Teaching Activities: The Bedroom

beginning/intermediate/advanced
LA, A

Van Gogh wrote a letter to his brother Theo in which he described in detail a painting of his bedroom. The following is an excerpt from that letter:

September or October 1888

"This time it's just simply my bedroom, only here color is to do everything, and giving by its simplification a grander style to things, is to be suggestive here of rest or of sleep in general. In a word, looking at the picture ought to rest the brain, or rather the imagination. The walls are pale violet. The floor is of red tiles. The wood of the bed and chairs is the yellow of fresh butter, the sheets and pillows very light greenish-citron. The coverlet scarlet. The window green. The toilet table orange, the basin blue. The doors lilac. And that is all -- there is nothing in this room with its closed shutters. The broad lines of the furniture again must express inviolable rest. Portraits on the walls, and a mirror and a towel and some clothes. The frame -- as there is no white in the picture -- will be white."

Read this excerpt in class. Have students compare this description with what they actually see in The Bedroom. How do the two differ? Ask students to close their eyes and imagine their bedroom at home. What would be the most important aspect of the room? What things would they include to tell the viewer about their interests and who they are? Have students draw the mental picture and compare their drawings with how the room looks in reality.

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