Vincent van Gogh – Paul Gauguin’s Armchair

Paul Gauguin’s Armchair is the painting Vincent van Gogh made in Arles in November 1888: an empty armchair of red-brown wood with a green seat stands on a patterned floor at night, a lit candle and two books lie on the seat, and a gas lamp burns on the green wall behind it. The original measures 90.5 x 72.7 cm and is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 40 x 50 to 151 x 190 cm or to your own measurements, and send you a photograph of the finished painting for approval before dispatch.

Paul Gauguin’s Armchair – Vincent van Gogh

What does Paul Gauguin’s Armchair show?

The painting shows a single armchair seen from slightly above, filling most of the upright canvas. Its frame is red-brown wood with curved arms and a high, rounded back, and pale blue and violet light runs along the legs and arms. On the green seat lie two books, the front one bright yellow, and beside them a lit candle in a dark holder.

The upper part of the canvas is a deep green wall, with a gas lamp at the top left inside a round yellow glow. The floor is a warm red covering scattered with pale yellow and green flecks. No one sits in the chair: the chair, the candle, the books and the lamp are the whole subject.

Why is the armchair empty?

Because the painting stands in for a person. According to the Van Gogh Museum, this painting of Paul Gauguin’s chair is a portrait of Van Gogh’s friend and fellow artist, and the modern novels and the burning candle symbolise the character of the absent painter. At that time Gauguin was living and working with Van Gogh in Arles.

Van Gogh later described the work in a letter to the critic Albert Aurier: a few days before they parted, he wrote, he had tried to paint Gauguin’s empty place, his armchair of red-brown wood with a seat of greenish straw, and in the absent man’s place a lit candle and some modern novels. According to Wikipedia, the idea of an empty chair goes back to an illustration by Luke Fildes in The Graphic showing the empty chair of Charles Dickens after his death in 1870.

What does the painting mean?

In the museum’s reading, Van Gogh used mainly red and green to suggest the mood of night, and painted a pendant with a daytime atmosphere: his own simple peasant chair in bright yellow and blue. The two paintings, the museum writes, represent the different personalities of the two artists, who quarrelled and went their separate ways soon afterwards.

The Wikipedia article on Van Gogh’s Chair calls Gauguin’s chair far more lavish and ornate than Van Gogh’s simple one, a contrast read in the light of their stormy friendship, and notes that both were painted before Van Gogh cut off his ear and refined after his stay in hospital.

Where is the original today?

The original is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and belongs to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. The museum lists it as Gauguin’s Chair, Arles, November 1888, oil on canvas, 90.5 x 72.7 cm, under the object number s0048V1962.

At the end of April 1889 Van Gogh sent it from Arles to his brother Theo in Paris. After Theo died on 25 January 1891, it passed to his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, who transferred it to the foundation on 10 July 1962. Its pendant, Van Gogh’s own chair, is in the National Gallery in London.

Paul Gauguin’s Armchair or Van Gogh’s Chair – which to choose?

The two chairs are a pair, and we paint both. Van Gogh’s Chair is his own simple wooden chair with a straw seat and a pipe and tobacco on it, on a tiled floor in daylight; Paul Gauguin’s Armchair shows his armchair at night, with the candle, the books and the gas lamp. Choose Van Gogh’s chair for bright yellow and blue, Gauguin’s armchair for a darker evening mood in red and green, or both as a pair.

From Arles in 1888 we also paint Bedroom in Arles, his own bedroom with its bed, two chairs and a small table, and The Yellow House, the house on the place Lamartine where he lived and worked. Still Life with Drawing Board, Pipe, Onions and Sealing Wax shows a table with onions, a candle, a book, a letter and his pipe, painted in Arles in January 1889.

How is our hand-painted Paul Gauguin’s Armchair made?

The painter first sets out the chair: the curve of the back, the arms, the legs and the seat in perspective. Then come the green wall, the red floor and the lamp with its glow, and last the books, the candle and the blue light on the wood. 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 this painting the relief matters most in the flecked floor, in the glow around the lamp and the candle flame, and in the strokes along the curved wood. 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: 56 x 70 or 60 x 80 cm above a desk or a sideboard, 73 x 92 or 80 x 100 cm above a sofa or a bed, and 151 x 190 cm for a high wall. The upright format suits a narrow wall or a space between two windows.

