Want to add a little creativity to your next trip? Become an art-lover-in-residence?

An extreme way you can fulfill this dream is to actually stay inside of a great work of art.  Now thanks to the Art Institute of Chicago you can pretty much do just that and for less than the cost of a deep dish pizza at Pequod’s!

The Art Institute has magically re-created Van Gogh’s bedroom that was in the Yellow House at 2 Place Lamartine in Arles, Bouches du Rhone, France based on his famous painting of it.  And you can stay in this bedroom like Van Gogh stayed so many years ago.  It’s all part of the Art Institute’s promotion of their new exhibition called Van Gogh’s Bedrooms.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The Art Institute designed the room to look like Van Gogh’s painting Bedroom in Arles. He lived in the bedroom he depicted between 1888 and 1889.[/perfectpullquote]

Believe it or not, it costs only $10 per starry, starry night to rent, and it’s conveniently located near the Art Institute.

Bedroom in Arles Painting on Left and Art Institute’s Apartment on Right / Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Van Gogh Listing

Rent the apartment, in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, on Airbnb.

While the rental offer was posted by the Art Institute, it appears in the listing to be from none other than Van Gogh himself, who explains, “I’m charging $10 for no other reason than that I need to buy paint.”

Lest this post give you the impression that the apartment is as spartan as the bedroom that Van Gogh depicted, we can report that, as per the Airbnb listing, it includes all of the modern amenities like internet, cable television, Wi-Fi, a kitchen, and much, much more.

Van Gogh Exhibition

The Van Gogh’s Bedrooms exhibition is as unusual as the Van Gogh apartment rental, as it unites all three versions of The Bedroom in Arles for the very first time in North America.

The version of the painting from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the one from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam join the Art Institute’s own version, providing you with a rare opportunity to see all three paintings together, and to experience Van Gogh’s effort to paint a kind of restful, dream state in which he, and others who view the works, could feel at home.

What a great chance to totally immerse yourself in art!  Imagine after viewing the Bedroom paintings in the exhibit, returning to the creative chambre itself and dreaming dreams that only Van Gogh could have dreamt!  And if you’re really lucky, Paul Gauguin might even pass through your slumbers.

Details of Art Institute’s Apartment / Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Several Chicago hotels are offering Van Gogh themed specials, so no matter where you hang your hat Chicago offers you plenty of fine opportunities to be an art-lover-in-residence!

Would you rent Van Gogh’s room? Let us know in the comments section below.