Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles: His First Real Home at 35, ‘Absolute Restfulness,’ and the Perfect Housewarming Gift

Last updated: May 2026 · By Stanislav Arnautov · Berlin

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) painted his Bedroom in Arles (La Chambre à Arles, October 1888, oil on canvas, 72 × 90 cm) in the Yellow House in Arles, Provence, in October 1888 — his first real home after years of temporary lodgings in The Hague, Drenthe, Antwerp, and Paris. He wrote to his brother Theo: “I wanted to express absolute restfulness.” The painting is now in the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, one of three versions. DeckArts Berlin from ~$140.

The Painting: Van Gogh’s First Real Home at 35

The Bedroom in Arles depicts Van Gogh’s own bedroom on the first floor of the Yellow House (the Maison Jaune) at 2 Place Lamartine in Arles. Van Gogh rented the Yellow House from May 1888, but the bedroom was not fully furnished until September–October 1888, when he was preparing for Gauguin’s planned visit. The painting was made in October 1888 — a month before Gauguin arrived — as an expression of Van Gogh’s response to finally having a permanent domestic space of his own.

The composition depicts the bedroom from a slightly elevated perspective: the viewer looks down into the room from above the doorway level, creating a mild bird’s-eye view that shows the floor, the walls, and the ceiling simultaneously. The room contains: a bed (with yellow pillow and green-tinted blanket), two chairs, a small table, a wash basin and pitcher, a mirror, two portraits on the wall, a window, and several objects on shelves. Everything in the room is depicted in Van Gogh’s specific chromatic palette of that Arles period: chrome yellow, chrome orange, blue-green (what appears as blue in the current version was originally violet, but the pigment has faded), and cadmium red.

The perspective is deliberately incorrect: the walls and floor converge in a way that does not follow consistent linear perspective. Van Gogh was aware of this — the spatial distortion was intentional. He wrote: “By simplifying the colour, I give a grander style to things and suggest rest or sleep in general.” The perspective distortion serves the painting’s stated programme: the slightly tilted, non-perspectively-correct room creates a sense of intimacy and enclosure rather than spatial recession — the viewer is inside the room rather than looking at it from outside.

Absolute Restfulness: What Van Gogh Said About It

Van Gogh wrote extensively about the Bedroom in Arles in his letters to Theo and to Gauguin. The most important letters are available through the Van Gogh Letters project.

Letter 705 (c. October 16, 1888, to Theo): “I had a new idea in my head and here is the sketch to it… It’s just simply my bedroom, only here colour is to do everything, and giving by its simplification a grander style to things, is to be suggestive here of rest or of sleep in general. In a word, looking at the picture ought to rest the brain, or rather the imagination.”

Letter 706 (c. October 17, 1888, to Gauguin): “I’ve also done a new canvas for the decoration of my bedroom — the actual painting represents a bedroom, with the furniture in the natural oak very yellow… The shadows and the cast shadows are suppressed; it is painted in free flat tints like the Japanese prints. This is going to contrast, for example, with the Tarascon diligence and the night café…”

The specific programme: “resting the brain.” Van Gogh explicitly designed the Bedroom in Arles to create mental rest through colour simplification and perspective distortion. The painting is not a description of a room; it is a visual object designed to produce a specific psychological effect — rest, calm, the cessation of mental effort. This programme is specifically appropriate for bedroom installation: art designed to produce rest, above the domestic space of rest.

Three Versions: Arles, Saint-Rémy, Paris

Van Gogh painted three versions of the Bedroom in Arles:

Version 1 (October 1888, Arles): Oil on canvas, 72 × 90 cm, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam. The original. Painted in October 1888 while Van Gogh was living in the Yellow House. This version was slightly damaged by moisture that seeped through the Yellow House’s roof during a period when Van Gogh was hospitalised in the hospital at Arles following the ear incident (December 1888–May 1889). Van Gogh had the painting sent to Arles for repair.

