The Bedroom

This is the actual bedroom where Vincent van Gogh slept in the little yellow house he rented in Arles, in the south of France. He loved this humble room so much that he painted it three separate times. The whole thing was meant to feel peaceful, and Van Gogh even wrote to his brother Theo that the cheerful colors were supposed to give a sense of sleep and rest. His style is all over the place here in the best way, with thick swirling brushstrokes, big flat patches of blue and yellow, and a floor that tilts up so steeply it almost seems to slide toward you.

A closer look reveals something touching. Everything comes in twos: a pair of pillows, two chairs, and matching objects hanging on the wall. Van Gogh set the room up this way because he was excited for his painter friend Paul Gauguin to come stay and work alongside him. Gauguin did visit, but the two artists clashed badly, and their friendship fell apart during the same period when Van Gogh famously cut off part of his own ear. Knowing that history adds a quiet sadness to this warm little scene, which was painted with so much hope and pride in simply having a place of his own.