The Bedroom in Arles

Vincent Van Gogh

Oil on canvas

Van Gogh Museum

Painted in October 1888 at the Yellow House in Arles, France, this iconic work depicts Van Gogh's own bedroom at 2, Place Lamartine with bold, flat areas of color and an exaggerated perspective characteristic of his mature Post-Impressionist style. Van Gogh explicitly intended color to carry the full expressive weight of the composition, aiming to convey a sense of rest and repose rather than stimulate the imagination. The Dutch-born artist, working during one of the most productive periods of his career, communicated the work's aims at length in letters to his brother Theo and to Paul Gauguin, describing the vivid yellow furniture, lilac walls (now appearing blue due to pigment fading), and scarlet blanket in precise detail. The painting is among the most recognizable domestic interiors in Western art history, and Van Gogh held it in such esteem that he produced three distinct versions between 1888 and 1889.