Artworks

La Berceuse

Artwork · Vincent van Gogh · December 1888–March 1889 · versions

Van Gogh painted Augustine Roulin, the wife of his friend the postman Joseph Roulin, as “La Berceuse” — seated, holding the cord of a cradle out of view — five times between December 1888 and March 18891. The first, now in the Kröller-Müller Museum, he began before his breakdown in December 1888; he gave one version to Madame Roulin herself, now in the Metropolitan Museum, and sent the other four to his brother Theo2. The others are in Chicago, Boston and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Kröller-Müller Museum, La Berceuse, “In Arles, Van Gogh befriended the postmaster Joseph Roulin and his wife Augustine. He painted portraits of them and their three children.”, und The Met, La Berceuse, “Of the five versions of Van Gogh’s portrait of Augustine Roulin, wife of his friend the postmaster of Arles, the present canvas is the one the sitter chose for herself.”. ↩ Van Gogh Letters, letter 776, notes. ↩ Literatur Kröller-Müller Museum, La Berceuse: Vincent van Gogh, La Berceuse (portret van Madame Roulin) (KM 109.725), in: Kröller-Müller Museum, Collection, https://www.krollermuller.nl/en/collection/vincent-van-gogh-la-berceuse-portrait-of-madame-roulin-km-109-725 (zuletzt abgerufen am 30.10.2026). The Met, La Berceuse: Vincent van Gogh, La Berceuse (Woman Rocking a Cradle; Augustine-Alix Pellicot Roulin, 1851–1930) (1996.435), in: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Collection, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437984 (zuletzt abgerufen am 30.10.2026). Van Gogh Letters: Vincent van Gogh – The Letters, 2009, https://vangoghletters.org (zuletzt abgerufen am 22.10.2026).