A yellow wooden bed, two chairs, a small table and a few pictures on the wall. Van Gogh painted his simple bedroom in the Yellow House in Arles in vivid colours, saying it was meant to express “absolute repose”.
Key facts
- Artist
- Vincent van Gogh1853–1890 · Dutch
- Date
- October 1888
- Period
- Post-Impressionism1886–1905
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 72.4 × 91.3 cm
- Location
- Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands
Actual size
Compared with an adult 170 cm tall
Palette
#877143#969F92#968A56#9D7D11#796124Background
In September 1888 Van Gogh moved into the Yellow House in Arles, furnishing it with money sent by his brother Theo. He was proud of having a home of his own and painted this picture of his bedroom in October.
He explained to Theo: “This time it's simply my bedroom, only here colour is to do everything... it's to be suggestive here of rest or of sleep in general. In a word, looking at the picture ought to rest the brain, or rather the imagination.”
In 1889 the painting was damaged by flooding in Arles, and at the asylum in Saint-Rémy Van Gogh painted two further versions, now in the Art Institute of Chicago and the Musée d'Orsay. This first version is in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
Technique & composition
Van Gogh painted in flat areas of colour with dark outlines, clearly influenced by Japanese woodblock prints. He wrote that he deliberately suppressed shadows to make it flat and bright like a Japanese print.
The perspective is noticeably distorted: the floor tilts up, seems to slide towards us and the back wall slants. This is partly because the room really was an irregular trapezoid, but Van Gogh also exaggerated the perspective for expressive effect.
The walls look pale blue today, but Van Gogh described them as pale violet. Scientific analysis has confirmed that a red pigment has faded, turning the violet blue.
Details
Symbolism
Things in pairs
Many objects come in pairs: , two pillows, two portraits on the wall. Some scholars see in this Van Gogh's longing for companionship, especially his anticipation of Gauguin's arrival.
A settled home
After years of wandering, Van Gogh finally had a room of his own. The simple furniture and bright colours express his longing for a settled life.
Stories
- Did you know?
The on the wall are Van Gogh's own paintings of his friends, the Belgian painter Eugène Boch and the soldier Paul-Eugène Milliet.
- Did you know?
In 2016 the Art Institute of Chicago recreated the bedroom as a real room and offered it for rent on a home-sharing website, drawing huge demand.
Legacy
The Bedroom is one of Van Gogh's most personal works, showing how he used colour to express feeling. Its flat colour and exaggerated perspective anticipated Fauvism and Expressionism.
