The Bedroom
Vincent van Gogh, 1889
This is Vincent van Gogh's bedroom in the Yellow House in Arles. He first painted it in October 1888, a month after moving in. This version, now in Chicago, is the second of three, made in September 1889. The third, smaller version was a gift for his mother and sister.
In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh listed the colours: the walls pale lilac, the floor a broken and faded red, the chairs and bed chrome yellow, the pillows and sheet very pale lemon green, the bedspread blood red, the washstand orange, the basin blue and the window green. The room's lines rush towards the back wall, and the brushwork is thick and broken, so the picture might seem restless.
Van Gogh meant it to be calming. He wanted the picture to suggest rest through simple colour and simple furniture. The Art Institute calls it perhaps the most famous painting of a bedroom in Western art. It measures about 74 by 92 centimetres.
From the museum record
| Artist | Vincent van Gogh |
|---|---|
| Date | 1889 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Size | 73.6 × 92.3 cm (29 × 36 5/8 in.) |
| Museum | The Art Institute of Chicago |
| Credit line | Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection |
| Accession number | 1926.417 |
| Licence | Public domain (CC0) |
Source: The Art Institute of Chicago collection record. Facts such as dates, sizes and credit lines come from that record. The write-up above was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the museum record and standard references. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
