Bedroom in Arles

Vincent van Gogh painted three nearly identical versions of Bedroom in Arles. The first, completed in October 1888, shows his room at the Yellow House in Arles where he hoped to establish an artists' community. The simple furnishings, bold blue walls, and yellow bed convey what Van Gogh called "absolute restfulness."

A flood damaged the first version while Van Gogh was hospitalized in Arles. In September 1889, he made two copies from the original: one the same size (now at the Art Institute of Chicago), and a smaller version for his mother and sister (now at the Musée d'Orsay).

The three versions can be distinguished by the portraits on the wall to the right. In 2016, the Art Institute of Chicago reunited all three for the first time in North America. The original hangs at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.