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The Bedroom

Painting of bedroom, blue walls, green window, tan bed, red bedding.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Painting of bedroom, blue walls, green window, tan bed, red bedding.
The Bedroom

Date:

1889

Artist:

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)

About this artwork

Vincent van Gogh so highly esteemed his bedroom painting that he made three distinct versions: the first, now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; the second, belonging to the Art Institute of Chicago, painted a year later on the same scale and almost identical; and a third, smaller canvas in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, which he made as a gift for his mother and sister. Van Gogh conceived the first Bedroom in October 1888, a month after he moved into his “Yellow House” in Arles, France. This moment marked the first time the artist had a home of his own, and he had immediately and enthusiastically set about decorating, painting a suite of canvases to fill the walls. Completely exhausted from the effort, he spent two-and-a-half days in bed and was then inspired to create a painting of his bedroom. As he wrote to his brother Theo, “It amused me enormously doing this bare interior. With a simplicity à la Seurat. In flat tints, but coarsely brushed in full impasto, 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 blue, the window green. I had wished to express utter repose with all these very different tones.” Although the picture symbolized relaxation and peace to the artist, to our eyes the canvas seems to teem with nervous energy, instability, and turmoil, an effect heightened by the sharply receding perspective.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Vincent van Gogh

Title

The Bedroom

Place

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (Object made in:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1889

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

73.6 × 92.3 cm (29 × 36 5/8 in.); Framed: 88.9 × 108 × 8.9 cm (35 × 42 1/2 × 3 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection

Reference Number

1926.417

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/28560/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

