Perhaps the most famous depiction of a bedroom in Western art history, this vibrant painting documents Vincent van Gogh\u2019s sleeping quarters in his beloved \u201cYellow House\u201d 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 \u201cthe 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.\u201d With its bold colors, thick and broken brushwork, and sharply receding lines, the picture might suggest a nervous energy. But the artist understood it as a calming and restful image.<\/p>\n
The painting in the Art Institute\u2019s collection is Van Gogh\u2019s second version of the scene, made nearly a year after the first, in September 1889. He produced a third, smaller version at the same time as a gift for his mother and sister.<\/p>\n","short_description":"In 1888, Van Gogh moved into his own home in Arles, France. He dubbed it the \u201cStudio of the South,\u201d hoping that fellow artists would join him there to work. This is one of three versions he painted of his beloved Arles bedroom. While its vivid palette and dramatic perspective seem to burst with nervous vitality, Van Gogh intended the painting \"to express utter repose.\"","dimensions":"73.6 \u00d7 92.3 cm (29 \u00d7 36 5\/8 in.); Framed: 88.9 \u00d7 108 \u00d7 8.9 cm (35 \u00d7 42 1\/2 \u00d7 3 1\/2 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":92,"height":73,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":8,"width":108,"height":88,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"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\u201332.\n\nForbes Watson, \"A Note on the Birch Bartlett Collection,\" The Arts 9, no. 6 (June 1926): 303\u201306 (ill.), 307\u201313.\n\nR.M.F., \u201cVan Gogh in Arles,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 20, no. 7, (October 1926): 92\u201394.\n\nModern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: Art Institute, 1926), 14, pl. 15.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago Annual Report (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1926), 54 (ill.).\n\nJ[acob]-B[aart] de la Faille, L'Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh: catalogue raisonn\u00e9 (Berlin: G. van Ouest, 1928), vol. 1, 138, no. 484; vol. 2, pl. 134. \n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1929), 22\u201323.\n\nVincent van Gogh, Further Letters to His Brother, 1886\u20131889 (London: Constable and Co., 1929), 234\u201335, 280, 371\u201372.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1932), 27 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1935), 30 (ill.), 31.\n\nW. Scherjon and Jos. de Gruyter, Vincent van Gogh's Great Period: Arles, St. R\u00e9my and Auvers sur Oise (Complete Catalog) (Amsterdam: De Spieghel, 1937), 140 (ill.), no. 12.\n\nJ[acob]-B[aart] de la Faille, Vincent van Gogh, trans. Prudence Montagu-Pollock (New York: French and European Publications; Paris: Hyperion, 1938), 362 (ill.), no. 510.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Masterpiece of the Month, Notes and Bibliography (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1938), 18\u201319 (ill.). \n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1941), 36 (ill.), 37.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1945), 40 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1946), 18\u201319 (ill.).\n\nLouis Hautecoeur, Van Gogh (Monaco: Les Documents d'Art, 1946), 78, 144.\n\nEgbert Jacobson, Basic Color (Paul Theobald, 1948),174\u201376 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1948), p. 37 (ill.).\n\nMeyer Schapiro, Vincent van Gogh, The Library of Great Painters (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1950), 78\u201379 (ill.).\n\nCharles Fabens Kelley, \u201cChicago: record years,\u201d Art News 51, no. 4 (June\u2013August 1952): 52\u201365, 106\u201308, 109 (ill.), 110\u201311.\n\nLawrence and Elisabeth Hanson, Passionate Pilgrim: The Life of Vincent Van Gogh (New York: Random House, 1955), 209\u201310.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1956), 36 (ill.).\n\nArt 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.).\n\nFrederick A. Sweet, \u201cGreat Chicago Collectors,\u201d Apollo 84 (September 1966): 194, fig. 16, 197.\n\nJacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings (New York: Reynal, 1970), 284 (ill), 285, no. F484.\n\nJohn Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1970), 93 (ill.), 94 [repr. 1977, 1987].\n\nPaolo Lecaldano, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Van Gogh, vol. 2: 1888\u20131890, trans. Simone Darses, vol. 2 (Paris: Flammarion, 1971), 220 (ill.), 221, no. 690.\n\nKatharine Kuh, \u201cThese Are A Few of My Favorite Things,\u201d Chicago Tribune Magazine, April 23, 1972, 32.\n\nMike Samuels, M.D. and Nancy Samuels, Seeing with the Mind\u2019s Eye: The History, Techniques and Uses of Visualization (New York: Random House, 1975), 76, pl. 2.\n\nJohn L. Word, \u201cA Reexamination of Van Gogh\u2019s Pictorial Space,\u201d The Art Bulletin 58, no. 4 (December 1976): 593\u2013604. \n\nGuy Hubbard and Mary J. Rouse, ART: Discovering and Creating (Westchester, IL: Benefic Press, 1977), 102 (ill.).\n\nPaolo Lecaldano, L\u2019opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh, vol. 2 (Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1977), 220 (ill.), 221, no. 690.\n\nJanice Feldstein and Maureen Smith, The Art Institute of Chicago: 100 Masterpieces (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; distributed by Rand McNally, 1978), 116\u201317 (color ill.), no. 69. \n\nRobert H. Pelfrey and Mary Hall-Pelfrey, Art and Mass Media (New York: Harper & Row, 1985), 126 pl. 18, 182\u201383 fig. 7.23), 184.