The composition used in the version of The Card Players with two players is very different from the other versions. Here the background is mainly dark, and only a few light-coloured strips give an idea of space, perhaps the roofed terrace of a café. The scene is lit by artificial light, which is reflected on the table-cloth, bottle and pipe. The purpose of the painting is not to re-create some everyday scene from small-town provincial life, but to solve the compositional problem of depicting people in space.
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