The Roulin Family
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| Artist | Vincent van Gogh |
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| Year | 1888 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 81.2 cm × 65.3 cm (32.0 in × 25.7 in) |
| Location | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
The Roulin Family is group of portrait paintings Vincent van Gogh executed in Arles in 1888 and 1889.
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[edit] Background
Joseph Roulin was born on 4 April 1841 in Lambesc, about 60 km east of Arles, and died in September 1903 in Marseille. On 31 August 1868 he married Augustine-Alex Pellicot, born on 9 October 1851 like her husband in Lambesc, and died on 5 April 1930.
The Roulins had three children: Armand Roulin, the eldest son, was born on 5 May 1871 in Lambesc, and died on 14 November 1945; 17 years of age, when portrayed by Van Gogh, he then worked in Lambesc as a blacksmith's apprentice.[1] Camille Roulin, too, was born in Lambesc, on 10 July 1877, and died on 4 June 1922; when his father had to answer to letters, he served as his secretary.[2][3] Marcelle Roulin was born on 31 July 1888, and four months old, when Van Gogh did her portraits. [3]
[edit] Approaches
As the Roulin family was similar in size to Van Gogh's own, in his psychological approach Lubin suggested that Van Gogh may have adopted them as a substitute.[4]
Father toiling for money to feed his family, while mother was caring for home and children, the Roulins are the perfect example for people of the Working class in 19th century France: This approach
[edit] August 1888
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Van Gogh was deeply moved by the way Roulin had welcomed his new-born daughter. He sat down drinking with him, and later he started a portrait of Roulin, on a size 25 canvas. But he was not sure on the merits of this first version, so he did a second, smaller one on an size canvas, now concentrating on the head.
Van Gogh prefered this second version, included a pen and ink drawing after the painting in the set of copies executed for his friend John Peter Russell, and sent the painting to his brother Theo. The first version remained in Arles until spring 1889, when - as Jan Hulsker has pointed out - the artist based further versions on it.[5]
[edit] November/December 1888
In the very first days of December 1888 Vincent told his brother Theo:
I have made portraits of a whole family, that of the postman whose head I had done previously - the man, his wife, the baby, the young boy, and the son of sixteen, all of them real characters and very French, though they look like Russians. Size 15 canvases. You know how I feel about this, how I feel in my element, and that it consoles me up to a certain point for not being a doctor. I hope to get on with this and to be able to get more careful posing, paid for by portraits. And if I manage to do this whole family better still, at least I shall have done something to my liking and something individual. Just now I am completely swamped with studies, studies, studies, and this will go on for quite a while - it makes such a mess that it breaks my heart, and yet it will provide me with some property when I'm forty.[6]
The size given (Toile de 15, c. 65 x 54 cm), the complete set can be identified:
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In this set colour supplies meaning.
[edit] December 1888 and later
- Armand, Camille, and Marcelle Roulin
 Armand Roulin |
 Armand Roulin |
 Camille |
- Augustine Roulin, La Berceuse
 Kröller-Müller Museum |
 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
 Stedelijk Museum |
- Joseph Roulin
 Barnes Foundation, Merion |
 Museum of Modern Art, New York City |
[edit] See also
[edit] Resources
[edit] Notes
- ^ Letters of Joseph Roulin to Vincent van Gogh, 22 May and 24 October 1889; see Van Crimpen, Han & Berends-Alberts, Monique: De brieven van Vincent van Gogh, SDU Uitgeverij, The Hague 1990, pp. 1878-79 (No. 779); 1957-58 (Nr. 816) - both letters, written in French, are hitherto only published in Dutch translation.
- ^ Letter of Joseph Roulin to Vincent van Gogh, 24 October 1889; see Van Crimpen & Berends-Alberts (1990), pp. 1957-58 (Nr. 816) - see previous note.
- ^ a b Letter xxx
- ^ Lubin, Stranger on the earth: A psychological biography of Vincent van Gogh, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1972. ISBN 0-03-091352-7, page 162.
- ^ Hulsker
- ^ Letter 560; emphasis (underlining) by Van Gogh himself
[edit] External links
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