Version 2 (September 1889, Saint-Rémy): Oil on canvas, 72 × 90 cm, Art Institute of Chicago. Painted at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy during a period of relative stability. Van Gogh wrote to Theo that he was making copies of the most important of his Arles works while he was at Saint-Rémy, both as a therapeutic exercise and to provide Theo with better-quality versions of paintings that had been damaged in Arles.

Version 3 (September 1889, Saint-Rémy): Oil on canvas, 57.5 × 74 cm (smaller format), Musée d’Orsay Paris. A smaller, slightly simplified version also painted at Saint-Rémy, intended as a gift for Van Gogh’s mother and sister in the Netherlands. The Van Gogh Museum’s scholarly documentation covers all three versions in detail.

The Colour Problem: Faded Blue That Was Once Violet

One of the most specific technical facts about the Bedroom in Arles: what appears as blue in the current version was originally violet. Van Gogh used a red pigment (likely an organic red lake, possibly cochineal-based or an alizarin crimson) mixed with ultramarine to create a violet-blue for the walls, the floor, and parts of the furniture. This organic red component has faded significantly over 137 years, leaving behind the ultramarine alone — the violet has become blue.

Van Gogh’s own description of the original colour: “The walls are pale violet,” not blue. The floor is “red tiles” (now appearing as brown-ochre). The windows are “green.” The blanket is “green” (now appearing blue-green). The chair and bed frame are “yellow wood” (chrome yellow, which has darkened less than the violets). The Van Gogh Museum’s and the Art Institute of Chicago’s restoration scientists have used multi-spectral imaging to reconstruct the original violet palette; the current visible versions are significantly cooler and more blue than the original violet warmth Van Gogh intended. The DeckArts reproduction uses the best available colour scholarship to approximate the original palette rather than the current faded version.

The Yellow House in Arles: The Context of the Painting

The Yellow House (Maison Jaune) at 2 Place Lamartine in Arles no longer exists — it was damaged in an Allied bombing raid on 25 June 1944 and subsequently demolished. Van Gogh rented rooms in the house from May 1888; it was his first attempt to establish a permanent artistic community, which he called the “Studio of the South.” He invited Gauguin to join him; Gauguin arrived in October 1888 and stayed until December 1888, when the crisis of 23 December 1888 (Van Gogh’s self-mutilation, the ear incident) ended the collaboration.

The Yellow House period (May–December 1888) was Van Gogh’s most prolific: he produced approximately 200 paintings in eight months, including the Sunflowers series, the Night Café, the Café Terrace at Night, the Starry Night over the Rhône, the Postman Joseph Roulin and his family, the Sower series, and numerous Arles landscape and orchard paintings. The Bedroom in Arles is the most intimate and most domestic of the Yellow House works — the painting of the private interior rather than the public or natural landscape.

Van Gogh at 35: Chronology of a First Home

The biographical context of the Bedroom in Arles: Van Gogh was 35 when he rented the Yellow House in May 1888. He had never owned or rented a home of his own before. His previous domestic situations: in The Hague (1881–1883) he lived in lodgings and then in a rented studio apartment with Sien Hoornik and her children (an arrangement he described to Theo with pride as his “own home” but which was always financially precarious and ended with Sien’s departure); in Drenthe (1883) he lived in rented rooms; in Nuenen (1883–1885) he lived in his parents’ vicarage; in Antwerp (1885–1886) he rented a small studio; in Paris (1886–1888) he lived with Theo in Theo’s apartment on the Rue Lepic.

The Yellow House was Van Gogh’s first independent domestic space — a space he rented and furnished himself, where he was not a dependent in someone else’s house. He was 35. He wrote about the Yellow House with a specific quality of pride and care that is absent from his descriptions of earlier living situations. The Bedroom in Arles is the painting of this specific moment: the first room that was his own, depicted with the explicit programme of representing “absolute restfulness.” A DeckArts Bedroom in Arles above the bed in a new home — at any age — is a daily encounter with Van Gogh’s specific quality of attention to having a home for the first time.

