Group Project: Sandwich updates Vincent Van Gogh 's Bedroom in Arles

Group project

Small house of Hong Kong People, 29 cm x 35.5 cm, poster color and acrylic color on canvas, 2011

by

Lo Wing Yan, Jenny

Wu Shuk Wa,Marina

Yeung Yan Ki,Yanki

'Bedroom in Arles’ was painted by Vincent Van Gogh who was a Post-Impressionist painter in 1889. The medium is oil on canvas and the size is 72 cm × 90 cm (28.3 in × 35.4 in). It contains short brushstrokes, brilliant colors, uncommon perspective and real-life subject matter. This painting depicts yellow house which was Van Gogh’s bedroom. So there are double-bed, desk, chairs, photographs and some necessities of daily life. Our updated Hong Kong version ‘Small house of Hong Kong People’ (29 cm x 35.5 cm, poster color and acrylic color on canvas) was inspired by recent housing situation which was faced by Hong Kong people. Our aim is to evoke the awareness of the housing problem and the social problem in Hong Kong. It is well known that the housing problem is getting serious in Hong Kong. Many people cannot have a normal size of flat or do not even have their own flats since the prices of a flat is too expensive to afford. We want to indicate the social problem of extreme disparity between the rich and the poor which can be intimated in the poster of housing advertisement.

There are some similarities and differences including similar composition, different aims, objects, tone of colors and mood.

Firstly, the themes of two versions are similar. Both of them are depicting the bedroom. However, Van Gogh’s version is depicting his own bedroom while the updated Hong Kong version is depicting the extremely small home of Hong Kong people.

Secondly, the composition is similar to the original version. Since the location of the double-bed, window and desk are not changed, the composition is similar. Also, there is something on the wall in both paintings. However, the style of the bed is different. In the updated version, the carrier of the bed is made by metal rather than wood. Also, the window is covered by the beautiful view of Victoria Harbor.

Furthermore, the housing advertisements on the wall instead of the photography of family members show the hope of owning a better living condition. The green window represents the traditional style of tenement in 1950s -1970s in Hong Kong.

Moreover, there is a television instead of the water container on the table at the corner. A folding table and chairs are added to the middle of the painting to show the crowded life of Hong Kong people. There are some boxes to store their belongings and newspaper for selling to earn their livings. And the book shelves at the left hand corner are to represent the knowledge. On the book shelves, there are some Chinese books which reveal that the owner of this house is from Hong Kong. Since this room is the whole house for the owner, it shows that he wants to equip him better to buy a better house in the future. Unfortunately, the book shelves are put at a high corner of the house; it is not easy to get the books. So it implied that it is hard to buy a better house in the future.

In addition, the recycling bags, rubbish bin, chopsticks on the folding table and slippers on the floor are the elements representing Hong Kong people since they are easy to find in Hong Kong. These are the similarities and differences between these two paintings in terms of subject matter.

For the use of colors, the two works both used primary color as the main color in the painting. For Van Gogh’s, many primary light colors such as blue in the wall and yellow for the bed are used in Van Gogh’s painting. And in our work, blue is also used as the main color in the wall and red used for the bed. However, the gradation of color is different between the two paintings. The one of Van Gogh has a brighter value of color than our work. The colors used in our work are darker. Also, black and secondary color such as green is more frequently used in our painting. Compare with Van Gogh’s yellow house, the use of color with the crowded space in our work provides a sadder mood then Van Gogh’s one. Besides, there is color subtext cannot be finding in Van Gogh’s work that the color of red, blue and white used in our work can be a representation of Hong Kong spirit.

Next, for the form, the two paintings both use lines to depict the sense of 3-dimension. The two works both addressed the form of object by outlining. However, the objects in our work contains a stronger sense of 3-dimension than Van Gogh’s. This difference is caused by the use of color. A more sharp contrast in color can be found in the objects in our painting such as the paper boxes and desk. Although there is also different tone of color in Van Gogh’s work to show the 3 dimension, the color contrast is not as clear as in our work. Therefore Van Gogh’s work is less three-dimensional than our work.

And for the representation of space, these two works used same method of one point prospective, the ways that lines are joined together at one point to create a sense of deepness. Also, the two painting both use the descending of object size to create the sense of deepness and space. However, our painting owned a feel that contains less space than Van Gogh’s original painting. This feeling is mainly caused by the number of objects in the painting. The space is filled by many objects such as desk in the middle and the bed is enlarged to dominate more space in the painting. In contrast, Van Gogh’s bedroom contains fewer objects. This created the difference of space between the two paintings.

For the brushstroke, the brushstroke in Van Gogh’s work is shorter and tidier than our work. Also, the brushstrokes Van Gogh painted go mainly into the same direction. It provided a mood of quiet and harmony. However in our work, the brushwork is not as tidy and in the same direction as Van Gogh’s one. This difference gives a more unstable mood in our painting then in Van Gogh’s.

Finally for the mood, our painting contains a sadder mood then Van Gogh’s work. Due to the use of dark color and the composition of object which formed a shallow space, a kind of tension is produced in our painting while in Van Gogh’s one, the space is larger and it is in a warm, comfort color tone of light blue and yellow, Van Gogh’s painting gives a sense of relax rather than being pressured. The mood is different from the others because of the color and composition.

To conclude, the updated Hong Kong version is based on ‘Bedroom in Arles’ painted by Van Gogh. However, the differences in visual elements between the two paintings convey various aims. ‘Bedroom in Arles’ tries to show the mood of quiet and harmony. But for the Hong Kong version, is to depict the housing and social problem in Hong Kong. We hope to alarm HongKongers and evoke their awareness on this social problem by depicting the poor housing condition.