Vincent van Gogh: The Bedroom, 1889 – Porcelain Art Mug

Perhaps the most famous bedroom in Western painting. Van Gogh made three versions of his sleeping quarters in the Yellow House at Arles. This is the second, painted in September 1889, nearly a year after the first; a third and smaller version followed at the same time, a gift for his mother and sister.

He set the colours down in a letter to his brother Theo: “the walls pale lilac, the floor in a broken and faded red”, the chairs and bed chrome yellow, the pillows and sheet a pale lemon green, the bedspread blood-red, the washbasin blue.

Bold colour, thick broken brushwork, lines that rush to the corner — it can read as nervous energy. Van Gogh meant the opposite. He wanted the picture to rest the eye, and believed colour alone could do it.

Vincent van Gogh, The Bedroom, 1889. Oil on canvas, 73.6 × 92.3 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, 1926.417. Public domain; the museum’s reproduction is released under CC0.

Fine Porcelain — 10 oz. Dishwasher and microwave safe.

Selected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.