Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, October 1888

This week for the word ‘place’ I have chosen to look at this painting by Vincent Van Gogh of his bedroom in Arles. the word place is a particular position, point or area in space. in order for a ‘space’ to become a ‘place’ there must be recognisable associations attached to it. for example, I know the patch of land sitting infant of me is the field behind my house, or another example may be Slemish Mountain with a well known title for others to associate it with. Van Gogh’s bedroom can be known as just that- ‘Van Gogh’s Bedroom’. The association with this place is that the room belonged to Van Gogh and that is how It can be known.

The room was prepared by Van Gogh himself with this simple furniture and work of his own on the wall. The Van Gogh Museum have said that the painting doesn’t follow the rules of perspective, although this is understood to be a deliberate choice- Van Gogh wrote in a letter that the room had been deliberately ‘flattened’ and the shadows were deliberately left out of it so that it would resemble a Japanese print.
Van Gogh had expressed his love for this painting as he once said “When I saw my canvases again after my illness, what seemed to me best was the bedroom.” -Van Gogh

I find this painting to be moody and structured. the organisation in the room is very simplistic though I might even call it creepy, you are unable to tell the bedroom is lived in apart from the hanging towels and coats. I understand that the shadows remained left out of the painting to look like it was a Japanese print, but I believe the painting would’ve benefitted from a bit more detail.

In conclusion; a place is determined by the associations of the area, such as certain buildings or what happened within the space. I like this fact that areas have to have personal touches in order to become their own. this reminds me of the ‘what makes a house a home’ saying where there needs to be ‘love’ for the building to get the title of ‘home’.