The Bedroom in Arles

The painting you're looking at now is The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh.

This is the bedroom where Van Gogh lived during his time in Arles.

Now, let's take a closer look.

You'll notice that the perspective and sense of space aren't portrayed realistically.

The bed appears unusually large, and the wall on the right seems stretched far beyond its actual proportions.

But what Van Gogh wanted to express in this painting wasn't accurate perspective—it was color.

Just as we saw in The Starry Night over the Rhône, he used contrasting colors throughout the composition.

The walls are painted a soft lavender, while the bed and chairs are bright yellow. The washstand is blue. By placing complementary colors next to one another, Van Gogh made each color appear even more vivid.

Through this bold use of color, he hoped to convey a feeling of complete rest.

In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote that he wanted this painting to express "restfulness."

The letter includes a small sketch of the room along with his notes.

In the letter, he explains that he wanted the colors of the room to express its simplicity.

Like many Impressionist painters of his time, Van Gogh was deeply influenced by Japanese art and culture.

So, inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, he deliberately left out the shadows and intentionally distorted the perspective.

Another reason Van Gogh chose Arles as an escape from the hardships of Paris was that he believed it resembled Japan.

Although he never actually visited Japan, Arles was what he imagined Japan to be like.

After arriving there, he even wrote to Theo that Arles reminded him of Japan.

Van Gogh also intentionally painted this room as bright and welcoming.

That's because he dreamed of turning this house into a place where artists could live together, paint together, and exchange ideas.

Van Gogh even sent Gauguin a letter containing a sketch of this room, hoping to persuade him to come to Arles.

In it, Van Gogh describes the painting in detail and asks Gauguin to come to Arles and evaluate his work

Gauguin eventually came to Arles and lived there with Van Gogh, but the two later went their separate ways because of their clashing personalities.

Finally, Van Gogh painted three similar versions of The Bedroom.

The first version is now in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. While Van Gogh was briefly hospitalized, the painting was damaged by water after being left in his room.

After leaving the hospital, he painted a second version.

That painting is now in the Art Institute of Chicago. The third version is the one we're looking at now.

He painted it as a gift for his mother and sister, which is why it is slightly smaller.

If you compare the three paintings, you'll notice slight differences in tone, but overall, they are very similar.

The colors are slightly different, but the composition is the same.

If you have a sharp eye, though, you may notice one interesting difference: the portraits hanging on the wall to the right aren't the same in each version.

Unfortunately, no one knows why Van Gogh chose to change the figures in those portraits each time he repainted the room.

Feel free to spend a little more time enjoying the painting, and when you're ready, let's move on to the next stop.