There are 16 sizes: 40 x 50, 50 x 60, 50 x 62, 56 x 70, 60 x 80, 68 x 85, 73 x 92, 80 x 100, 92 x 111, 100 x 130, 112 x 137, 120 x 150, 127 x 160, 134 x 170, 142 x 180 and 151 x 190 cm (width x height). The original is 72.7 cm wide and 90.5 cm high, so our 73 x 92 cm size is almost exactly its size. With its deep green, warm red and yellow light, it sits well on a light grey, warm white or cream wall. A painting for the living room should take up about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it; hung as a pair with Van Gogh’s Chair, choose the same size for both.

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

What if I need a custom size or a frame?

If none of the 16 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure. Keep the proportions close to the original, otherwise the chair gets squeezed or stretched. 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 lamplight and candlelight, and a dark wood frame suits the red-brown chair.

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, and we correct anything that is not right. 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 there is more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If you are giving it as a present and are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the original of Paul Gauguin’s Armchair today?

In the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam; it belongs to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. The museum lists it as Gauguin’s Chair, Arles, November 1888, oil on canvas, 90.5 x 72.7 cm, with the object number s0048V1962. Van Gogh sent it to his brother Theo in Paris at the end of April 1889, and it stayed with the Van Gogh family until 1962.

When and where did Van Gogh paint Paul Gauguin’s Armchair?

In Arles, in the south of France, in November 1888, according to the Van Gogh Museum, while Paul Gauguin was living and working with him there. According to Wikipedia, he painted it before he cut off his ear and went on refining it after his stay in hospital. He sent it to Theo in Paris at the end of April 1889.

What do the candle and the books on the armchair mean?

According to the Van Gogh Museum, the modern novels and the burning candle symbolise the character of the absent painter, Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh wrote to the critic Albert Aurier that he had put a lit candle and some modern novels in the absent man’s place. In a letter to Theo he summed the painting up as red and green, a night effect, with two novels and a candle on the seat.

Is Paul Gauguin’s Armchair a portrait of Gauguin?

In a way, yes. The Van Gogh Museum calls it a portrait of Van Gogh’s friend and fellow artist, painted without the man himself: the empty armchair, the candle and the novels stand in for him. Van Gogh described it as a study of Gauguin’s empty place.

What is the difference between Van Gogh’s Chair and Paul Gauguin’s Armchair?

Van Gogh’s Chair shows his own simple wooden chair with a straw seat in daylight, in yellow and blue, with a pipe and tobacco on it. Paul Gauguin’s Armchair shows a more ornate armchair at night in red and green, with a candle and two books. The museum reads the two as the different personalities of the two artists.

Why is Paul Gauguin’s Armchair set at night?

Because Van Gogh gave Gauguin’s chair the mood of night and his own chair daylight. The museum says he used mainly red and green hues to suggest it. The light comes from the gas lamp on the wall and the candle on the seat, and the museum notes how he caught the bluish shadows and the reflected light that the gas lighting cast on the polished wood.

How big is the original of Paul Gauguin’s Armchair?

The original is 90.5 cm high and 72.7 cm wide, an upright format. Our 73 x 92 cm size is almost exactly its size, and there are smaller and larger sizes from 40 x 50 up to 151 x 190 cm, as well as custom sizes painted to measure. Above a sofa, 80 x 100 cm is a good choice, and 56 x 70 cm suits a desk or a sideboard.

Does your Paul Gauguin’s Armchair 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. In his own words, he painted the two chairs on canvas in a thick layer. On ours you see it best in the flecked red floor, in the glow around the lamp and the candle and along the curved wood of the chair.

Is Paul Gauguin’s Armchair a good gift?

It suits someone who is drawn to Van Gogh’s months in Arles, to the story of his friendship with Gauguin, or to reading and quiet evenings, and it fits a study or a bedroom. As a canvas painting in deep green, warm red and candle yellow, it brings an evening mood into a room, and a voucher lets the recipient choose the size.

• Subject: an empty armchair of red-brown wood at night, with a lit candle and two books on its green seat, a gas lamp on the green wall and a flecked red floor.
• Original: November 1888, Arles, 90.5 x 72.7 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 16 sizes from 40 x 50 to 151 x 190 cm or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: its daytime pendant, Van Gogh’s Chair, is in our range too, so the two can hang side by side.