The way variety effects this painting is through Van Gogh different use of colour from black, blue, gold, white, green, and etc. and this not causes you to just look at one thing this causes you to look at everything in the picture from the wood on the walls to the man in white surrounded by people the use of variety gives you interest in the whole painting. When devoting my time to look and feel the painting as if I was there gave me a new sense of colours mixing and blending and variety of all sorts.

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