1889
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Dominant colour
The Bedroom is a 1889 oil by Vincent van Gogh, a Impressionism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a small bedroom with slanted walls, two chairs, a bed, and a table—all painted in bright, flat colors. The floor tilts up, the lines wobble, and nothing looks perfectly straight. Van Gogh painted this room three times, each version a little different. He wrote to his brother that he wanted the colors to feel restful, like a place to calm your mind. The thick paint (called *impasto*) makes the brushstrokes stand out, almost like the walls are alive. If you like how the paint feels almost sculpted, look up *impasto*.
Perhaps the most famous depiction of a bedroom in Western art history, this vibrant painting documents Vincent van Gogh’s sleeping quarters in his beloved “Yellow House” in Arles, France. The composition exists in three versions, the first of which Van Gogh conceived in October 1888, a month after he moved into the home. In a letter to his brother Theo, he described having painted “the walls pale lilac, the floor in a broken and faded red, the chairs and the bed chrome yellow, the pillows and the sheet very pale lemon green, the bedspread blood-red, the dressing table orange, the washbasin…
The artist; sent to his brother, Theo van Gogh (died 1891), Paris, Dec. 18, 1889 [Letter 829 from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, Dec. 19, 1889, notes that The Bedroom was sent the day before]; by descent to Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (died 1925), the Netherlands, 1891; sold to Jos Hessel, Paris, by 1901 [Paris 1901]. Carl Reininghaus, Vienna, by 1909, to at least 1914 [Vienna 1909; Berlin 1914]. Paul Rosenberg, Paris and New York, by 1926; sold to Frederic Clay Bartlett, Chicago, Dec. 1926 [receipt and correspondence in curatorial object file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1926.
Paris, Galerie Vollard, 1895, no cat. Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Vincent van Gogh, Mar. 15–31, 1901, cat. 19, as La Chambre de Vincent à Arles. Vienna Secession, Internationalen Kunstschau, May–Oct. 1909, room 14, cat. 1, as Das Schlafzimmer. Berlin, Paul Cassirer, Zehnte Ausstellung: Vincent van Gogh: 30 März 1853–29 Juli 1890, May–June 1914, cat. 53, as Das Schlafzimmer. New York, Museum of Modern Art, First Loan Exhibition: Cézanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh, Nov. 7–Dec. 7, 1929, cat. 79, as Van Gogh's Room at Arles (La Chambre à Arles). Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress,…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art.
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