Vincent van Gogh, “Postman Joseph Roulin” (1888) (© Museum of Advantageous Arts, Boston)
“A head something like that of Socrates, almost no nose, a high forehead, bald pate, small grey eyes, high-coloured full cheeks, a big beard, pepper and salt, big ears.” That’s how Vincent van Gogh described postal employee Joseph Roulin in an 1888 letter to his sister, 5 months after abruptly leaving Paris for southern France with the intention of following within the footsteps of artists like Paul Cézanne and Adolphe Monticelli to the port metropolis of Marseilles.
Joseph Roulin aged 60 or 61, c. 1902 (photograph courtesy Vincent van Gogh Basis)
However the Provençal city of Arles finally took maintain of the Dutch painter, and over the course of 15 months, van Gogh churned out an abundance of works, capturing countryside landscapes, potted sunflowers, road scenes, and his personal picture. It was additionally throughout this era that he befriended Roulin, the blue-uniformed postal employee who rapidly grew to become certainly one of his favourite topics — and whose likeness is now on the middle of a brand new exhibition on the Museum of Advantageous Arts (MFA), Boston.
Van Gogh and the Roulins. Collectively Once more at Final, on view via September 7, delves into the artist’s 26-portrait sequence targeted on Roulin, his spouse Augustine, and their three kids Armand, Camille, and Marcelle.
Dispersed throughout world collections at this time, many of the work have been reunited for the primary time within the two-floor exhibition.
Vincent van Gogh, “Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle (La Berceuse)” (1889) (© Museum of Advantageous Arts, Boston)
A collaboration with the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the place it should subsequently go on view within the fall, the present is a commemoration of a singular and significant friendship. Shy, asocial, and debilitatingly lonely, van Gogh discovered a kindred reference to Roulin that fueled his personal art work and continued to resonate with him via the top of his life.
“The man is a fervent republican and socialist, reasons very well and knows many things … I much prefer to paint something like this than flowers,” the artist wrote to his sister.
(Left) Vincent van Gogh, “Portrait of Camille Roulin” (1888) (picture courtesy Vincent van Gogh Basis); (proper) Camille Roulin at age 32 (1909) (picture courtesy van Gogh Museum Amsterdam)
In late December 1888, when the artist suffered a psychological breakdown that resulted within the mutilation of his left ear, Roulin gave his steadfast help, visiting the hospital every day and conserving van Gogh’s household up to date on his situation in a written correspondence that can be included within the present.
After the artist left Arles, the 2 remained in touch, with van Gogh giving updates on his well being and work, and inquiring about Roulin’s household.
“When you have the time to honour me with a letter you will always give me great pleasure,” Roulin wrote on the finish of a letter dated August 1889.
Vincent van Gogh, “Portrait of Marcelle Roulin” (1888) (picture courtesy Vincent van Gogh Basis)
Marcelle Roulin at age 67 (1955) (picture courtesy van Gogh Museum Amsterdam)
The exhibition additionally contains work by van Gogh’s modern Paul Gauguin, who visited the artist in Arles and painted a number of portraits of the Roulin household, in addition to images of the Roulins from the early twentieth century. On the second flooring of the present, a life-sized reproduction of van Gogh’s Yellow Home studio affords a glimpse into the area the place he painted the Roulins.
“[The Roulins] were more than just models to him,” Nienke Bakker, senior curator on the van Gogh Museum, mentioned in a press release. “With them he found the warmth of a family that he was never able to start.”
Vincent van Gogh, “The Yellow House (The Street)” (1888) (picture courtesy Vincent van Gogh Basis)
Vincent van Gogh, “Armand Roulin” (1888) (picture courtesy Museum Folkwang Essen—ARTOTHEK)
Vincent van Gogh, “Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat” (1887) (picture courtesy Vincent van Gogh Basis)