  • Minneapolis Institute of Arts, “Exhibition of French Paintings from a Well-Known Collection,” Bulletin of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 14, 4 (April 1925), 31–32.
  • Forbes Watson, “A Note on the Birch Bartlett Collection,” The Arts 9, no. 6 (June 1926): 303–06 (ill.), 307–13.
  • R.M.F., “Van Gogh in Arles,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 20, no. 7, (October 1926): 92–94.
  • Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Rojo mexicano: la grana cochinilla en el arte, exh. cat. (Ciudad de Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2017), 270, 387 fig. 61.
  • Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1926), 54 (ill.).
  • J[acob]-B[aart] de la Faille, L’Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh: catalogue raisonné (Berlin: G. van Ouest, 1928), vol. 1, 138, no. 484; vol. 2, pl. 134.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1929), 22–23.
  • Vincent van Gogh, Further Letters to His Brother, 1886–1889 (London: Constable and Co., 1929), 234–35, 280, 371–72.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1932), 27 (ill.).
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  • W. Scherjon and Jos. de Gruyter, Vincent van Gogh’s Great Period: Arles, St. Rémy and Auvers sur Oise (Complete Catalog) (Amsterdam: De Spieghel, 1937), 140 (ill.), no. 12.
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  • Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1945), 40 (ill.).
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1946), 18–19 (ill.).
  • Louis Hautecoeur, Van Gogh (Monaco: Les Documents d’Art, 1946), 78, 144.
  • Egbert Jacobson, Basic Color (Paul Theobald, 1948),174–76 (ill.).
  • Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1948), p. 37 (ill.).
  • Meyer Schapiro, Vincent van Gogh, The Library of Great Painters (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1950), 78–79 (ill.).
  • Charles Fabens Kelley, “Chicago: record years,” Art News 51, no. 4 (June–August 1952): 52–65, 106–08, 109 (ill.), 110–11.
  • Lawrence and Elisabeth Hanson, Passionate Pilgrim: The Life of Vincent Van Gogh (New York: Random House, 1955), 209–10.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1956), 36 (ill.).
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), 198, 328 (ill.).
  • Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (September 1966): 194, fig. 16, 197.
  • Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings (New York: Reynal, 1970), 284 (ill), 285, no. F484.
  • John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1970), 93 (ill.), 94 [repr. 1977, 1987].
  • Paolo Lecaldano, Tout l’oeuvre peint de Van Gogh, vol. 2: 1888–1890, trans. Simone Darses, vol. 2 (Paris: Flammarion, 1971), 220 (ill.), 221, no. 690.
  • Katharine Kuh, “These Are A Few of My Favorite Things,” Chicago Tribune Magazine, April 23, 1972, 32.
  • Mike Samuels, M.D. and Nancy Samuels, Seeing with the Mind’s Eye: The History, Techniques and Uses of Visualization (New York: Random House, 1975), 76, pl. 2.
  • John L. Word, “A Reexamination of Van Gogh’s Pictorial Space,” The Art Bulletin 58, no. 4 (December 1976): 593–604.
  • Guy Hubbard and Mary J. Rouse, ART: Discovering and Creating (Westchester, IL: Benefic Press, 1977), 102 (ill.).
  • Paolo Lecaldano, L’opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh, vol. 2 (Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1977), 220 (ill.), 221, no. 690.
  • Janice Feldstein and Maureen Smith, The Art Institute of Chicago: 100 Masterpieces (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; distributed by Rand McNally, 1978), 116–17 (color ill.), no. 69.
  • Robert H. Pelfrey and Mary Hall-Pelfrey, Art and Mass Media (New York: Harper & Row, 1985), 126 pl. 18, 182–83 fig. 7.23), 184.
  • Peter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America (Washington, D.C.: Netherlands-American Amity Trust; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 54 fig. 77.
  • Richard R. Brettell, “The Bartletts and the ‘Grande Jatte’: Collecting Modern Painting in the 1920s,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12, no. 2 (1986): 105, 111.
  • Richard R. Brettell, “Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles: the Problem of Priority,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12, 2 (1986): pp. 136–37 (ill.), 138–51.
  • James N. Wood and Katharine C. Lee, eds., Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago Art Institute of Chicago, 1988), 65 (ill.).
  • Walter Feilchendeldt, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cassirer, Berlin: the reception of Van Gogh in Germany from 1901 to 1914 (Zwolle: Van Gogh Museum, 1988), 98 (ill.).
  • Jan Hulsker, “Bedroom Problems,” Simiolus, 18, 4 (1988): 257–59 (ill.), 260–61.
  • Ingo F. Walther and Rainer Metzger, Vincent Van Gogh Sämtliche Gemälde (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1989), 441, 442, 548, 549 (color ill.).
  • Gene A. Mittler, Art in Focus (New York: Glencoe Publishing Company, 1989), p. 319, fig. 17.6.
  • Richard Thomson, “State of the Art Van Gogh,” Apollo 132, no. 341(July 1990): 41 fig. 14, 42.
  • “Vincent van Gogh Retrospective Exhibition,” Van Gogh Bulletin 5, no. 1 (1990): 5 (color ill.), 6.
  • Jan Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh, Enlarged Edition of the Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Vincent van Gogh (Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: J.M. Meulenhoff; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co., 1996), 404-09 no. 1771, 496n1771.
  • Mark Rosenthal, The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, 1945 to 1995, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1996), 123–29 fig. 11.
  • Sculpture Foundation, Solid Impressions: J. Seward Johnson, Jr. (Hamilton, NJ: The Sculpture Foundation, 2002), 26 (color ill.), 27–29.
  • Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, “The Reality of Illusion, The Illusion of Reality,” in Beyond the Frame: Impressionism Revisited: The Sculptures of J. Seward Johnson, Jr., exh. cat. (Boston: Bulfinch Press; Washington, D.C.: In association with the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2003), 11 (color ill.), 12, 15–18.
  • Richard R. Brettell, “A View from Portland: 110 Years of Modern French Art in Portland,” in Paris to Portland: Impressionist and Post Impressionist Masters in Portland Collections, exh. cat. (Portland: Portland Art Museum, 2003), p. 33, fig. 3.
  • Kimberly A. Smith, Between Ruin and Renewal: Egon Schiele’s Landscapes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 30 fig. 15, 31.
  • Katharine Kuh, My Love Affair with Modern Art: Behind the Scenes with a Legendary Curator (New York: Arcade Publishing, 2006), 52–53 (ill.), 91–94.
  • Jill Lloyd, Vincent van Gogh and Expressionism, exh. cat. (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag; Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2006), 115–16, 122 (color ill.), 123–24.
  • Tsukasa Kodera, Vincent Willem van Gogh (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006), 16 (color ill.).
  • Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten, and Nienke Bakker, eds., Vincent van Gogh, The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition, vol 5: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence - Auvers-sur-Oise, 1889–1890 (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum; The Hague: Huygens Institute; Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2009), 79 fig. 2, 80–88.
  • Marika Spring, Helen Howard, Jo Kirby, Joseph Padfield, David Peggie, Ashok Roy, and Anne Stephenson-Wright, Studying Old Master Paintings: Technology and Practice (London: Archetype Publications: In association with the National Gallery, 2011), 237–38 fig. 2, 239–43.
  • Walter Feilchenfeldt, Vincent van Gogh: Die Gemälde 1886–1890 Händler, Sammler, Ausstellungen Die Frühen Provenienzen (Wädenswil, Switzerland: Nimbus, Kunst und Bücher, 2009), 118 (color ill.).
  • Walter Feilchendeldt, Vincent van Gogh: The years in France, Complete paintings 1886-1890. Dealers, collectors, exhibitions, provenance (London: Philip Wilson, 2013), 120 (color ill.).
  • William Rathbone, Marcia Steele, H. Travers Newton, and Galina K. Olmsted, “The Bedroom,” Van Gogh Repetitions, exh. cat. (The Phillips Collection/The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013), pp. 82 (color ill.), 83–89, fig. 38.
  • Gloria Groom, ed., Van Gogh’s Bedrooms, exh. cat. (New Haven and London: Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Press, 2016), 8, 24, 26, 34, 51, 53–54, 61–65, 69, 71–73, 76–88, 90–97, 99n5, 100n19, 101n27, 101n37, 102n70, 103n85, 103n88, 103n91, 137, pl. 21.
  • Jill Shaw, ed., Van Gogh in America, exh. cat. (Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022), 82, 128, 130, 131 pl. 45, 148, 163, 165n3, 209-10, 218, 222, 228n80, 228 n139, 228n141, 238 cat. 53.
  • Michael Lobel, Van Gogh and the End of Nature (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024), 110 fig. 61, 111, 136-37 (detail ill.),148-149 fig. 73.
  • Cornelia Homburg, Van Gogh: Poets & Loverbs, exh. cat. (London: National Gallery, 2024), 39, 131 fig. 95, 226.

