Van Gogh · Arles · modern portraits
The Roulin family: six models, a friendship and a gallery of portraits
In Arles, Van Gogh found much more than faces to paint among the Roulins. Joseph, Augustine, Armand, Camille and Marcelle become a chosen family, a stable human presence at the moment when the artist dreams of a studio in the South.
Between 1888 and 1889, he produced an exceptional series of portraits around this family of postmen: intimate images, bold colors, decorative backgrounds, multiple versions and the ambition to create the modern “portrait”.
Short answer
Why do the Roulins mean so much to Van Gogh?
Because they allow Van Gogh to make portraiture a complete laboratory: resemblance, affection, color, decor, series, family symbolism. The historical family has five people, but the article organizes the gallery into six visual models: Joseph, Augustine, La Berceuse, Armand, Camille and Marcelle.
A real family, but also an idea of family
Van Gogh does not paint the Roulins as a bourgeois dynasty. He paints a popular, close, living family: the father in uniform, the mother around the cradle, the sons at the age of transitions and the baby as a promise for the future.
The series is unique in his work: it gives him the opportunity to take on the same faces several times, to change the backgrounds, the colors and the intensities, as if he wanted to fit friendship, protection into the same gallery and modernity.
- Father
- Joseph Roulin, postman
- Mother
- Augustine Roulin
- Children
- Armand, Camille, Marcelle
- Location
- Arles, 1888 -1889
Family gallery
Six entries to understand the Roulin series
Each member becomes a different pictorial problem: beard, uniform, motherhood, adolescence, childhood, baby. Van Gogh varies the pose and background to give each portrait its own energy.
Father, friend, postman
His immense beard, blue uniform and the word “Postes” give the portrait an almost heraldic authority.
The mother
Augustine appears as a stable, frontal figure, almost sculpted by the lines of clothing and face.
The night light
It's no longer just Augustine: it's a symbolic function, a presence that rocks and protects.
The eldest teenager
Dark suit, closed face, restrained posture: Armand already seems caught between childhood and the adult world.
The child with the right gaze
The yellow of the background, the blue of the garment and the frontality give Camille a lively and immediate presence.
The baby
Marcelle allows Van Gogh to paint fragility, the future and gentleness without falling into the worldly portrait.
Analysis
What Van Gogh invents with the Roulins
The series is not a family album in the ordinary sense. It is a research on modern portraiture: how to give an interior presence with flat areas, contrasts, decorative backgrounds and an almost moral color.
Portrait through color
Greens, yellows, blues and reds do not copy the skin: they give the face psychological intensity.
Active decor
The backgrounds are not neutral. Flowers, solids and patterns support the personality of the model.
The repetition
Taking Joseph or Augustine several times allows you to compare the effects: the same face changes depending on the background and the pose.
A popular family
Van Gogh gives pictorial grandeur to a simple family, far from the aristocratic portrait.
Friendship as a subject
Joseph is not only a model: he helps Vincent, writes to him, accompanies him in a difficult period.
Modern motherhood
The Lullaby transforms Augustine into an image of support, like a secular icon of protection.
More paintings
Joseph Roulin: the versions change everything
Van Gogh takes Joseph back several times. A beard can become monumental, a floral background can transform the postman into an icon, and the blue uniform serves almost as a frame for the entire composition.
The frontal postman
Detroit's version emphasizes the model's uniform, frontality and social presence.
Free image imported from Wikimedia Commons.
The floral background
The decor becomes active: the flowers around Joseph amplify the colorful vibration of the face.
Free image imported from Wikimedia Commons.
The beard as a landscape
The beard unfolds like an almost vegetal material, with a freer and more nervous touch.
Free image imported from Wikimedia Commons.
The baby repeated
Marcelle's versions show how Van Gogh works on birth, gentleness and family promise.
Augustine as icon
The hand, the rope and the floral background vary: the portrait almost becomes an image of consolation.
One face, several intensities
The covers show that Van Gogh is not looking for a definitive version: he is exploring a presence.
Timeline
Arles, the Yellow House and the Roulin portraits
The series was born in a very short moment. Van Gogh arrived in Arles full of hope, met Joseph Roulin, painted the family, then went through the crisis of December 1888 before Saint-Rémy.
| Date | Episode | Importance for the series |
|---|---|---|
| February 1888 | Van Gogh arrives in Arles. | He seeks the sun, color, models and a new artistic community. |
| Summer 1888 | He gets closer to Joseph Roulin, postman in Arles. | Joseph becomes a friend, model and brotherly figure in a town where Vincent feels isolated. |
| 1888 - 1889 | Portraits of Joseph, Augustine, Armand, Camille and Marcelle. | The family becomes a complete gallery: father, mother, children, baby, variations and drawings. |
| December 1888 | Crisis after the breakup with Gauguin. | Roulin's friendship counts in the most unstable weeks of Arlesian life. |
| Early 1889 | New versions, including Lullaby and portraits of Joseph. | Van Gogh transforms the series into a symbolic whole: protection, family, consolation. |
| May 1889 | Departure for Saint-Rémy. | The Roulin gallery remains one of the human peaks of the Arles period. |
Real photos
Arles today: places around the Roulin family
There is no authenticated photograph of the Roulin family comparable to Van Gogh's portraits. On the other hand, we can show the real places linked to the story: train station, Place Lamartine, Maison jaune and former Arles hospital.