\n\nPeter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America (Washington, D.C.: Netherlands-American Amity Trust; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 54 fig. 77.\n\nRichard R. Brettell, \u201cThe Bartletts and the \u2018Grande Jatte\u2019: Collecting Modern Painting in the 1920s,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12, no. 2 (1986): 105, 111.\n\nRichard R. Brettell, \u201cVan Gogh\u2019s Bedroom at Arles: the Problem of Priority,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12, 2 (1986): pp. 136\u201337 (ill.), 138\u201351.\n\nJames N. Wood and Katharine C. Lee, eds., Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago Art Institute of Chicago, 1988), 65 (ill.).\n\nWalter 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.).\n\nJan Hulsker, \u201cBedroom Problems,\u201d Simiolus, 18, 4 (1988): 257\u201359 (ill.), 260\u201361.\n\nIngo F. Walther and Rainer Metzger, Vincent Van Gogh S\u00e4mtliche Gem\u00e4lde (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1989), 441, 442, 548, 549 (color ill.).\n\nGene A. Mittler, Art in Focus (New York: Glencoe Publishing Company, 1989), p. 319, fig. 17.6.\n\nRichard Thomson, \u201cState of the Art Van Gogh,\u201d Apollo 132, no. 341(July 1990): 41 fig. 14, 42. \n\n\u201cVincent van Gogh Retrospective Exhibition,\u201d Van Gogh Bulletin 5, no. 1 (1990): 5 (color ill.), 6.\n\nJan Hulsker, The New Complete Van Gogh, Enlarged Edition of the Catalogue Raisonn\u00e9 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.\n\nMark Rosenthal, The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, 1945 to 1995, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 1996), 123\u201329 fig. 11. \n\nSculpture Foundation, Solid Impressions: J. Seward Johnson, Jr. (Hamilton, NJ: The Sculpture Foundation, 2002), 26 (color ill.), 27\u201329.\n\nPetra 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\u201318.\n\nRichard 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. \n\nKimberly A. Smith, Between Ruin and Renewal: Egon Schiele's Landscapes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 30 fig. 15, 31.\n\nKatharine Kuh, My Love Affair with Modern Art: Behind the Scenes with a Legendary Curator (New York: Arcade Publishing, 2006), 52\u201353 (ill.), 91\u201394.\n\nJill Lloyd, Vincent van Gogh and Expressionism, exh. cat. (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag; Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2006), 115\u201316, 122 (color ill.), 123\u201324.\n\nTsukasa Kodera, Vincent Willem van Gogh (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006), 16 (color ill.).\n\nLeo Jansen, Hans Luijten, and Nienke Bakker, eds., Vincent van Gogh, The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition, vol 5: Saint-R\u00e9my-de-Provence - Auvers-sur-Oise, 1889\u20131890 (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum; The Hague: Huygens Institute; Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2009), 79 fig. 2, 80\u201388.\n\nMarika 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\u201338 fig. 2, 239\u201343.\n\nWalter Feilchenfeldt, Vincent van Gogh: Die Gem\u00e4lde 1886\u20131890 H\u00e4ndler, Sammler, Ausstellungen Die Fr\u00fchen Provenienzen (W\u00e4denswil, Switzerland: Nimbus, Kunst und B\u00fccher, 2009), 118 (color ill.).\n\nWalter Feilchendeldt, Vincent van Gogh: The years in France, Complete paintings 1886-1890. Dealers, collectors, exhibitions, provenance (London: Philip Wilson, 2013), 120 (color ill.).\n\nWilliam 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\u201389, fig. 38.\n\nGloria 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\u201354, 61\u201365, 69, 71\u201373, 76\u201388, 90\u201397, 99n5, 100n19, 101n27, 101n37, 102n70, 103n85, 103n88, 103n91, 137, pl. 21.\n\nMuseo 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.\n\nJill 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.\n\nMichael 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.\n\nCornelia Homburg, Van Gogh: Poets & Loverbs, exh. cat. (London: National Gallery, 2024), 39, 131 fig. 95, 226.\n\nNienke Bakker and Katie Hanson, Van Gogh: The Roulin Family Portraits, exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts; Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2025), 121\u201322, 124 fig. 74, 220.\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 92 (ill.).\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 132, 261, no. 95, (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Paris, Galerie Vollard, 1895, no cat.\n\nParis, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Vincent van Gogh, Mar. 15\u201331, 1901, cat. 19, as La Chambre de Vincent \u00e0 Arles.\n\nVienna Secession, Internationalen Kunstschau, May\u2013Oct. 1909, room 14, cat. 1, as Das Schlafzimmer.\n\nBerlin, Paul Cassirer, Zehnte Ausstellung: Vincent van Gogh: 30 M\u00e4rz 1853\u201329 Juli 1890, May\u2013June 1914, cat. 53, as Das Schlafzimmer.\n\nNew York, Museum of Modern Art, First Loan Exhibition: C\u00e9zanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Van Gogh, Nov. 7\u2013Dec. 7, 1929, cat. 79, as Van Gogh's Room at Arles (La Chambre \u00e0 Arles).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1\u2013Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 376.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1\u2013Nov. 1, 1934, cat. 310.