Felix Vallotton | At the Cafe, 1909

Félix Edouard Vallotton (December 28, 1865 - December 29, 1925) was a Swiss/French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as Les Nabis. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut.

He painted portraits, landscapes, figures, still lifes, and other subjects in an unemotional, realistic style.

His earliest paintings were influenced by Holbein and Ingres. He developed a simpler style during his association with Les Nabis during the 1890s, and produced woodcuts which brought him international recognition.

Édouard Manet | Cafe-Concert, 1878

Pierre Auguste Renoir | At the Cafe, 1877

Everyday life

Together with Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir is one of the central figures of impressionism.

But while Monet prefers to paint landscapes in the open air, Renoir takes everyday life as the theme for his paintings.

He frequently enjoys painting in cafés, which also brings him all kinds of commissions for portraits.

Edgar Degas | Women on a café terrace in the evening, 1877

Women in a Café or Women on a Café Terrace is a work by the French painter Edgar Degas, made in 1877 and preserved in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

In this pastel, Degas's curious gaze catches four women sitting on the terrace of a Parisian café talking (in the background there is a Parisian cityscape dotted with night lights).

Edgar Degas loved the evening hour in Montmartre.

As strong sunlight hurt his eyes he enjoyed wandering round Paris at night, picking up impressions, fixing indelibly on the plate of his memory certain scenes which he later developed with remarkable distinction in his studio.

Alphonse Mucha | The Abyss, c.1898

Francesco Hayez (1791-1882)

Francesco Hayez nacque in una famiglia di condizioni modeste. Il padre Giovanni era di origini francesi; la madre, Chiara Torcella, veniva da Murano.

Il piccolo Francesco, ultimo di cinque figli, venne affidato ad una sorella della madre che aveva sposato Giovanni Binasco, armatore e mercante d'arte proprietario di una discreta collezione di dipinti.

Già da piccolo mostrò una predisposizione per il disegno e lo zio lo affidò ad un restauratore affinché ne imparasse il mestiere.

In seguito divenne allievo del pittore Francesco Magiotto presso il quale rimase per tre anni.

Frequentò il primo corso di nudo nel 1803 e nel 1806 venne ammesso ai corsi di pittura della Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti dove fu allievo di Teodoro Matteini.

Eugène Galien-Laloue | Arc de Triomphe, Paris, 1941