A digitally enhanced reconstruction of Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles shows what the painting would have looked like before the colours faded.
The work is designed to allow visitors the chance to experience the physical reality of the bedroom that inspired the artist, and forms part of an exhibition the Art Institute Chicago, which brings together three versions of the painting.
According to an article in The Guardian when scientists analysed the painting, produced between 1888 and 1889, they discovered that the colours had changed over time.
They deduced that this made all three paintings look similar when in fact they were painted using different colours, which could provide an insight into Van Gogh’s moods when he produced them. Researchers used x-ray data to develop colour maps for the original works, but the result is still an approximation.
Francesca Casadio, a scientist at the Art Institute Chicago, said:“In our work we use x-rays to examine paintings in the same way we examine bodies to reveal the inner structure.”
She added: “There are tools that in one single sweep can reconstruct the pallet that Van Gogh used that we didn’t even have five years ago.”
Scientists were also alerted to the fact that the colours in the painting had changed from how Van Gogh described the work in letters to his brother Theo.
Van Gogh painted his first bedroom painting just after moving to Arles in France in 1888. After the painting was damaged by water he painted a second version at an asylum in Saint-Rémy in 1889.
The artist painted the third version of the painting, which is now at the Museé d’Orsay in Paris, as a gift for his mother and sister.
The work is designed to allow visitors the chance to experience the physical reality of the bedroom that inspired the artist, and forms part of an exhibition the Art Institute Chicago, which brings together three versions of the painting.
According to an article in The Guardian when scientists analysed the painting, produced between 1888 and 1889, they discovered that the colours had changed over time.
They deduced that this made all three paintings look similar when in fact they were painted using different colours, which could provide an insight into Van Gogh’s moods when he produced them. Researchers used x-ray data to develop colour maps for the original works, but the result is still an approximation.
Francesca Casadio, a scientist at the Art Institute Chicago, said:“In our work we use x-rays to examine paintings in the same way we examine bodies to reveal the inner structure.”
She added: “There are tools that in one single sweep can reconstruct the pallet that Van Gogh used that we didn’t even have five years ago.”
Scientists were also alerted to the fact that the colours in the painting had changed from how Van Gogh described the work in letters to his brother Theo.
Van Gogh painted his first bedroom painting just after moving to Arles in France in 1888. After the painting was damaged by water he painted a second version at an asylum in Saint-Rémy in 1889.
The artist painted the third version of the painting, which is now at the Museé d’Orsay in Paris, as a gift for his mother and sister.