Vincent van Gogh saw in Augustine Roulin\u2014along with her husband, Joseph, and their children\u2014a model of love and family life. In this portrait, Roulin rocks a cradle by pulling on a rope. The title La Berceuse (the lullaby) suggests a consoling figure, and the artist described his palette as a soothing \u201clullaby in colors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Gogh painted five versions of this image. He completed this one in January 1889, soon after returning from his stay in the hospital following Paul Gauguin\u2019s fraught departure. Madame Roulin sits in Gauguin\u2019s chair, an attempt by Van Gogh to fill the space left by the older artist. In May 1889, Van Gogh gave this canvas to Gauguin as a gesture of reconciliation and friendship, instructing that it be hung between two paintings of sunflowers.<\/p>\n","short_description":"Van Gogh saw in Augustine Roulin\u2014along with her husband, Joseph, and their children\u2014a model of love and family life. He completed this work in 1889, soon after returning from his stay in the hospital following Paul Gauguin\u2019s fraught departure. Madame Roulin sits in Gauguin\u2019s chair, an attempt by Van Gogh to fill the space left by the older artist. 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All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.14"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}