Arles station
Arles is a railway town: the arrival, travel and profession of Joseph Roulin as a postal employee belong to this world of circulation.
Free photo imported from Wikimedia Commons.
Place Lamartine
The Yellow House no longer exists in its form painted by Van Gogh, but the square allows us to understand the proximity between workshop, station and daily life.
Free photo imported from Wikimedia Commons.
The Old Arles Hospital
After the crisis of December 1888, the hospital was part of the same human story as the Roulins: support, fragility, departure for Saint-Rémy.
Free photo imported from Wikimedia Commons.
The painted yellow house
Van Gogh paints the dream workshop: it is the mental setting in which friendship with the Roulins takes on all its strength.
The Arles Decor
Around the Roulins: places, workshop and daily life
Portraits are not born in a vacuum. They belong to the same world as the Yellow House, the bedroom, the bridges and the hospital of Arles: a network of places where Van Gogh seeks a simpler and more intense life.
The Yellow House
The dream of a workshop in the South, where Van Gogh hopes to welcome Gauguin and create a community of artists.
The Room in Arles
The intimate, almost autobiographical place, which dialogues with the family warmth found among the Roulins.
The Langlois Bridge
A bright, popular and everyday Arles: the same southern world that Van Gogh wants to fully inhabit.
The Hospital Court
After the crisis, the hospital also became a painted place: the Roulin series bears this fragility in the background.
Shop selection
Roulin reproductions and Van Gogh collections
A selection centered on Roulin portraits, then extended by the Van Gogh collections in Arles and the artist's portraits.
Portrait of the postman Joseph Roulin
The father, friend and iconic face of the series.
The Lullaby
Maternity, wakefulness and inner calm.
Armand Roulin
Adolescence, reserve and intensity of gaze.
Camille Roulin
The child's portrait made monumental by color.
Marcelle Roulin
Fragile sweetness at the heart of the family.
Portraits of Van Gogh
Self-portraits, figures from Arles and modern faces.
Van Gogh in Arles
The South, the Yellow House, the bridges and the portraits.
All Van Goghs
Explore the entire available collection.
Sources
Sources and benchmarks
Museum sources and catalogs used to verify names, dates, number of works, family members and associated collections.
Exhibition dedicated to portraits of the Roulin family: 1888 -1889, five members, friendship with Van Gogh.
MFA · folderLandmarks on the 26 portraits and sections of the exhibition.
MoMAPortrait of Joseph Roulin, versions and idea of modern portraiture through color.
Met MuseumMadame Roulin and Her Baby, 1888, and Marcelle's place in the series.
National GalleryJoseph Roulin, Marcelle and the importance of friendship.
WikimediaReal photo of Place Lamartine in Arles, near the old environment of the Yellow House.
WikimediaReal photo of Espace Van Gogh, former hospital in Arles.
WikimediaPhotographic landmarks around Arles station.
ShopVan Gogh reproduction collection on Alpha Reproduction.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about the Roulin family
Some quick answers to avoid confusion between people, versions and places of conservation.
Who makes up the Roulin family?
Joseph Roulin, postman in Arles, his wife Augustine, and their three children: Armand, Camille and Marcelle.
How many portraits did Van Gogh paint of the Roulins?
Museum sources speak of approximately twenty-six portraits painted between 1888 and 1889, to which are added several drawings.
Why is Joseph Roulin important to Van Gogh?
Joseph becomes a close friend in Arles. He offers Van Gogh a fraternal presence, a regular role model and a human bond during a very fragile period.
Why is La Berceuse so famous?
Because it transforms Augustine Roulin into a symbolic figure: the mother who watches, the cradle rope, decorative calm and colorful strength.
Where to see Roulin portraits today?
Versions are scattered across several museums, including Boston, New York, Amsterdam, Chicago, Philadelphia, Paris and other collections.
Conclusion
With the Roulins, Van Gogh does not paint an ideal family: he paints a human presence which helps him to hold on.
The series is documentary, emotional and experimental. It brings a popular family from Arles into the history of modern portraiture.
See Van Gogh's portraits
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