The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is hosting an extraordinary exhibition titled "Van Gogh and the Roulins – Together Again at Last," bringing together 14 portraits of the family members who became Vincent van Gogh's closest friends during his time in southern France. The exhibition celebrates an important artistic reunion, showcasing portraits of the wife and three children of postman Joseph Roulin, who served as van Gogh's most devoted friend and supporter while the artist lived in the town of Arles.
This tightly focused exhibition has been beautifully designed as a work of art in itself, featuring an excellent accompanying catalog. While additional works and props, including Roulin's actual chair, help provide context for the show, the portraits of the Roulin family members take center stage. The exhibition features Joseph, his wife Augustine, 17-year-old son Armand, 11-year-old son Camille, and baby daughter Marcelle. These remarkable portraits are displayed across three rooms with contrasting deep blue and orange walls, demonstrating the revolutionary new direction van Gogh's work was taking during a crucial period of his artistic development.
The portraits represent multiple layers of meaning in van Gogh's artistic journey. On one level, they reflect the artist's personal longing for the stability of a wife and family that he himself never achieved. On another level, they showcase his radical rethinking of portraiture as an artistic genre. These works were created during a time when van Gogh was engaged in intense correspondence with fellow artists Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard, struggling with the revolutionary concept of art as abstraction – a fusion of the real and the imaginary.
Van Gogh's ambitious goal was to paint ordinary people as he felt them emotionally and spiritually, elevating them to a universal level of human representation. He was deeply interested in creating symbolic types through portraiture, such as "the poet" or "the soldier," while simultaneously seeking to capture and evoke the essential character and soul of each individual sitter. The exhibition cleverly demonstrates this artistic philosophy through careful placement of comparative works and strategic sight-lines that reveal van Gogh's inspiration from master painters.
The show brilliantly illustrates how van Gogh drew inspiration from legendary artists including Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and even Honoré Daumier, all of whom had devoted themselves to what van Gogh termed "the painting of humanity." This influence is particularly evident when comparing van Gogh's 1888 portrait of Postman Joseph Roulin with Frans Hals's "The Merry Drinker" (1628-1630), displayed side by side in the exhibition.
During July and August 1888, van Gogh created two expressive and vibrantly colorful portraits of the bearded Roulin, whom he viewed as the modern equivalent of the figures in Frans Hals's paintings. The first portrait depicts this jovial character in his smart blue postal cap and uniform, leaning awkwardly on a table in the Café de la Gare. This image perfectly captures van Gogh's written description of the postman in a letter to Bernard, where he described Roulin as "something of an alcoholic, and with a high color as a result." Roulin was also a passionate republican, and the two men spent countless hours engaged in animated political discussions.
In October, van Gogh moved into the famous little yellow house in Arles, where he rented two rooms and a studio for only 21 francs and 50 centimes per month. The exhibition includes a fascinating reconstruction of this historic house, installed on the first floor in a section devoted entirely to broader interpretation and family activities. The yellow house was strategically located close to the train station where Roulin frequently worked, and it offered a pleasant view across from the leafy Place Lamartine. Gauguin soon joined van Gogh at this residence, and for the following two months, the two artists enjoyed an exceptionally fruitful creative relationship.
In November 1888, van Gogh made the ambitious decision to paint portraits of all five members of the Roulin family, including baby Marcelle cradled in her mother's arms. During this same period, Gauguin created his own somewhat austere portrait of Augustine, and the exhibition offers visitors a fascinating opportunity to compare Gauguin's more abstracted artistic approach with van Gogh's deeply personal interpretation of the same subject.
Rather than continuously paying the family to pose for him on numerous occasions, van Gogh then embarked on an innovative project of creating several repetitions and variations of his original paintings. The exhibition devotes an entire section to these repeated portraits of family members, inviting visitors to carefully compare the first version of each painting with its subsequent copies. Although precisely dating these works presents challenges for art historians, the repetitions appear more systematic and controlled, producing calmer, more contemplative images that clearly emulate Rembrandt's masterful technique.
Particularly intriguing are two portraits of baby Marcelle who, with her intense blue eyes and chubby features, takes on an almost grotesque yet captivating appearance. She is dressed in an elaborate white christening robe and adorned with a gold bracelet and pinkie ring, which were traditional christening gifts of that era. These portraits demonstrate van Gogh's ability to capture both innocence and an unsettling intensity in his youngest subject.
At the end of December 1888, van Gogh's mental state deteriorated dramatically, culminating in the infamous incident where he severed most of his left ear with a razor blade. He was immediately admitted to the hospital in Arles, where both Joseph and Augustine Roulin paid him regular, compassionate visits. A selection of deeply touching letters displayed in the exhibition reveals how Roulin also maintained consistent correspondence with Vincent's devoted brother Theo during this difficult period.
Once van Gogh returned to the yellow house, he continued working almost obsessively on his repetitions and variations. During this period, he produced five extraordinary portraits of Madame Roulin, portraying her as a universal symbol of the comforting, nurturing mother figure. In these remarkable works, Augustine is dressed in green and seated in a vibrant red chair, set against a swirling background of daisies. She holds the rope of a baby's cradle, powerfully evoking the archetypal idea of the maternal comforter.
Van Gogh even envisioned the perfect location where these portraits should be displayed – in the cabin of a ship, where they would gently rock with the ocean waves, reminding homesick sailors of their own beloved mothers. This vision demonstrates the artist's deep understanding of art's emotional and psychological power to provide comfort and connection across distances.
This exhibition delivers a wonderful and completely absorbing experience, but it also carries a sobering message about art, friendship, and economic necessity. Before van Gogh departed from Arles, he generously gave the five original Roulin portraits to the postman as a heartfelt token of their deep friendship and mutual respect. However, in 1900, when Joseph Roulin found himself in desperate financial need, he was forced to sell all five portraits, along with three other van Gogh paintings, to art dealer Ambroise Vollard for what amounted to a pittance.
If only Roulin could have held onto these precious artworks – today, these very portraits are universally recognized as among van Gogh's greatest artistic achievements and are worth millions of dollars. "Van Gogh and the Roulins – Together Again at Last" continues at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam through January 11, 2026, offering visitors a rare opportunity to see these masterpieces reunited in one extraordinary presentation.
