Post-impressionism was a movement in art in the 1880s which Vincent Van Gogh was at the forefront of. “Through the use of simplified colors and definitive forms, their [post impressionist’s] art was characterized by a renewed aesthetic sense as well as abstract tendencies” (Voorhies). Tennessee Williams creates a sense of immediacy by using these techniques to describe setting in A Streetcar Named Desire. The description of the group of men at the beginning of scene three exemplifies this post-impressionism.
There is a picture of Van Gogh’s of a billiard-parlor at night. The kitchen now suggests that sort of lurid nocturnal brilliance, the raw colors of childhood’s spectrum. Over the yellow linoleum of the kitchen table hangs and electric bulb with a vivid green glass shade. The poker players—Stanley, Steve, Mitch and Pablo—wear colored shirts, solid blues, a purple, a red-and-white check, a light green, and they are men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colors. (Williams 48)
“The Night Cafe” (1888), Vincent Van Gogh
This passage is packed with images of color and light which are reminiscent of post-impressionist art. The inclusion of Van Gogh’s The Night Café emphasizes this. The painting is not realistic, but it does have a sense of realness which could not be conveyed by a photograph. Van Gogh’s use of bright primary colors and simplified geometric shapes is echoed in William’s language. Both the painting and the passage create a mood more than an actual image of the setting. Van Gogh describes his painting as an “attempt to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of green and red” (Van Gogh 533). This goes well with the scene as Williams reveals the terrible passions of Stella and Stanley.
Van Gogh’s painting has even further meaning in the play. The painting’s inspiration came from an all-night café that drew in drunks and prostitutes. In a letter to his brother Van Gogh said, “Today I am probably going to begin on the interior of the café where I have a room, by gas light, in the evening. It is what they call here a “café de nuit” (they are fairly frequent here), staying open all night. “Night prowlers” can take refuge there when they have no money to pay for a lodging, or are too drunk to be taken in” (Van Gogh 518). This refuge for drunks and the generally unwanted population is echoed in Stanley and Stella’s kitchen on poker night. The men get drunk and unruly just like the drunkards in the painting. Van Gogh’s the Night Café emphasizes Williams’ use of post-impressionistic techniques and echoes the mood of the poker night scene.
-Becca
Sources Cited:
Vincent van Gogh. Letter to Theo van Gogh. Written 8 September 1888 in Arles. Translated by Mrs. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, edited by Robert Harrison, numbers 533 and 518.
URL: http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/18/533.htm.
http://webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/18/518.htm.
Voorhies, James. “Post-Impressionism”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/poim/hd_poim.htm (October 2004)
American Lit 309 Fall 13 
What a cool connection, Becca! You touch on the concept of “light” in your post, which also makes me think of Blanche’s paper lantern (it softens the glow) and all the references to light in The Great Gatsby (which make Gatsby’s world feel hot and ablaze). You suggest that Williams creates a sense of immediacy through color and light, but I also wonder if it has the opposite effect– it obscures and makes things dream-like. This would certainly apply to Blanche.