T H E B E D R O O M

1. THEBEDROOM Painted in October 1888; Oiloncanvas, 72x90 cm

2. Here is half of the whole picture. Finish it using a pencil.

3. Here is the original painting:

4. Whose bedroom is it?

5. The bedroom belongs to the artist Vincent van Gogh. When he painted it, he was living in Arles, a town in Provence, in the south of France.

6. Try to describe the bedroom

7. It’s a very tidy bedroom. By painting my bedroom where everything is in its place, I am showing that I have now decided to take care of myself and to organize my life properly. I haven’t got a house my own. I am a real bohemian artist.

8. This is the house!

9. What do the colors look like, pretty or not?

10. The weather in Holland, where I was born, is not always good, so here I am, in Provence, in search of sunshine. That’s the reason I love having a bedroom so full of light and bursting colors.

11. Name all the furniture you can see in the bedroom.

12. There isn’t much furniture. I am very poor so I only have the essentials, and what I have is very plain furniture. Of course there is a bed, and there are also two chairs, in case someone comes to visit me.

13. There are paintings on the walls.

14. I spend all my time painting. It is the thing I love most in the whole world. For me it is unthinkable to live in a place without paintings. On the right-hand side there are two portraits of friends and underneath are drawings, done on paper. On the back wall there is a landscape.

15. Why are my belongings in pairs?

16. There are two chairs, two pillows, two portraits on the wall, two drawings and even two doors. I don’t share the bedroom with anyone but maybe multiplying everything by two makes me feel less lonely.

17. There is nothing to suggest it is a painter’s bedroom. There is no way of knowing that it’s an artist´s bedroom because my materials are not on display. We can not see any colored pencils or paint brushes. I use to work outside for many hours every day. I want my bedroom for relaxation, for making myself feel comfortable and for sleeping peacefully.

18. It’s a very simple picture. The objects are very normal, and the colors are flat, without any tones. I want my pantings to be easy to understand. The outlines of the colors are easy to follow, because I generally use thick lines.

19. Do people like my paintings?

20. When Van Gogh died in 1890, he only sold one painting. People normally find them frightening, but very few people actually know my own paintings. When I finish one panting, I use to send it to my brother Teo in Paris.

21. How did van Gogh become so famous?

22. People only began to appreciate the impact of his work after he died. He was terribly lonely and finally he committed suicide, still unknown to the world. Almost fifty years later, people started to see him like a hero, and to appreciate his work. There are also some movies about him. Our feelings about him today go beyond the pictures he painted.

23. Is it true that van Gogh was mad? Can you see a bandage around his ear? Do you know what happened?

24. He was anxious and psychologically fragile, and he suffered a great deal. During the time that he was alive, doctors didn’t know how to properly treat mental and emotional problems. But when he painted, he knew exactly what he wanted to do and why, and he was extraordinary sensitive and intelligent.