Discovering Van Goghs Bedroom

This article covers the qualities of Van Gogh's Bedroom painting and also comments on the artist's life at this time in his career. Bedroom in Arles by Vincent van Gogh is a skilled series of paintings produced in the last 19th century by this prominent Dutch post-impressionist painter who has gone on to become one of the most popular artists in the present day.

A close friend to Vincent at the time was French artist Paul Gauguin and he also produced a painting of the same subject, but in his own post-impressionist style. They aimed to inspire each to better work through a competitive edge that worked to a certain degree. The Bedroom itself was Vincent's and in the foreground is a chair which was to become a topic on it's for a future painting, named simply Chair. Comparing the two offers an insight into the minds of both painters, who grew close during their time living in Arles.

The original had been partially damaged which resulted in the need for further copies as well as good discussions between Vincent and his art dealer brother. The three different versions in this series experiment with different color tones for the background decoration within the bedroom and also the third of the three was marginally smaller. The discussion was over the merits of the original and whether indeed it was good enough to warrant future copies and experimentation within those.

Other works such as Starry Night and several of the Sunflowers series also came at this time. There was a series of three paintings and several letters and sketches all devoted to his bedroom and these came about in 1888 to 1889 which was arguably the most productive two years of his entire career. Close friend Gauguin showed confidence in his friend by buying several of these paintings that later were handed over to French art institutions who now display them around the country to the masses.

The chair within it also later became another great study piece because of the contrasting ways in which Vincent and friend Paul Gauguin chose to cover it, offering a direct comparison between two of the major influences within post-impressionist art. There can be no doubt that Vincent's Bedroom is a charming piece of post-impressionist art work which offers an interesting detail on the life of the artist and his relationship with brother Theo, with the two discussing each of the paintings frequently.