| In Vincent's Room | | | | Yellow House in Arles became the focal point for his |
| "In a word, looking at the picture ought to rest the brain, | | | | dream. He readied the Yellow House for his guests, |
| or rather the imagination." | | | | painting still lifes and decorating with the intensity |
| Vincent van Gogh's "Bedroom at Arles," painted in | | | | reflected in his artwork. |
| 1889, was intended to be symbolic of restful peace. A | | | | The artist who became his greatest influencer, closest |
| glance at this painting, buzzing with energy and filled | | | | friend and eventually his downfall, Paul Gauguin, was |
| with oddities, gives the viewer just the opposite | | | | the first and only member to join the "Studio of the |
| sensation. | | | | South." His visit with van Gogh was fraught with |
| The room, though pleasant, all but reels with | | | | tension and he left after just over two months. The |
| movement. Whether consciously or not, van Gogh | | | | two artists disagreed to the point of violent arguments |
| painted the perspective, walls and decorations all atilt, | | | | about almost every subject, but especially about |
| so that we get the impression of a ship's cabin in a | | | | painting. During one such argument at the end of |
| stormy sea. Strangely, the two chairs both face | | | | Gauguin's stay, Vincent, a mentally unstable epileptic, |
| toward the bulky wooden bed, and the furniture blocks | | | | heard a voice in his ear saying, "Kill him." Rather than |
| the two lilac doors. Paintings on the wall jut into the | | | | obey, he cut off most of the offending ear. It was the |
| room as if almost ready to fall off, and the walls | | | | denouement of an incident that placed him for all time |
| themselves are not square. The beveled ceiling and | | | | among the ranks of the greats who were unable to |
| yellow double shutters are whacked off without | | | | cope with life, but nevertheless gifted the world with |
| mercy in the cropping of the canvas, and the whole | | | | masterpiece after masterpiece. |
| room seems crowded into one clumsy area toward | | | | Undoubtedly, Vincent's room did not really look the |
| the window at the back. Yet somehow, the entire | | | | way he portrayed it. Yet in a letter to his brother Theo, |
| effect is somehow quite pleasing. | | | | his description of this picture includes no |
| Before he left Paris in 1888 to go live in the south of | | | | acknowledgment of intentionally conveying upheaval. |
| France at Arles, Vincent met most of what are now | | | | On the contrary, he is at pains to talk about its restful |
| considered the famous Impressionist artists of that | | | | mood, a symbol of relaxation and peace. The |
| period. Moved and excited by their work and ideas, he | | | | inescapable conclusion is that it was he, Vincent, who |
| developed the dream of creating an artists' commune | | | | required the peace... and he who never found it. |
| he labeled "Studio of the South." The now famous | | | | |