AMSTERDAM.- When Van Gogh arrived in Arles in 1888, he struggled to connect with the local community. He did find a true kindred spirit in Joseph Roulin. The postman, with his striking beard and blue uniform, became a favoured model and Van Gogh’s closest friend in the southern French town. Not only did Van Gogh paint Joseph, but also his wife Augustine and their three children: the seventeen-year-old Armand, the eleven-year-old Camille, and baby Marcelle. Fourteen of these unique portraits – normally dispersed among various museums and private collections around the world – are being brought together for the very first time.

The portraits reflect Van Gogh’s deep bond with his friend, and reveal his ambition not only to capture a likeness, but above all to convey the soul of his subjects on canvas. In this respect, he took inspiration from predecessors such as Rembrandt and Frans Hals. The exhibition features work by these seventeenth-century masters, as well as portraits of the Roulin family by Paul Gauguin, which he created during his stay with Van Gogh in the Yellow House.

Letters from postman Roulin to the Van Gogh family never shown before

When Van Gogh suffered a severe mental crisis at the end of 1888, Joseph Roulin offered his unwavering support. He visited the artist in hospital every day, and faithfully kept Vincent’s brother Theo informed by letter.

After Roulin moved to Marseille, he continued to send encouraging letters to Vincent. These personal documents, which are now being presented together for the first time, testify to the depth of their friendship. 

‘While Roulin isn’t exactly old enough to be like a father to me, all the same he has silent solemnities and tendernesses for me like an old soldier would have for a young one.’ --- Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo, Arles, c. 4 April 1889

The original chair from Van Gogh’s studio

The original chair in which Van Gogh portrayed Roulin is also being exhibited for the first time. Van Gogh purchased the rustic willow armchair for his studio in the Yellow House.

The chair was among the belongings that Van Gogh stored with the Ginoux family at Café de la Gare when he left Arles in May 1889. After a remarkable journey, the chair eventually entered the Van Gogh Museum’s collection, via Theo’s son Vincent. Today, the chair provides a tangible link between Van Gogh’s artistry and his friendship with the Roulin family.

For the whole family

On the upper floor of the exhibition, visitors are able to step into a recreation of the neighbourhood in Arles where the Yellow House once stood. The life-sized (8-metre-high) Yellow House forms the centrepiece of the presentation, surrounded by reproductions of historic photographs of Arles and Van Gogh’s own depictions of his surroundings.

Visitors of all ages can get creative inside the Yellow House: they can make their own portraits at special drawing tables, solve puzzles with Roulin family blocks, invent their own story in the Yellow Playhouse, or write a message of encouragement to someone they care about.

Colouring pages are available for our youngest visitors, while in the reading corner families can enjoy the Little Golden Book Vincent and Camille together.

Collaboration

Van Gogh and the Roulins. Together Again at Last is organized in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and has been curated by Nienke Bakker (Van Gogh Museum) and Katie Hanson (MFA).

The Van Gogh Museum collection includes two paintings from the Roulin series: Camille Roulin (1888) and Marcelle Roulin (1888). The MFA is home to two key works from the series: Postman Joseph Roulin (1888) and Augustine Roulin (La Berceuse) (1889). The exhibition also features loans from institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museum Folkwang, Essen; the Kunst Museum Winterthur and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue with contributions from the curators, as well as essays by Chris Atkins, Rachel Childers, Muriel Geldof, Bregje Gerritse, Erin Mysak, Richard Newman, Kathrin Pilz and Lydia Vagts.