Vincent arrived in Antwerp in late November 1885. He rented a room from the married Dutch couple Willem Henricus Brandel and Anna Wilhelmina Huberta.

Before his departure for Antwerp, Vincent did not expect to be able to afford a studio there. But he managed to rent a small space adjacent to his room at the Brandels’ that he was able to use as one. Although it was not a full-sized workspace like the one he had had in Nuenen, it enabled Vincent to work at home in bad weather. He deemed it “tolerable”, partly because he had decorated the walls with various Japanese prints.