This moment marked the first time the artist had a home of his own, and he had immediately and enthusiastically set about decorating, painting a suite of canvases to fill the walls. Van Gogh Museum, the first version “Bedroom in Arles” by Vincent van Gogh “Bedroom in Arles” by Vincent van Gogh describes three similar paintings by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter created between 1888 – 1889.

Van Gogh started the first version during mid October 1888 while staying in Arles, and explained his aims and means to his brother Theo: "This time it simply reproduces my bedroom; but colour must be abundant in this part, its simplification adding a rank of grandee to the style applied to the objects, getting to suggest a certain rest or dream. Van Gogh conceived the first Bedroom in October 1888, a month after he moved into his “Yellow House” in Arles, France. Van Gogh produced three almost identical paintings on the theme of his bedroom. The door to the right opened on to the upper floor and the staircase; the door to the left was that of the guest room he held prepared for Gauguin; the window in the front wall looked on to Place Lamartine and its public gardens. We have to go into where he was staying and what inspired the painting. The painting depicts van Gogh’s bedroom at 2, Place Lamartine in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, known as the Yellow House. Almost a year later, Van Gogh made two copies: one, the same size, is now in the Art Institute in Chicago. The first, in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, was executed in October 1888, and damaged during a flood that occurred while the painter was in hospital in Arles. Van Gogh, Bedroom in Arles: the pigment analysis shows the use of chrome yellow, cobalt blue and vermilion among other pigments. To understand the Van Gogh painting, “Bedroom at Arles,” you need first to understand why Van Gogh was in Arles. Understanding this is a critical part of successfully interpreting and understanding this complex and well-known piece. Van Gogh’s title for this composition was simply “The Bedroom.” There are three versions, easily distinguishable from one another by the […] The first, in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, was executed in October 1888, and damaged during a flood that occurred while the painter was in hospital in Arles.

Van Gogh produced three, almost identical paintings on the theme of his bedroom. Van Gogh painted his first Bedroom just after moving into his beloved “Yellow House” in Arles, France, in 1888.He was so enamored with the work, now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, that after water damage threatened its stability, he became determined to preserve the composition by painting a second version while at an asylum in Saint-Rémy in 1889.