

He calls it , "the Two-Café Problem". It seems Parisians only want to be seen in the "right" café of the moment, even if it means waiting for a table when there are plenty of empty seats in the café across the street, says Q+A Magazine.

Here is my hypothesis, and it's based solely on color theory and nothing else. Color acts on us in unconscious ways and drives us to do things we hadn't planned. The absolute winner of color combinations is rouge et vert or the RED/GREEN combo.
It's the best pair of color compliments of all 3.
RED - GREEN
ORANGE - BLUE
YELLOW -PURPLE
red + green turns up where ever you look. Go to your corner grocery or Farmer's Market. The grocer intuitively understands color theory and never painted a color swatch or had to sit in color theory class.
RED - GREEN
ORANGE - BLUE
YELLOW -PURPLE
red + green turns up where ever you look. Go to your corner grocery or Farmer's Market. The grocer intuitively understands color theory and never painted a color swatch or had to sit in color theory class.




Did you know all important cafés in Paris have their own proprietary chaise designs and their own proprietary rattan weave as well? Maison J. Gatti is responsible for these. You can find them stateside at Cafe Society in San Francisco.
The all-time master of the red/green combo is Pierre Hermé. So, sorry Deux Magot, your signature colors are très classy and I'd take a set of your breakfast crockery anyday over Flore's.
The all-time master of the red/green combo is Pierre Hermé. So, sorry Deux Magot, your signature colors are très classy and I'd take a set of your breakfast crockery anyday over Flore's.
Your chocolate chaud is hands down the winner on the boulevarde, but you can't compete with the red/green combo. Adam Gopnik might have a giggle if he read this... Nevermind color is powerful and even trés chic Parisians are not immune. So that's my theory on "the Two-Café Problem".
*Reposted from August 31,2006

I could re read your blog a hundred times and never row tired of it. Red or Green, Pink or Blue you ring true!
ReplyDeleteI agree with that color combination, a true winner (that also makes maple leaves stand out against other still green other trees in early fall).
ReplyDeleteTo me the traditional cafe chair however is the 1900 blond and brown, round back from Gatti that can still be seen at Le Nemours place Colette.
Gatti is one of the last few companies making cafe chairs.
The rest come from Asia.
Other than this, I enjoyed your posting as always.
Best,
Christiane
What a great way to start my morning! Color and cafe! Could use some cafe and a great cafe view....or just some of that naples yellow, and a croissant. Merci encore.
ReplyDeleteChere Carol~
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your "repost's"
(riposte?) what a great idea~
And, my living rooms and dining
rooms are....red and green. I
never tire of them.
I can never get enough of red and green peppers.
ReplyDeleteIs it the colors or the taste?
Nice to know the GREEN grocer has the same idea!
xAnnie
Enjoyed your post this morning. Color is a powerful tool. I have bought more things because of color combinations. The red and Green chairs ARE more appealing to go sit in.
ReplyDeleteWe all can use refresher course's in color theory. Thanks.
In April I ordered the breakfast basket with coffee and fresh orange juice. I ate all 8 baked items and never noticed the Naples yellow I was sitting in...
ReplyDeleteColor, color...oh how the world would be without color! I love all your photo's showing the vibrant colors, how beautiful it all looks.
ReplyDeleteWhat I learn here... I can see it in the first two pictures, I can actually see it!!!! The energy. The second is lovely, but not the vibrancy of the first... wow!
ReplyDeletep.s. but when I am there... if there is no open table at rouge et vert... and the beautiful calm of lemongrass yellow is wide open... that is where I will be sipping my coffee and nibbling my croissants...
ReplyDeleteI agree with all you say about colour, and what a pleasure to read. Adam Gopnik’s Paris to the Moon was poetry to my eyes... now I just can't wait to get on a train to Paris and see it all for myself (especially the cakes!).
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. I was doing art direction on a photo shoot on Tuesday and the kitchen we were shooting looked drab so I placed a bowl of mint. red peppers and a 1/4 water melon and the whole room changed.
ReplyDeleteSo les deux magots doesn't have the best colours but we are meeting there for breakfast next month so we will brighten the place up for them. We need to fix a date.
The Harvey above is ME. He had logged into Google on my computer and I hadn't noticed.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Love that pepper picture.
ReplyDeleteI did have that sense of déjà vu ... ;-) I loved that post the first time around and am glad you showed it again. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'll bite here...I read your blog every day, but today I wonder...if red peppers are in the grocery store display, the odds are that they will always be near something green because so many vegetables are green in the first place.. It's true, right? Are the majority of vegetables green?
ReplyDeleteCarol - I am so glad you posted that one again, with so many blogs to check out, I really don't get a chance to go into the archives. Reading your blog is such a pleasure, it heightens my awareness of the colors around me, thanks so much...
ReplyDeletePleased not to be colour-blind !!! Those 2 colours would be a problem for me!
ReplyDeleteHello, I've just discovered your blog and love your beautiful watercolors. This theory is intriguing and I'm pretty sure that you're right - Café de Flore is definitely the most desirable of the two.
ReplyDelete