Bringing Van Gogh to Life

Vincent van Gogh was taken with a scene of a cafe in Arles under the night sky. He painted Café Terrace at Night at night in September of 1888. The painting is notable for its contrast between the lights of the businesses that are open and the darkness of those that are not, plus the deep blue sky studded with stars. The painting is unsigned, but we know who did it because van Gogh wrote about his experience painting it.

Artist, animator, and teacher Andrey Zakirzyanov experimented with giving life to the scene in a wonderful new animation.

First, you notice the dancers, then the zoom. The perspective appears to be that of a drone camera, as the scene moves up into the air to focus on the bright stars in the sky. The movement draws our attention to details you may not have noticed before.

It's not the first time this has been tried. Randall Holl animated the same painting with a different purpose some years ago. He was translating van Gogh's perspective into three dimensions.

The original Café Terrace at Night is on display at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Netherlands. -via Everlasting Blort ​