A wooden bed stands against the right wall, its frame painted in warm yellow tones, with a red blanket and pale pillows arranged at the head. Two simple chairs, also painted yellow, are positioned at either side of the room: one near the foot of the bed and the other beside a small wooden table to the left. The table holds a blue pitcher and basin, several bottles, and a tray, all rendered with thick, textured brushstrokes that give the objects a tangible presence.

A towel hangs from a peg on the left wall, just inside the blue door, while a coat and other garments are draped on hooks above the bed’s headboard. Above the bed, three pictures hang at angles on the wall, their frames and contents outlined with energetic, uneven lines. Every element in the room is outlined in strong color, and the entire composition is structured by sharp diagonals and receding lines that create a sense of depth and movement.

The brushwork is bold and visible throughout, with thick applications of paint and rhythmic, directional strokes that give the scene a sense of immediacy and intensity. Vincent van Gogh painted this view of his bedroom in 1889 while living in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. According to the Art Institute of Chicago, this is the second of three versions of the composition, created nearly a year after the first, in September 1889. The museum notes that van Gogh described the colors in a letter to his brother Theo, specifying the pale lilac walls, faded red floor, chrome yellow furniture, and other vivid hues visible in the painting.

The painting was sent by van Gogh to his brother Theo in Paris in December 1889, and after Theo’s death, it passed to Johanna van Gogh-Bonger in the Netherlands. It was later owned by Jos Hessel in Paris, Carl Reininghaus in Vienna, and Paul Rosenberg in Paris and New York, before being acquired by Frederic Clay Bartlett and given to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1926. The museum’s account also notes that while the painting’s energetic lines and vivid palette might suggest agitation, van Gogh intended the image to evoke calm and rest.