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Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘The Bedroom’ Recreated On Airbnb For $10, Sells Out Within Minutes

By Ny MaGee
Published on: 10:52 PST, Feb 14, 2016

The Art Institute of Chicago has recreated Vincent Van Gogh’s painting The Bedroom, for an innovative Airbnb listing of only $10. The room sold-out within minutes of the promotion being announced last Tuesday night, so art lovers who acted quickly will get a chance to spend a starry night inside the one-bedroom-room located in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Renters will also get tickets to the Art Institute’s “Van Gogh’s Bedrooms” exhibition, which runs through May 10.

“This room will make you feel like you’re living in a painting. It’s decorated in a Post-Impressionist style, reminiscent of Southern France and times gone by. Its furniture, bright colors, and artwork will give you the experience of a lifetime.”

Van Gogh is one of the most well-known post-impressionist painters of the world. He painted three versions of The Bedroom, with the notable difference in each being the pictures on the wall to the right. The painting depicts Van Gogh’s room in the south of France, known as his Yellow House. The Chicago exhibit marks the first time in North American history that all three versions of his painting will be displayed side-by-side. The exhibit will be accompanied by a digital representation of Van Gogh’s actual room, allowing visitors to experience the space that inspired the three bedroom canvases, per Time Out.

The tortured artist completed the first painting in 1888, and gave it to his family. The room was originally composed in vibrant colors. Van Gogh described the painting in a letter to his brother.

“I have painted the walls pale violet. The ground with checked material. The wooden bed and the chairs, yellow like fresh butter; the sheet and the pillows, lemon light green. The bedspread, scarlet coloured. The window, green. The washbasin, orangey; the tank, blue. The doors, lilac. And, that is all.”

He painted the second version after a falling out with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, and cut off a piece of his own ear. His mood at the time was reflected in this version, which was somber and blue being the primary color used. It is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. The third bedroom painting was made while living in an asylum.

Dr. Francesca Casadio, an art conservation scientist at the Institute, whose team conducted an analysis of the artist’s state of mind, said Van Gogh “slept for two days” after he completed the first painting.

“The original painting shows he was satisfied. With the original painting he wanted it to look more like a Japanese print, but with the Chicago version he was in a more sombre mood,” she explained. “He was in a different place by then and the new visualisation reveals that.. by that stage the colours were much more subdued.”

“He had been in hospital, he had cut off a piece of his ear and had fought with Paul Gauguin. They were painted a year apart between 1888 and 1889 when everything had changed. And it is reflected in the work,” Casadio added.

The Art Institute’s exhibit will study Van Gogh’s interpretation of place, space and his living subjects — both humans and animals. Deciphering the original colors he used will also provide further insight into how the “changing state of the artist’s tortured mind influenced his work,” per the Irish Independent.

Vincent Van Gogh’s Airbnb listing can be viewed here, and another recreation of the bedroom is in the Art Institute’s exhibit. More openings are expected to be announced soon, as the new exhibit will also collect 36 other Van Gogh works.

[Images via ShutterStock]

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