Post-Impressionism: Kaki Ng talks on Vincent van Gogh 's Bedroom at Arles, 1889.

Artist:         Vincent van Gogh

Title:             Bedroom at Arles

Year:             1889 (Third version)

Medium:        oil on canvas

Dimension:     72 x 90 cm

                                        

Bedroom at Arles is a famous painting, painted by van Gogh in 1888. The medium of it is oil on canvas and it is 72 x 90 cm. This art work belongs to the category of post-impressionism. In this essay, it will focus on the explanation of its historical context and background, how this work fits into the style of post-impressionism, why this work interests me and finally will be two key quotes about the work in question and my point of view.

                      

Bedroom at Arles was painted by van Gogh after he moved from Paris to Arles in the south of France. Before he left Paris, he met most of what are now considered the famous Impressionist artists of that period. He moved and excited by their work and ideas, therefore, he started to paint with the characteristics of post-impressionism. [i]

There are three authentic versions of the painting, Bedroom at Arles described in his letters. Actually, it is easily discernible from one another by the pictures on the wall in the right hand side. The one discussed in this essay is the third version finished in summer 1889. Since he decided to redo some of his "best" compositions in smaller size (reduction) for his mother and sister, the pictures on the wall were replaced by two women.[ii]

This painting depicts Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles and known as his Yellow House. Inside the bedroom, the door in the right hand side is opening to the upper floor and the staircase; the door in the left served the guest room he held prepared for Gauguin. The window in the front wall was looking to Place Lamartine and its public gardens. The decoration and setting of the bedroom is simple and pleasant. There are some necessary furniture, like bed, chairs, pillows, bottles and some pictures on the wall. It enables to create the atmosphere of relaxing and comfortable and be the symbolic of restful peace.

Apart from the description of the painting, the following will be the explanation of how the work fits into the style of post-impressionism by analyzing the characteristics of it. It comes with no surprise that the key difference between post-impressionism and impressionism is that post-impressionism is less interest in portraying the real world of external appearances and be more interest in expressing the artist imagination and individual painting style. Therefore, the power of colour used, unusual perspective of the bedroom and the artist’s emotional expression on this painting can state the relation between Bedroom at Arles and post-impressionism.

Firstly, Bedroom at Arles can be categorized as post-impressionism due to the use of bright colour and distinctive brushstrokes. Obviously, red is the only pure color found on this painting, which showed on the coverlet. Red is an extremely strong colour and attracted people’s attention. Also, the background color of the wall is blue, in which created a strong contrast with red. The bright and bold use of colour on the painting is the vibrant palette, which is a typical style of painting used by Vincent late in his Paris period. During his Arles and Saint-Rémy period, yellow is his favourite colour, in which can also be indicated in this painting.[iii] Therefore, this painting emphasize on artist’s individual painting style as it showed on the use of colour.

                                                                                                         

Another striking aspect of this painting is the unusual perspective of the bedroom. It can be easily identified that the shape of the room is peculiar. The work is unrealistic by showing the warped portrayal of the bedroom, in which the objects, like tables, chairs and bed skewed downward toward the viewer. Not only can it create the feeling of unrealistic, but it can also make it oppressive. Also, the painting is extremely unique and easily recognizable as the bedroom was not typical rectangular but trapezoid. It showed an obtuse angle in the left hand corner of the front wall and an acute angle at the right. It is different from the typical and normal one that we are living nowadays. In the other word, this painting emphasize on the artist imagination, rather that the real world.

What’s more, the strongest reason that Bedroom at Arles fits into the post-impressionist category is that the painting represented Van Gogh’s emotional connection to the picture. As mentioned above, the painting depicted his actual room, known as Yellow house. Through this painting, Van Gogh trended to express him emotion and personal feeling. Many scholars put forward that idea that the atmosphere created on this painting is highly isolation and tension. There is no presence of figure on it and only a self-portrait can be found on the wall of the bedroom. And the hue of the red blanket that covers the bed made the painting filled with tension. According to the reading, the painting is a “psychological self-portrait” as through the setting of the bedroom, it expresses the emotion of the artist. There are two pillows lie side by side on a single bed and two chairs faced to the bed separately. There are two bottles on the table and a double window next to a single mirror. Such things can represent that the artist wishes to achieve the fulfillment of building relationship with woman, but failed. Definitely, the emotional content of the painting presented by the artist completely indicated the painting beyond to the style of post-impressionism.

