Formal Analysis - The Cafe Terrace on the Place Du Forum,...

The painting that I chose to write my formal analysis on is called â€Å"The Cafà © Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, At Night†. This piece was created by Vincent Van Gogh in Arles, France and was completed sometime in September of 1888. This painting is oil on canvas, and it is currently housed in the Kroller-Muller Museum located in Otterlo, The Netherlands in Europe. This painting depicts a sidewalk cafà © in France at night. There is a doorway to the front left of the painting that is painted blue, and is surrounded by a wall that gleams yellow from the outdoor lights. Attached to the wall, there is a large awning, and it covers the diners and the empty tables that are a part of the cafà ©. Above the awning, there are open window shutters†¦show more content†¦Color is highly evident in this painting, and helps to draw the viewer’s eye to certain places in the painting. The cafà © is yellow, and adds a boisterous feeling to that section of the piece. The yellow light spills onto the street and walls of the town, creating bright colors and drawing the eye. The sky and town use dark colors to illustrate nighttime, although the bright spots of the stars cause the viewer to look to the sky. The next art element that is demonstrated in this painting is time and motion. The think strokes of the leaves on the tree make it looks as though a wind is blowing through the streets of France. The pedestrians in the street demonstrate an element of time and motion because they appear to have been caught mid-stride on the way to their destinations. The server in the cafà ©, as well as his customers, show motion because they are moving and having conversations amongst themselves. Texture and pattern are very easy to identify in this painting. The street’s cobblestones show texture and pattern in the way that they are arranged. Texture is also demonstrated through the paint strokes on the buildings, the tree, and even the sky. These thick, uneven strokes add a layer of depth and texture to all elements of the painting. The final element in The Cafà © Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, At Night that demonstrates time is the stars and darkness that represent nighttime. The deep colors in the background, compared with the