Night Paintings & Nocturnes
Starry skies, gaslit streets and moonlit water.
4 prints · printed to order on heavyweight matte paper · framed or unframed
Painting the dark
Night was nearly impossible to paint from life until gaslight, and the Impressionists' generation was the first to try. Van Gogh set up his easel on a square in Arles in September 1888 and painted the café terrace under the stars without a drop of black; The Starry Night followed the next June, from memory and the view from his asylum window. Pissarro painted the Boulevard Montmartre at night from a hotel room above it.
The works in this collection
Van Gogh's The Starry Night and Café Terrace at Night; Pissarro's The Boulevard Montmartre at Night; Aivazovsky's Moonlit Night on the Black Sea.
On the wall
Night paintings belong in bedrooms. Their deep blues sit with navy and charcoal walls and glow under a lamp. The Starry Night is wide and suits 24×16 above a bed; the Café Terrace is upright and pairs with it.