Shop art print and framed art The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles: an iconic work

The Bedroom in Arles is one of the most famous paintings by the great Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh.This oil on canvas depicts the modest bedroom Van Gogh occupied in the "Yellow House" in Arles, in the south of France.

History of the creation of the Bedroom in Arles

Born in the Netherlands in 1853, Vincent Van Gogh left his homeland to move to France in 1886, staying first in Paris before moving to Arles, a small town in Provence.Having found refuge in the now-famous "Yellow House", Van Gogh hoped to establish a place to work and live communally with other artists.

While working in this house, Van Gogh created several works depicting different rooms in his home, including the famous Bedroom in Arles.

The three versions of Chambre à coucher à Arles

Van Gogh produced three distinct versions of this bedroom.The first and best-known version was painted in 1888 and is now in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The second version, painted a year later in 1889, belongs to the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, while the third version is on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Visual description of the work

La Chambre à coucher à Arles is an oil on canvas measuring approximately 72 x 90 cm. It depicts Vincent's small bedroom in Arles, where he slept and worked. The room features a wooden bed, chairs, frames hanging on the walls, as well as a bedside table on which sits a basin, a carafe, and a few toiletries.

Van Gogh uses bright, contrasting colors to represent his bedroom : the floor is painted with touches of red and green; the walls are blue; the wooden furniture is mostly light brown and yellow; the bed is covered with a red sheet. The whole creates a warm, intimate and very personal atmosphere.

The influence of Pointillism and Japonism

The way Van Gogh applies color in The Bedroom at Arles certainly reflects the influence that Pointillism had on his work. Indeed, in places he uses dots of pure color that optically blend in the viewer's eye to create richer, more complex nuances.

In addition, we can also recognize a certain influence of Japanism, an artistic current that infused the Beaux-Arts and applied arts in Europe at the end of the 19th century. Japanese prints, also appreciated by Van Gogh, were characterized by bright colors, simple compositions, clean lines, and an arrangement of colors in broad flat tints.

The role of The Bedroom at Arles in the artist's career

This painting bears witness to Van Gogh's stylistic evolution during his stay in Provence, particularly his shift to Post-Impressionism. The influence of the Mediterranean environment is felt more strongly here, through the warm, luminous colors chosen by the artist.

The other striking feature of this period is Van Gogh's profound solitude. Despite his desire to create a community with other artists, he failed to attract notable talent to share his "Yellow House". The disorder that reigns in this room thus embodies the artist's private and introverted life in Arles.

An artist's portrait

Although it is a still life, Bedroom in Arles can also be seen as an intimate, autobiographical portrait of Vincent Van Gogh. The objects and colors used reflect his personality, aesthetic tastes and state of mind during this period of his life.

The legacy of the Bedroom in Arles

Today, The Bedroom at Arles remains a strong and timeless symbol of the artist's life, and remains one of Vincent Van Gogh's most popular and influential works. It has inspired other artists eager to pay homage to this iconic work, which has been reproduced and hijacked by contemporary creators in a variety of forms.

This artwork is a painting from the modern period. It belongs to the post-impressionism style.

« The Bedroom » is kept at The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA.

Find the full description of The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh on Wikipedia.