Bedroom in Arles on a Skateboard Deck: The Housewarming Programme

The DeckArts Bedroom in Arles single deck (~$140) is the most biographically specific housewarming gift in the DeckArts range. The specific argument for the housewarming context: Van Gogh painted his first home at 35, for the specific purpose of representing “absolute restfulness.” A housewarming gift of a DeckArts Bedroom in Arles communicates something specific: this is the painting that Van Gogh made when he had his first home, and you are now in your first (or new) home, and the quality of attention he gave to that moment is available above your bed or above your sofa.

On warm white walls under 2700K warm LED: the chrome yellow of the chair and bed frame, the warm ochre of the floor tiles, and the warm blue-violet of the walls advance as warm-on-warm domestic palette events — the most specifically domestic chromatic programme in the DeckArts range. No dramatic warm-cool confrontation; no bold chromatic advance from a cool dark; only the specific warmth of a domestic interior made with deliberate chromatic care by a person who wanted that room to represent rest.

The gift card text: “Van Gogh painted this at 35 — his first real home, after years of lodging in other people’s houses. He wrote: ‘I wanted to express absolute restfulness.’ He painted it three times. Welcome home.”

Van Gogh Bedroom in Arles — Single Deck (~$140)

First home at 35 · “absolute restfulness” · three versions · faded violet walls · Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam · UV archival 100+ years · Canadian maple

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Room-by-Room Installation Guide

Bedroom above the bed (most contextually specific): Single deck (~$140) on warm white at 165–170 cm centre, 15–20 cm above headboard. The painting designed to represent “absolute restfulness” above the domestic space of rest. Warm white wall, warm LED 2700K bedside lamps, white oak or light ash bed frame. The art’s warm domestic palette (chrome yellow + warm ochre floor + warm blue-violet walls) corresponds to the warm neutral bedroom programme. See: Best Bedroom Wall Art Ideas 2026.

Housewarming gift (new home, any room): Single deck (~$140) with gift note. The most biographically specific housewarming gift in the DeckArts range. Suitable for any room in the new home: above the bed (most contextually specific), above the sofa in a small apartment, in the hallway of the new house. The biographical content is appropriate for any new home occasion: a first flat, a first house, a new home after a significant life transition. See: Best Housewarming Gifts for a New Home 2026; Unique Wall Art Gifts 2026: By Occasion.

Living room secondary accent (warm white): Single deck (~$140) on warm white on the secondary wall or above a console. The domestic interior subject in the living room: a painting of a room within a room. The mise en abyme of domestic art: a depiction of domestic rest in the domestic gathering space. Quiet warm-on-warm palette; secondary accent rather than bold primary statement. See: Best Wall Art for a Living Room 2026.

FAQ

Why did Van Gogh paint his bedroom three times?

Van Gogh painted three versions of the Bedroom in Arles: Version 1 (October 1888, Arles, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam) was the original, slightly damaged by roof moisture during his hospitalisation; Version 2 (September 1889, Saint-Rémy, Art Institute of Chicago) and Version 3 (September 1889, Saint-Rémy, Musée d’Orsay Paris) were painted at the asylum as therapeutic copies and gifts. Van Gogh wrote that the second and third versions were improvements on the first — he considered the Saint-Rémy versions more carefully finished. Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam. DeckArts from ~$140.

What was Van Gogh trying to express with the Bedroom in Arles?

“Absolute restfulness.” Van Gogh wrote in Letter 705 (c. October 16, 1888, to Theo): “I wanted to express absolute restfulness… looking at the picture ought to rest the brain, or rather the imagination.” He achieved this through colour simplification (limited palette of chrome yellow, warm ochre, blue-violet, and orange-red), deliberate perspective distortion (non-linear perspective creates enclosure rather than spatial recession), and suppression of shadows (“the shadows and the cast shadows are suppressed” — flat colour zones without shadow modelling). The painting was designed as a visual programme for mental rest. Van Gogh Letters project. DeckArts from ~$140.

Where is the original Bedroom in Arles?

Version 1 (October 1888, 72×90 cm, the original) is in the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Version 2 (September 1889, 72×90 cm) is at the Art Institute of Chicago. Version 3 (September 1889, 57.5×74 cm, smaller format) is at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. All three versions are in permanent museum collections and publicly accessible. vangoghmuseum.nl. DeckArts UV archival reproduction from ~$140.

Related Guides

• Best Housewarming Gifts for a New Home 2026
• Unique Wall Art Gifts 2026: By Occasion
• Best Bedroom Wall Art Ideas 2026
• Van Gogh Starry Night: The Asylum Window, Prussian Blue from Berlin
• Van Gogh Almond Blossom: The Only Canonical Nursery Gift

Article Summary

Van Gogh Bedroom in Arles: La Chambre à Arles October 1888, oil on canvas, 72×90 cm, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam. Yellow House 2 Place Lamartine Arles; Van Gogh’s first real home at 35 after years of lodgings (The Hague/Sien Hoornik, Drenthe, Nuenen parents’ vicarage, Antwerp studio, Paris Theo’s apartment Rue Lepic); rented May 1888, prepared for Gauguin’s planned visit. Composition: slightly elevated bird’s-eye perspective showing floor/walls/ceiling simultaneously; bed, two chairs, table, wash basin, mirror, two portraits, window, shelves; deliberate non-linear perspective distortion creating enclosure rather than spatial recession; shadows suppressed (flat colour zones). Letters: Letter 705 c.16 October 1888 to Theo (“absolute restfulness”, colour simplification suggestive of rest/sleep, “looking at the picture ought to rest the brain”); Letter 706 c.17 October 1888 to Gauguin (Japanese print flat tints, natural oak furniture, contrast with Night Café); Van Gogh Letters project. Three versions: V1 October 1888 Arles (Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, 72×90 cm, original, moisture-damaged roof during hospitalisation); V2 September 1889 Saint-Rémy (Art Institute Chicago, 72×90 cm, therapeutic copy + better quality for Theo); V3 September 1889 Saint-Rémy (Musée d’Orsay Paris, 57.5×74 cm, smaller format, gift for mother + sister). Colour problem: walls were originally violet (organic red lake + ultramarine), red component faded leaving ultramarine alone; Van Gogh described walls as “pale violet” not blue; floor “red tiles” (now brown-ochre); blanket originally more violet (now blue-green); DeckArts reconstruction uses current colour scholarship to approximate original violet palette. Yellow House context: 200 paintings in 8 months May–December 1888 (most prolific period); Gauguin arrived October, departed December after 23 December 1888 ear incident; Yellow House destroyed Allied bombing 25 June 1944. Van Gogh at 35: first independent domestic space; wrote about Yellow House with specific pride absent from earlier living situations; painting = first room of his own, depicted with explicit “absolute restfulness” programme. On deck: warm-on-warm domestic palette (chrome yellow + warm ochre + warm blue-violet + orange-red); no dramatic warm-cool confrontation; most specifically domestic chromatic programme in DeckArts range; housewarming gift card text (“Van Gogh painted this at 35 — his first real home… Welcome home”). Installation: bedroom above bed (art designed for “absolute restfulness” above domestic space of rest, most contextually specific); housewarming gift (most biographically specific housewarming in DeckArts range, any room); living room secondary accent (mise en abyme: painting of domestic interior within domestic interior). DeckArts from ~$140. Canadian maple. UV archival 100+ years. Berlin. 30-day return.

About the Author

Stanislav Arnautov is the founder of DeckArts and a creative director from Ukraine based in Berlin.