Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch artist who found his calling in the mid-to-late-twentieth century. Van Gogh helped lead in the Post-Impressionism to help accent the fact that artists in it were against the Impressionists' concerns for the portrayal of natural color and light. In mid-September of 1888, Vincent van Gogh painted one of his famous oil artworks, "Cafe Terrace at Night" which was on the Place du Forum. It is always known that Van Gogh always held a special place for the nighttime in his heart, which inspired some of his most famous artworks like "The Starry Night", "Cafe Terrace at Night", and "Starry Night Over the Rhone". "Cafe Terrace at Night" is an outstanding masterpiece that draws attention from audiences of all ages due to the fact that it displays the different combinations of colors and the meaning behind the work of art, how abstract the features are, and the different texture that is used in the painting that makes van Gogh different that the other artists of his time.

"Cafe Terrace at Night" is a painting that combines cool colors along with light colors. It is a painting mostly with blues, blacks, and greens as the background with splashes of yellows, oranges, and some reds and whites to show off the terrace and the night sky. The cooler colors set a calmer undertone for the painting while the lighter colors give off a sense of joy and happiness of the terrace. The colors provided in "Cafe Terrace at Night" not only provides a beautiful picture with colors that are blending perfectly, but it also gives a meaning behind the artwork. In a letter written to van Gogh's sister, he shows his excitement and explains why he chose the colors the way he did.

     "  With nothing but beautiful blue, violet and green, and in these surrounding the lighted square is coloured pale sulphur, lemon green. I enormously enjoy painting on the spot at night. In the past they used to draw, and pain the picture from the drawing in the daytime. But I find that it suits me to paint the thing straight away. It's quite true that I may take a blue for a green in the dark, a blue lilac for a pink lilac, since you can't make out the nature of the tone clearly. But it's the only way of getting away from the conventional black night with a poor, pallid and whitish light, while in face a mere candle by itself gives us the richest yellows and oranges," (Harrison).

Van Gogh's excitement towards the painting and the colors he was going to use have been on his mind for a while, and only made him even more excited for the artwork to be done. What also made van Gogh so excited for the piece of art were the various combinations of colors, and how they complimented each other in a variety of diverse ways. He talks about how the light from the cafe cascades the street of Place du Forum. When it comes to the meaning behind the artwork; it is that beauty can be in the simple things. Vincent van Gogh takes something so normal, like a popular terrace at night with various amounts of people, and turns it into a beautiful work of art.  

Vincent van Gogh was an artist that liked to capture everything in the moment. This provides an explanation of why everything is not precise. Van Gogh painted the people in the artwork more as an outline/ form of a human rather than being more defined and showing more of their features. If one notices in the painting how abstract van Gogh painted the people, the buildings, the night sky, and everything else in the picture, one will recognize that it is not precise in the texture and shape. The way that van Gogh makes everything seem so abstract yet so beautiful is what makes him different and unique than those of his fellow artists of his time. 

As said before, Van Gogh painted "in the moment", therefore making him different than the rest of his fellow artists. In "Cafe Terrace at Night", Vincent van Gogh used a different texture than those of his fellow artists. When looking closely, one can see that everything (the people, chairs, the buildings, etc.) is not closely defined and precise. It is noted that Van Gogh painted in the moment, which gives a better understanding of why the figures and building are not precise in angles or features. Also, "Cafe Terrace at Night" is an oil painting. Oil paintings are paintings that use pigments that are originally from the ground and turned into oil; this gives the painting it's own unique style. Due to the fact that Van Gogh was apart of the Post-Impressionist movement, gives an explanation of why his paintings have different textures and other characteristics. In conclusion, although "Cafe Terrace at Night" shows some different features than those of his fellow artists, it does not take away the simple beauty Vincent van Gogh has made. 

Vincent van Gogh was an artist that seized the moment with his wonderful creations of art. He was a man who co-lead the Post-Impressionist movement to go against the portrayal of the naturals colors and light. With his love for the night and it's beauty that it holds, inspired a painting that took an everyday cafe into a beautiful piece of art that displays abstract buildings and people. Vincent van Gogh also said that by painting in the moment, he caught the most beauty. By his difference of his artists of his time, his vast color scheme, and his love for abstract art makes van Gogh a unique artist when taking something so ordinary, and making it into wonderful artwork. 