  • 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, June 1–Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 376.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–Nov. 1, 1934, cat. 310.
  • Toledo Museum of Art, French Impressionists and Post Impressionists, Nov. 1934, cat. 24.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings and Drawings by Vincent van Gogh, lent through the Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., Aug. 26–Sep. 23, 1936, no cat.
  • Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Vincent van Gogh Paintings, Mar. 30–July 29, 1990, cat. 7.
  • Essen, Museum Folkwang, Vincent van Gogh und die Moderne 1890–1914, Aug. 11–Nov. 4, 1990, cat. 40, as Das Schlafzimmer; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Nov. 16, 1990–Feb. 18, 1991.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, Sep. 22, 2001–Jan. 13, 2002, cat. 120.
  • Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh and Expressionism, Nov. 24, 2006-Mar. 2, 2007; New York, Neue Gallery, Mar. 23-July 2, 2007 [New York only].
  • Fort Worth, TX, Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 58.
  • Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh at Work, Sep. 1, 2013 - Jan. 13, 2014, cat. 266.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh’s Bedrooms, Feb. 14–May 10, 2016, no cat. no., plate 26.
  • Detroit Institute of Art, Van Gogh and America, Oct. 2, 2022 - Jan. 22, 2023, cat. 53.
  • London, National Gallery, Vincent van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, Sep. 14, 2024–Jan. 19, 2025, fig. 95.

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.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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