Hasta La Motion!

The Art Institute of Chicago’s Van Gogh BnB project has won four Gold awards at the Clio Awards, for Brand Design, Branded Entertainment, Engagement/Experiential, and Out of Home. Van Gogh’s Bedrooms exhibition ran from February 14 to May 10, 2016, focused on the artist’s three “Bedroom” paintings, presenting an in-depth study of their making and meaning to Van Gogh. To build interest in the exhibition Van Gogh’s 1888 painting, “The Bedroom”, was recreated in a specially decorated apartment. Through a partnership with Airbnb, people were invited to spend a night inside. Van Gogh hosted the room himself. Working from original documentation supplied by the Art Institute, craftsmen spent four weeks recreating the Van Gogh BnB room. As a result, instead of just looking at a Van Gogh painting, people could live inside one, bringing them closer to the artist than ever before. The Van Gogh BnB project won seven Gold Lions at Cannes in June, and the Experiental award at the AICP Next Awards.

Van Gogh painted his first Bedroom just after moving into his beloved “Yellow House” in Arles, France, in 1888. He was so enamored with the work, now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, that after water damage threatened its stability, he became determined to preserve the composition by painting a second version while at an asylum in Saint-Rémy in 1889. Identical in scale and yet distinct from the original, that second work is now one of the icons of the Art Institute’s permanent collection. Van Gogh created a smaller third version, now at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, as a gift for his mother and sister a few weeks after making the second. While the three paintings at first appear almost identical, when examined closely, each reveals distinct and unique details.

Van Gogh BnB Credits

The Van Gogh BnB campaign was developed at Leo Burnett Chicago by chief creative officer Mark Tutssel, creative directors Mikal Pittman and Britt Nolan, associate creative director Mike Costello and Pete Lefebvre, associate creative director/art director John Regan, associate creative director/copywriter Tor Lemhag, account director Cliff Schwandner, account executives Becca Wilson, Andi Della Chiesa and Ariel Tishgart, producers Glennon Scanner, Laura Stern and Colleen Capola, photographer Daniel Shea.

Media was handled by Starcom Mediavest Group, Chicago.

The apartment makeover was designed at Ravenswood Studio, Chicago.