When I look around many different types of painting, like the landscape and portraiture, I was attracted by this painting because of the bright colour and objects. As the colour mainly used on the painting is red, blue and yellow, which are bright and attractive colours. Also, the objects depicted on the painting is some simply things, like bed, pillows and some furniture. Both of them are some daily life things that people use in everyday life. Through the simply objects, Van Gogh tried to express his personal emotion. It is amazing that an artist can express some special meanings by using some simply things. As I know that Van Gogh is a famous post-impressionism painter, I would like to understand the emotion and personal feeling of Van Gogh presented on this painting. Lastly, I am quite doubtful of the purpose of the unusual perspective of the bedroom as it is the first time of me to see a room that is not rectangular, but trapezoid. Therefore, I am interested in this painting and would like to find out the answers of my doubt through this essay.

Furthermore, the following is the quotes about the work from different scholars and resources. The first one is from a comparative study of Vincent van Gogh’s Bedroom series by Luc Megens. The quote “Nowadays, Vincent van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles is one of his best-known paintings and from the artist’s letters we know that it was one he was particularly pleased with” [iv] stated the popularity and satisfactory of this painting. The second one is from the Website of Life and Times of Vincent Van Gogh. There is an analysis of Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles and it raised the debate that if the bedroom depicted by him is his real room. The quote is “Undoubtedly, Vincent’s room did not really look the way he portrayed it. Yet in a letter to his brother Theo, his description of this picture includes no acknowledgment of intentionally conveying upheaval.”[v] And then is a quote from Masterpiece of the month: Vincent Van Gogh by Chertok, Bobbi; Goody Hirshfeld; Rosh, Marilyn. “Understanding the Painting Van Gogh wrote about this painting to his brother Theo: "This time it is simply my bedroom, only here color is to do everything." Van Gogh's vivid, rich colors were inspired by the Mediterranean sunlight in the south of France.” It mentioned that the room depicted on the painting is Van’s bedroom.

Last but not least, two questions about the work, Bedroom at Arles were raised. The first question is that why the artist used trapezoid instead of rectangular as the sharp of the bedroom? Is it in order to have better visual effect or create the unrealistic effect? The other question is that most of the things are centralized on the upper part of the painting. And there is no object on the lower part. So what is the purpose of this distribution and setting?  

For the one question, from my point of view, the artist is aimed to create the feeling of unrealistic as the style of post-impressionism do not focus on the reality of things, but more focus on artist’s own style. It used trapezoid as the shape of the bedroom, which is different from common bedroom. And it can be said that the painting can represent artist’s individual imagination and own style. Van sees his bedroom as his studio so he tried to make it creative and think out of the box. Also, I think that the distribution and setting of the bedroom made it complicated and clumsy. The objects mainly centralized on the upper part, which is oppressive.

All in all, Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles is one of the well-known paintings and the style of the painting is influenced by the art of the Impressionists. This painting beyond to the category of post-impressionism due to the use of bright colour, unusual perspective of the bedroom and emotional connection with the artist.

Reference:

1.       Richard R. Brettell and Van Gogh, Van Gogh's "Bedrooms at Arles": The Problem of Priority, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, The Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection (1986), pp. 136-151

2.       Chertok, Bobbi; Goody Hirshfeld; Rosh, Marilyn, Masterpiece of the month: Vincent Van Gogh, Instructor (1999)

3.       Paul Richard Washington Post Staff Writer, 444 Days in Arles, The Washington post, 1984

4.       A comparative study of Vincent van Gogh's Bedroom series, Johanna Salvant - Academia.edu Luc Megens  Nov 21, 2014

5.       Life and Times of Vincent Van Gogh Bedroom at Arles – analysis http://lifeofvangogh.com/paintings/bedroom-at-arles-analysis/

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[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedroom_in_Arles

[ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedroom_in_Arles

[iii] Vincent’s Bedroom at Arles - Style, Vggallery
http://www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0482.htm

[iv] A comparative study of Vincent van Gogh's Bedroom series, Johanna Salvant - Academia.edu Luc Megens  Nov 21, 2014

[v] Life and Times of Vincent Van Gogh Bedroom at Arles – analysis http://lifeofvangogh.com/paintings/bedroom-at-arles-analysis/