The Bedroom

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

1889

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)

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 blue, the window green.” 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.

The painting in the Art Institute’s collection is Van Gogh’s 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.

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

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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.).
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Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings (New York: Reynal, 1970), 284 (ill), 285, no. F484.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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James Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 132, 261, no. 95, (ill.).

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.
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Van Gogh and the Roulin Family, Mar. 30–Aug. 3, 2025 no cat. no., fig. 74; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Sep. 3, 2025–Jan 11, 2026 (Boston only).

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.

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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.

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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.

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