Staying in Arles since 1888, Van Gogh’s bedroom inspired him to create three paintings. The Bedroom in Arles, kept at the Musée d'Orsay, was realized in 1889. This canvas, smaller than the other two versions of his room, was intended for his family in Holland.
In a letter to his brother Theo, he explains the reasons for the realization of this theme. Living in a psychiatric hospital at the time, Van Gogh looking for tranquillity and inner calm. Therefore, he says to his brother "The view of the painting must rest the head or rather the imagination". But beyond this desire for appeasement, the empty room with its closed shutters transcribes the deep loneliness of the artist, who has no success in his artistic life nor in his personal life, with his brother as his only support. The deformation of the furniture, and the slippage created by the unstable perspective, illustrate the artist's anguish and anxiety.
In his correspondence with his brother, he evokes the colours of this painting: "the pale lilac walls, the floor of a broken and faded red, the chairs and bed of chrome yellow, the pillows and the very pale lime green sheet, the blood red blanket, the orange toilet table, the blue bowl, the green window".
The colour, as the representation of a bed, reveals his desire for tranquility: "I wanted to express an absolute rest through all these different tones". In this painting, Van Gogh works on complementary colours, and the interplay of tones between the different areas of the canvas.
The artist also plays with contrasts of texture and touch to give relief to his work. The colours of the canvas, the simplicity of the composition, and small number of elements also show the influence of Japonism.