\n\nToledo Museum of Art, French Impressionists and Post Impressionists, Nov. 1934, cat. 24.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings and Drawings by Vincent van Gogh, lent through the Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., Aug. 26\u2013Sep. 23, 1936, no cat.\n\nAmsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Vincent van Gogh Paintings, Mar. 30\u2013July 29, 1990, cat. 7.\n\nEssen, Museum Folkwang, Vincent van Gogh und die Moderne 1890\u20131914, Aug. 11\u2013Nov. 4, 1990, cat. 40, as Das Schlafzimmer; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Nov. 16, 1990\u2013Feb. 18, 1991.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, Sep. 22, 2001\u2013Jan. 13, 2002, cat. 120.\n\nAmsterdam, 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].\n\nFort Worth, TX, Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29\u2013Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 58.\n\nAmsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh at Work, Sep. 1, 2013 - Jan. 13, 2014, cat. 266.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh\u2019s Bedrooms, Feb. 14\u2013May 10, 2016, no cat. no., plate 26.\n\nDetroit Institute of Art, Van Gogh and America, Oct. 2, 2022 - Jan. 22, 2023, cat. 53.\n\nLondon, National Gallery, Vincent van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, Sep. 14, 2024\u2013Jan. 19, 2025, fig. 95.\n\nBoston, Museum of Fine Arts, Van Gogh and the Roulin Family, Mar. 30\u2013Aug. 3, 2025 no cat. no., fig. 74; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Sep. 3, 2025\u2013Jan 11, 2026 (Boston only).","provenance_text":"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.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1926,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":0,"color":{"h":40,"l":34,"s":65,"percentage":0.0012772627560697076,"population":1591},"latitude":41.8796324221449,"longitude":-87.6228838786482,"latlon":"41.879632422145,-87.622883878648","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 241","gallery_id":2147479705,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":40610,"artist_title":"Vincent van Gogh","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[40610],"artist_titles":["Vincent van Gogh"],"category_ids":["PC-10","PC-831"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe","Essentials"],"term_titles":["oil on canvas","oil painting","Post-Impressionism","interiors","oil paint (paint)","dutch","oil paintings (visual works)","paint","canvas","paint","painting","painting","painting techniques","19th century","nineteenth century","basin","blue (color)","chair","chairs","doors","France","green (color)","mirror","painting","pitcher","red (color)","table","window","painting (image making)","painting","european painting","domestic scenes","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","beds","bedrooms"],"style_id":"TM-7547","style_title":"Post-Impressionism","alt_style_ids":["TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_ids":["TM-7547","TM-13203","TM-15636"],"style_titles":["Post-Impressionism","19th century","nineteenth century"],"classification_id":"TM-66","classification_title":"oil on canvas","alt_classification_ids":["TM-15692","TM-78","TM-10387","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-66","TM-15692","TM-78","TM-10387","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["oil on canvas","dutch","oil paintings (visual works)","paint","painting","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-12285","alt_subject_ids":["TM-15494","TM-11843","TM-14682","TM-12404","TM-12540","TM-12288","TM-11849","TM-14334","TM-12737","TM-15493","TM-11851","TM-14175","TM-14921","TM-10120","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12436","TM-12850"],"subject_ids":["TM-12285","TM-15494","TM-11843","TM-14682","TM-12404","TM-12540","TM-12288","TM-11849","TM-14334","TM-12737","TM-15493","TM-11851","TM-14175","TM-14921","TM-10120","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12436","TM-12850"],"subject_titles":["interiors","basin","blue (color)","chair","chairs","doors","France","green (color)","mirror","painting","pitcher","red (color)","table","window","domestic scenes","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","beds","bedrooms"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-3124","TM-2577","TM-13502"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-3124","TM-2577","TM-13502"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","canvas","paint","painting"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-14210","TM-3971","TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-14210","TM-3971","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting","painting techniques","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":["Essentials"],"image_id":"6644829f-f292-c5c4-a73c-0356a6fdbf0d","alt_image_ids":["12a7fe87-650e-503d-09ca-19699a60ed30"],"document_ids":["02e976d2-8c4a-3cc2-9d2b-3cee40fe8291","bc6092c7-006c-a5d2-8ea1-ce5308596178"],"sound_ids":["02e976d2-8c4a-3cc2-9d2b-3cee40fe8291"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[96],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"The Bedroom","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1926.417"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["The Bedroom"],"weight":225938,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-05-19T17:34:57-05:00","updated_at":"2026-05-19T20:42:59-05:00","timestamp":"2026-06-04T13:13:11-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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