Which painting did Van Gogh’s Bedroom remind him of?

Have you ever seen the painting Vincent’s Bedroom in the Van Gogh Museum? Did you want to know Van Gogh’s thoughts about it? We are so fortunate to have his letters. Especially about the Bedroom he wrote a lot to his brother. How else would we know this painting reminded him of a painting he did a year before in Paris: 'Piles of French Novels’?

Today 133 years ago, on 17 October 1888,

Vincent van Gogh wrote to Theo from Arles:

"This bedroom is something like that still life of French novels with yellow, pink, green covers, you’ll recall. But I believe that the execution is simpler and more virile. No stippling, no hatching, nothing; the tints flat, but in harmony. I don’t know what I’ll undertake afterwards, because my sight’s still tired.”

Piles of French Novels
Paris, 1887
53 x 73,2 cm
Oil on canvas
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

You may also like to read:

• What were the original colors of Van Gogh's paintings?

Van Gogh's 'Piles of French Novels'

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