In the evening, a woman sits alone at a coffee table, gazing at the activities and scenery of the business district of Paris - the vivid depiction of in the caf é by the painter Fernand lungren is fascinating.

This cafe is composed of tables, chairs, velvet lined card holders, architectural elements and countless lighting devices. Careful observation can also capture pedestrians in the distance, businesses illuminated by lights and noisy streets on the right.

The woman on the left is striking - she is wearing a red orange dress decorated with POMS, a hat with feathers and flowers, and a pair of gloves. Sitting alone in the bustling downtown, she represents the new independence pursued by women at the end of the 19th century, and enjoys the modern and booming commercial and leisure public spaces in Paris - boulevards, parks, cafes, department stores, shops and entertainment places. She took the glass (it should look like water from the glass bottle on the side) and looked out. Was the woman waiting for friends, family or lovers? Or is she not waiting for anyone at all? Maybe she just sat there and stared at the world around her.

Langlen used fine lines and bold color contrast, and his description was precise and hierarchical. At first glance, all this seems clear, but when you look closely, are you confused by this seemingly compact structure?

First, some vibrant open strokes interrupt the linear structure of the painting: the strokes of white, turquoise and orange paint depict the skirt under the woman’s skirt and petticoat; The figure on the far right holds a bunch of yellow flowers; The driver in the background is mapped by the light in the shop window, and the carriage moving to the left falls into a blurred scene.

Trying to understand the architectural space of the cafe is by no means easy. The doors and windows of the cafe facing the street have been fully opened. Many mirrors and lights, reflections and refractions of light confuse spatial connections and disrupt our position in the scene.

Is the light above the character installed on the mirror on the back wall? Or on the ceiling? Some of these lights are reflective images, which should provide us with information about the spatial location of women and the possible location of us as spectators? In the cafe, an interesting visual puzzle is formed - a puzzle that combines modern urban space, women, fashion, especially the lighting effect.

Fernand Harvey lungren may not be a familiar name to you, but his art career is a familiar path. Langlen was born in Maryland and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. He lived in Europe and then returned to the United States again.

At his father’s request, langlen studied mining engineering at the University of Michigan in 1874. Two years later, he gave up his studies and strengthened his determination to pursue art. He went first to Cincinnati and then to Philadelphia. In 1879, he got a job as a magazine illustrator in New York. He could have been engaged in illustration all the time, but what he really wanted to do was painting.

In June 1882, Langren went to Europe by boat with a group of artists. Walking on the streets of Paris, he began to decide to find his goal through direct observation - he spent most of his time studying the street scenes in Paris.

In the coffee shop collected by the Chicago Museum of art, langlen pays special attention to the details of women’s fashion.

In a clothing advertisement poster in 1883, we can see that a woman presents a similar image - her hat, the size of her skirt support, and even her shawl are similar to the woman in red dress in cafe.

It can be seen from the X-ray image of the cafe that at first the painter wanted to draw another dress around the back and shoulders of the character, and then he redraws the present one.

However, the POM POM on the red and orange dress in the painting is not like the fashion at that time, but more like the style of clothes in the 1860s.

We can see from langlen’s other smaller work, also called “cafe”, that he will reuse and redefine part of the content of one work and apply it to another work.

Langlen depicts two women sitting at the table in this painting. The face of the woman in black looks very close to the “lonely” heroine in the collection of the Chicago Museum of art, and the lady’s orange dress on the right also touches a familiar note.

During his two years in Paris, Langren was deeply attracted by the new Impressionist Works. In 1880, before he arrived in Paris, Gustave Caillebotte showed an experimental work in a caf é in the fifth Impressionist exhibition. This painting depicts the state of a man in the natural light of a caf é, which has many similar elements to Langren’s Caf é.

The female images in cafe probably refer to Claude Monet’s Cliff walk at Pourville and Pierre Auguste Renoir’s two sisters on the terrace.

Langren’s strong interest in light is different from Monet and Renoir, who like to depict sunlight. His focus is on the new product at the end of the 19th century - electric lamp, and how to present the visual experience of this modern light in painting. “This new incandescent lamp is like a magic wand. It turns dirty gas lit streets into fairyland,” he said

The “city of lights” in Paris has also attracted other artists to explore this bright world, including the French painter James Tissot. His work “ladies of the chariot” depicts a performance venue made of iron and glass. This huge internal space is illuminated by electric lights.

The women in cafe are charming