Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle (La berceuse)

1889

Van Gogh saw in Augustine Roulin—along with her husband, Joseph, and their children—a model of love and family life. He completed this work in 1889, soon after returning from his stay in the hospital following Paul Gauguin’s fraught departure. Madame Roulin sits in Gauguin’s 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.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)

Date

1889

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

92.7 × 73.8 cm (36 1/2 × 29 1/2 in.); Framed: 111.9 × 91.8 × 8.3 cm (44 1/16 × 36 1/8 × 3 1/2 in.)

Origin

Netherlands

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection