Vincent van Gogh – Bedroom in Arles (Third Version)

Bedroom in Arles (Third Version) is the smallest of Vincent van Gogh’s three paintings of his bedroom in the Yellow House in Arles, made in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in late September 1889 for his mother and his sister Wil: a yellow wooden bed with a red blanket, two straw-seated chairs, a small table, a half-open green window and pale blue walls hung with portraits. The original, oil on canvas, measures 57.3 x 73.5 cm and is in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 50 x 40 to 190 x 145 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.

Bedroom in Arles (Third Version) – Vincent van Gogh

What does Bedroom in Arles (Third Version) show?

We look into a narrow room from the doorway. On the right a big yellow wooden bed with pale pillows and a deep red blanket fills almost half of the canvas. Above it a row of pegs holds blue clothes, and higher on the right wall hang two framed portraits: on our left a man with short reddish hair, on our right a woman with dark hair, with two small pale sheets pinned below them.

In the back wall a green window stands half open, and to its right a small framed landscape hangs above the bed. On the left a small mirror hangs above an orange-red table with a blue jug in a basin and small bottles, and beside the blue door is a white towel with a red stripe. Two yellow chairs with green straw seats stand in the left foreground and against the back wall; a second blue door stands on the right. The grey-violet floor is laid in long streaks running towards the window, every object has a dark outline, and there is no one in the room.

Which room is it?

It is Van Gogh’s own bedroom in the Yellow House at 2, Place Lamartine in Arles. According to the English Wikipedia article on the Bedroom series, the door on the left led to the guest room he kept ready for Paul Gauguin, and the window looked out on the square.

The slanting walls are no mistake: the room was not rectangular but trapezoidal, so the odd perspective follows its real shape. Van Gogh first painted it in October 1888, after an illness that had kept him in bed for days.

What did Van Gogh want the bedroom to say?

In October 1888, writing to Theo about the first version, he explained: ‘This time it’s simply my bedroom, but the color has to do the job here’, so that it would be ‘suggestive here of rest or of sleep in general’. He wrote that looking at the painting ‘should rest the mind, or rather, the imagination’. He listed the colours: walls of a pale violet, the bedstead and the chairs fresh butter yellow, the blanket scarlet red, the window green, all laid in flat, plain tints like Japanese prints. According to German Wikipedia, a 2016 study at the Art Institute of Chicago showed that this violet has faded to blue; our copy follows the Paris canvas as it looks now.

Where is the original today?

The original is in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, under the inventory number RF 1959 2. The museum’s record dates it to 1889 and states that it entered the French national collections in 1959 under the peace treaty with Japan.

According to English Wikipedia, this smaller version belonged to his sister Wil and was later acquired by the Japanese collector Kojiro Matsukata before it entered the French national collections; in 2016 all three versions were shown together at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Bedroom in Arles (Third Version) or the first version – which one is which?

Van Gogh painted the bedroom three times. The first version, of October 1888, is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and measures 72 x 90 cm; we paint it as Bedroom in Arles. After a flood of the Rhône damaged it while he was in hospital in Arles, he repeated it at the same size in September 1889; that second version is in the Art Institute of Chicago. The third, smaller version, finished late in September 1889 for his mother and his sister Wil, is the one on this page.

The versions are easiest to tell apart by the portraits on the right wall. In the first version they are miniatures of his portraits of his friends Eugène Boch and Paul-Eugène Milliet. In this one the left portrait recalls one of his own self-portraits, while the right one cannot be linked convincingly to any of his paintings; some have proposed his sister Wil. In short: choose Bedroom in Arles for the larger first canvas of 1888 with his two friends on the wall, and this one for the smaller canvas of 1889 that he made for his family.

In our range, The Yellow House shows the building on Place Lamartine where this bedroom was. Van Gogh’s Chair shows his own straw-seated chair with a pipe and tobacco on the seat, and Paul Gauguin’s Armchair shows his friend’s armchair with a lit candle and two books, both painted in Arles in 1888.

How is our hand-painted Bedroom in Arles (Third Version) made?

The painter first draws the slanting lines of the room, the furniture and the window, and checks the perspective against the original. Then come the pale blue walls and the doors, the grey-violet floor in long streaks, the yellow bed and chairs, the red blanket and the green window, and last the portraits, the jug and basin, the towel and the dark outlines. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand on canvas, with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as they do in the original and catch the light.

On our version the relief shows most in the streaks of the floor, in the grain of the bed and in the folds of the red blanket. A print is completely flat; on our painting every brushstroke stands out in real paint.

Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 50 x 40 or 63 x 48 cm for a narrow wall in a hallway or beside a door, 90 x 70 or 110 x 75 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, and 130 x 103 or 155 x 120 cm above a sofa, up to 190 x 145 cm for a large wall.

There are 17 sizes: 50 x 40, 60 x 40, 60 x 43, 63 x 48, 70 x 50, 70 x 53, 80 x 60, 90 x 70, 95 x 76, 110 x 75, 120 x 90, 130 x 103, 150 x 110, 155 x 120, 163 x 130, 180 x 135 and 190 x 145 cm (width x height). The original is 73.5 cm wide and 57.3 cm high, so 70 x 53 and 80 x 60 cm come closest to its size and 90 x 70 cm to its proportions. The blue walls, the yellow bed and the red blanket look best on a white, cream or light grey wall and sit well with natural wood. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor. Above furniture, leave 20 to 30 cm between it and the bottom edge.

What if I need a custom size or a frame?

If none of the 17 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure in any width and height you need. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote you a price and a delivery time. Every painting we make is mounted on a wooden stretcher, ready to hang.

Our 3D app shows each of our frame profiles on this painting, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood. The app is for choosing the frame only. To see the painting on your own wall, use our separate room placement service. A gold frame picks up the yellow bed and chairs, while a white or a natural wood one keeps the pale blue walls light.

How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?

Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it on its stretcher, carefully packed (and framed, if you chose a frame), across the EU with no customs duty. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting to approve. Our returns policy applies to every order.

You will find more of Van Gogh’s famous works among all our Vincent van Gogh paintings, and more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If it is a present and you are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original Bedroom in Arles (Third Version) today?

In the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, under the inventory number RF 1959 2. It belonged to his sister Wil and was later acquired by the Japanese collector Kojiro Matsukata. In 1959 it came to the French national collections under the peace treaty with Japan, as the museum’s record states.

When and where did Van Gogh paint the third Bedroom in Arles?

In Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, in late September 1889. That summer he had decided to repeat some of his best compositions in a smaller size. He was then living in the asylum at Saint-Rémy and made this smaller version for his mother and his sister Wil. The Musée d’Orsay dates the canvas to 1889.

How many versions of Bedroom in Arles did Van Gogh paint?

Three. The first, of October 1888, is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. After a flood damaged it, he repeated it at the same size in September 1889; that second version is now in the Art Institute of Chicago. The third, smaller version of late September 1889 is in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

How can you tell the third Bedroom in Arles from the first?

By the portraits on the right wall and by the size. The first version shows his friends Eugène Boch and Paul-Eugène Milliet and measures 72 x 90 cm. In the third the left portrait recalls one of his self-portraits, the right one is unidentified, and the canvas measures 57.3 x 73.5 cm.

Why are the walls blue in Bedroom in Arles when Van Gogh wrote violet?

Because the violet has faded. He described the walls as pale violet, but all three versions now show them blue. German Wikipedia reports that in 2016 a team at the Art Institute of Chicago found that paint particles which look blue on the surface are still violet underneath: light had turned the violet blue, and studies of the other two versions confirmed it.

Where was Van Gogh’s bedroom in Arles?

In the Yellow House at 2, Place Lamartine in Arles. The window looked out on the square and its public gardens, the right door opened on to the staircase, and the left door led to the guest room he kept ready for Gauguin. The room was trapezoidal, hence the slanting walls.

How big is the original Bedroom in Arles (Third Version)?

57.3 cm high and 73.5 cm wide, according to the Musée d’Orsay, so smaller than the first two versions. Our sizes 70 x 53 and 80 x 60 cm come closest to it. We paint this canvas painting in 17 sizes from 50 x 40 to 190 x 145 cm, and also to measure in any proportions.

Does your Bedroom in Arles (Third Version) have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint it in impasto, building up each brushstroke in thick oil, so the surface is raised like Van Gogh’s original. You see this best in the long streaks of the floor, in the grain of the wooden bed and in the folds of the red blanket, where the relief catches the light from the side.

• Subject: Van Gogh’s bedroom in the Yellow House in Arles, with a yellow bed, a red blanket, two chairs and portraits on blue walls.
• Original: late September 1889, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, oil on canvas, 57.3 x 73.5 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 50 x 40 to 190 x 145 cm or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: each painting is made to order, so allow 15 to 45 days, and our 3D app lets you try every frame on this painting before you order.