As van Gogh struggled to regain his mental equilibrium, this friendship and support, renewed during Roulin’s return visits after he had moved to Marseilles, became even more fundamentally important for him. Roulin tended to van Gogh in the aftermath of this incident, seeing him committed to the psychiatric hospital in Arles, watching over him during his internment there, writing to his family to reassure them of his health, and providing constant solace to the recovering artist. Spurred by an argument with Gauguin, van Gogh underwent a psychotic episode in which he menaced his fellow artist and then sliced off a part of his own ear. This advice may have been especially telling in the case of van Gogh’s later portraits of Roulin (including this one) which were likely painted after the postman had left Arles for a better paying position in Marseilles. Gauguin urged less dependence on observation and more reliance on memory and intuition. Among his influences in his pursuit of modern portraiture was Paul Gauguin, who worked with van Gogh in Arles in the fall of 1888. Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo, of his excitement about “the modern portrait,” a picture that expresses character not by the imitation of the sitter’s appearance but through the independent, vivid life of color. Many other portraits would follow, as would portraits of his wife and three children. Van Gogh painted Roulin for the first time in the summer of 1888. Perhaps more importantly for the lonely, isolated artist, Roulin was also the devoted father of a large family. Roulin was an ardent socialist, vehement in his support of the left wing of French republican politics. Van Gogh was fascinated by his friend’s face, but he was at least as taken with the man’s character. Note: The portraits are also displayed in a thumbnail version. The two lived on the same street in Arles, in the South of France, where Roulin worked for the postal service. Vincent van Gogh produced dozens of other portraits which can be found throughout this site under various titles. Joseph Roulin-who appears in this portrait resplendent in his blue uniform against a floral background that echoes his lush, swirling beard-was among Vincent van Gogh’s most important friends.
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