Cafe Terrace at Night
Van Gogh

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This painting is typical of the later works of Van Gogh, he has made the use of colour the most important part of this painting. Although Van Gogh often painted images of people in their everyday lives most of the images are of back breaking work and are dark and sombre in mood, this image by contrast is lighthearted and cheers the viewer almost as if the person viewing the image is one of the figures walking down the street or indeed sitting at one of the tables enjoying the night air and having a chat with friends.
Van Gogh by this time in his life is almost at the end of his painting career and two years later his life was to tragically end in suicide.