Roy Lichtenstein painted Bedroom at Arles in July 1992 based on the Bedroom in Arles (1889) by Van Gogh. Lichtenstein has updated the original work “I've cleaned his room up a little bit for him; and he'll be very happy...I've straightened his shirts and bought some new furniture (...)I think the contrast between my intention and Van Gogh's is so enormous that there is humor in that difference. My principal interest is the extreme difference in style. Where the Van Gogh is so emotional, and feverish, and spontaneous, my work is planned and premeditated, and painfully worked out.”

Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, patrons of the arts, bought the artwork. Ellsworth Kelly said of Jane “She was a very strong and decisive woman, a woman who knew what she was and knew what she wanted.”

Kelly’s comment is based on him saying “The negative is just as important as the positive” alluding to the opposites styles of the two artists.

 

 

Sources: Bader, Graham, ed. (2009). "A Review of My Work Since 1961—A Slide Presentation". Roy Lichtenstein: October Files

Roy Lichtenstein Foundation / LA Times 10/19/2004