The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh: Symbols, autobiographical images and perspective distortions [La camera da letto di Vincent van Gogh: rappresentazioni simboliche, riferimenti autobiografici, deformazioni prospettiche]

Although the article focuses primarily on van Gogh's choice of perspective representation and colours, the author also provides new biographical information about the painter himself. For the first time this paper presents a detailed comparative analysis of the three different versions of this masterpiece. This study coupled with an analytical analysis of relevant documents shows - beyond a shadow of a doubt - that the bedroom represents the painter's most intense emotional, affective and erotic world. His writings reveal the core theme of the works of the Dutch painter who didn't paint "still lifes" but objects as if they were living beings in order to try and make them accessible and dynamic - a sort of continuous autobiographical cross-reference. From the point of view of representation, this process of object impersonification becomes a close-up, distorting, wide-angle view which, apart from anything else, moves around the painting like a sort of endoscopic lens. The relationship between a realistic portrayal of perspective representation and certain expressive distortions is examined together with a specific and purposely "arbitrary" approach to colour.