Nighthawks, And Vincent Van Goghs Cafe Terrace At Night...

Edward Hopper, who represents arguably the zenith of the 20th century, American Realism and the 19 century artist Vincent Willem van Gogh both painted vibrant and expressive paintings during their time. In 1942 Hopper created the piece â€Å"Nighthawks† and Van Gogh created â€Å"Cafà © Terrace at Night†, also known as The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum which was created in mid-September of 1888. Both of these compositions were painted using the same Oil on canvas medium. Both painting even have a similar setting one set in a diner the other at a Cafà © but, both painting wanted to convey a different feel or tone. Looking closer at both works we see that, the line, shape, texture, and color allow us to recognize the difference between their styles,†¦show more content†¦Hopper uses these formalities to depict real-life diner in American. Hopper purpose and what he was trying to say I believe he wanted to create a timeless feel for American art. Cafà © Te rrace at Night was the first painting that Van Gogh painted where he used a nocturnal background. Using contrasting colors and tones, unlike Nighthawk which used complementary colors, Van Gogh was able to achieve a luminous surface with an interior light. Because of the brightness of the luminous surface Van Gogh manage to brighten up the painting with bright yellow stars that appear to make the sky glow, alongside the lights that pour out of the cafe making it attention-grabbing. Likewise with Nighthawks with its illuminate diner which shows similarities in their lighting. The lines of composition is also different from Nighthawk which its lines were very straight and rectangular, the composition in this piece points to the center of the work drawing the viewers eye along the pavement as if it were strolling the streets. Van Gogh was able to recreated the setting directly from his observation, again similar to Hopper when he used the Greenwich Village diner as inspiration for his work. Both pieces are successful works of art but, depending on the culture one is more popular than the other. Nighthawks is feature in