Ansley Gibson

Professor Diehl

HUMN 2010

19 February 2024

For my discussion I will be talking about Vicent van Gough’s painting “The Café

Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night.” My perspective of the painting is that his

fixation is on the cafe that is vibrant with its yellow color meanwhile the rest of the street is

consumed with dark colors. The cafe is the focal point of the painting driving us to think that the

main point of the painting is within the cafe. I believe that Van Gough’s goal was to bring forth

the idea of the socialization of the people within the cafe and the people around it are trying to or

want to feel like the people in the cafe. It almost seems to me that the people around are sitting

and watching wanting to be a part of what is going on but are not out of fear and isolation, they

feel as if they cannot escape. The cafe seems inviting due to the arrangement of the chairs

because they are all faced outward as if it is an open invitation to come sit and socialize.

The main characters here are the people within the cafe, the people on the outside, and Van

Gough. I believe that the most broken-hearted of this painting is Vicent Van Gough himself. He

is involved in the painting by watching the town from afar but is unable to join like the people on

the outside of the cafe. I think that this highlights Van Gough’s mental illness and its effects on

him socially. This could possibly show how Van Gough’s anxiety and depression has consumed

him and his ability to interact and engaging with others. He wants to be a part of the normal and

socializing of people, but his illness is holding him apart. The specific element that stands out to

me about the painting's meaning is the chairs. The direction and demeanor of the chairs speak a

lot about the painting's meaning.