Thursday, February 11, 2016

Van Gogh’s Bedrooms



Van Gogh’s Bedrooms Features Thirty-six Paintings, Drawings, and Illustrated Letters by the Artist Accompanied by an Interactive Digital Experience

Vincent van Gogh’s painting of his bedroom in Arles is arguably the most famous chambre in the history of art. So important was this composition that Van Gogh made three distinct versions and considered it his finest painting. Now, for the first time in North America, all three versions of the painting will be together in an exhibition titled Van Gogh’s Bedrooms at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Opening on February 14, 2016, the exhibition is the first ever dedicated to the Bedroom paintings,
presenting an in-depth study of documentary, scientific, and physical evidence pertaining to all three versions. Beginning with Van Gogh’s early canvases of cottages and birds’ nests, the show explores the artist’s use of the motif of home as a haven, creative chamber, and physical reality. 


Enhancing the exploration of the artist’s artworks and his longing for a place of his own are several engaging interactive technologies designed in partnership with Bluecadet. 

A digitally enhanced reconstruction of his bedroom allows visitors the chance to experience the physical reality of the space that so inspired him, while other enriching digital components bring to light significant recent scientific research on the three Bedroom paintings. 

An illustrated exhibition catalog with a lead essay from Gloria Groom, Chair of European Painting and Sculpture and David and Mary Winton Green Curator, will be published by the Art Institute of Chicago in partnership with Yale University Press. 


Vincent van Gogh. The Bedroom. 1889. The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.





Vincent van Gogh. Self–Portrait. 1887. The Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph Winterbotham Collection.




Vincent van Gogh. The Bedroom, 1889. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, sold to national museums under the Treaty of Peace with Japan, 1959.





Vincent van Gogh. The Bedroom, 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation).


Vincent van Gogh. Eugène Boch. 1888. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, legacy of Mr. Eugène Boch, 1941.


Vincent van Gogh. Gauguin’s Chair. 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation).




Vincent van Gogh. The Lover (Portrait of Lieutenant Milliet). Late September-early October 1888. KM 102.392. Kröller–Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands.




Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh's Chair, 1888. The National Gallery, London, Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1924.





Vincent van Gogh. A Pair of Boots. 1887. The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA, 1950.302. Photography by: Mitro Hood.




Vincent van Gogh. Parisian Novels. 1887. Private Collection.


Vincent van Gogh. The Poet’s Garden. 1888. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection.


Vincent van Gogh. Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle (La Berceuse) 1889. The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.



Vincent van Gogh. Corridor in the Asylum. 1889. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1948.




Vincent van Gogh. Thatched–Roofed Cottages of Jorgus. 1890. Private Collection.




Vincent van Gogh. Self–Portrait. 1889. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney.