{"id":2080,"date":"2017-08-18T08:39:11","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T14:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/small-vase.flywheelsites.com\/?p=2080"},"modified":"2017-08-18T08:39:11","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T14:39:11","slug":"joseph-roulin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Roulin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Models were not always easy for Van Gogh to come across. \u00a0His mercurial moods and his unusual art style often prevented him from finding people willing to pose for his work. \u00a0Yet in Arles, Van Gogh made close friends with people who were happy to sit for him – the Roulin family, a group of people who lived only a few houses down from him. \u00a0\u00a0Joseph Roulin was the father, married to Augustine. \u00a0The couple had three children: Armand, Camille, and Marcelle, a baby girl \u00a0born during the time that Van Gogh knew the family. \u00a0He created around 25 paintings of the family altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

His relationship with the Roulin family, particularly his friendship with Joseph, was one of the bright spots of his time in Arles. \u00a0Joseph Roulin was a postal worker for the railway in Arles. \u00a0Despite limited finances on both sides (Vincent had 100 francs per month and Joseph Roulin earned 135 francs) both found coin to share a drink and conversation. \u00a0It was during these times that Van Gogh made himself a stalwart friend who would stand with him through his troubles in Arles and support him unconditionally during his hospitalizations. \u00a0Even distance was of little consequence. \u00a0Roulin received a promotion that took him to Marseille, separating him from his family and Vincent. \u00a0Yet every time he was in town visiting his family, which was any opportunity he had, Roulin would make an effort to see Vincent as well. \u00a0He praised Van Gogh\u2019s work and thanked him for it. It helped ease his family\u2019s separation as the baby Marcelle \u201c…, thanks to [Vincent], could say hello to [Roulin\u2019s] Portrait even and morning\u201d as they had hung Joseph\u2019s portrait up where she slept (letter 775)<\/a>.<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/a><\/p>\n

Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin<\/a><\/p>\n

Van Gogh described Roulin as having \u201ca big, bearded face, very Socratic\u201d (letter 652)<\/a>. \u00a0He compares the two men as Roulin and Socrates were both reportedly unattractive and \u00a0\u201craging Republicans.\u201d \u00a0In a moment of the pot calling the kettle black, Van Gogh also called Roulin \u201csomething of an alcoholic\u201d (letter 655)<\/a> in a letter describing the portraits he painted of his friend. \u00a0He did two of them, as Roulin was \u201cgetting too stiff while posing\u201d in the first. \u00a0In the full-bodied picture, you can see Roulin\u2019s weariness, his face eternally painted in an \u201cAre you done yet?\u201d expression \u00a0His eyes droop in the full-bodied painting, but his face is \u201chigh in color,\u201d as Van Gogh described it, from drink and the birth of his youngest child Marcelle, which made \u201cthe good fellow glow with satisfaction.\u201d \u00a0In the second his face appears more alert, vibrant. \u00a0Perhaps because he did not have to sit in one position for so long.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, the best part of both of these paintings is how Van Gogh captured Roulin\u2019s uniform in the full-bodied. \u00a0How Van Gogh played light upon it using different shades of blue, how the blue is contrasted by the gold of the trim and buttons and layered golden-brown of Roulin\u2019s beard. \u00a0Later in their acquaintance, Vincent describes Roulin as a man that \u201coften has to carry burdens which one would say were too heavy… that doesn\u2019t prevent him from always looking well and even joyful\u201d (letter 754)<\/a>. \u00a0While Roulin doesn\u2019t strike one as a jubilant man in the portraits there is something reliable and warm about his face. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In many instances, Van Gogh notes Joseph Roulin is a man that Van Gogh saw not quite as a father, due to Roulin being too young, but \u201c[Roulin] has silent solemnities and tendernesses for me like an old soldier would have for a young one\u201d (letter 754)<\/a>. \u00a0They continued to write to each other when Roulin moved to Marseille. \u00a0Although Vincent\u2019s letters from that part are gone, Roulin\u2019s letters to Vincent still exist, as do the ones where Vincent warmly mentioned Roulin to other friends and Theo. \u00a0It is lovely to see the friendship and esteem both men shared for each other, especially given that it was a tumultuous time of Vincent\u2019s life. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Models were not always easy for Van Gogh to come across. \u00a0His mercurial moods and his unusual art style often prevented him from finding people willing to pose for his work. \u00a0Yet in Arles, Van Gogh made close friends with people who were happy to sit for him – the Roulin family, a group of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contemporaries","category-van-goghs-life"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nJoseph Roulin -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joseph Roulin -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Models were not always easy for Van Gogh to come across. \u00a0His mercurial moods and his unusual art style often prevented him from finding people willing to pose for his work. \u00a0Yet in Arles, Van Gogh made close friends with people who were happy to sit for him – the Roulin family, a group of…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-18T14:39:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tni_adm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tni_adm\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"tni_adm\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f2d2d05e9510d84f0b7a342242946d04\"},\"headline\":\"Joseph Roulin\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-18T14:39:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Van Gogh's Contemporaries\",\"Van Gogh's Life\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/\",\"name\":\"Joseph Roulin -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-18T14:39:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f2d2d05e9510d84f0b7a342242946d04\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Joseph Roulin\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Joseph Roulin\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f2d2d05e9510d84f0b7a342242946d04\",\"name\":\"tni_adm\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e3fce28652963250518b25166257b2af32e0a01524b94c339f1042c277562ba9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e3fce28652963250518b25166257b2af32e0a01524b94c339f1042c277562ba9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tni_adm\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/author\/tni_adm\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Joseph Roulin -","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Joseph Roulin -","og_description":"Models were not always easy for Van Gogh to come across. \u00a0His mercurial moods and his unusual art style often prevented him from finding people willing to pose for his work. \u00a0Yet in Arles, Van Gogh made close friends with people who were happy to sit for him – the Roulin family, a group of…","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/","article_published_time":"2017-08-18T14:39:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"tni_adm","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tni_adm","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/"},"author":{"name":"tni_adm","@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f2d2d05e9510d84f0b7a342242946d04"},"headline":"Joseph Roulin","datePublished":"2017-08-18T14:39:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/"},"wordCount":677,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg","articleSection":["Van Gogh's Contemporaries","Van Gogh's Life"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/","name":"Joseph Roulin -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-18T14:39:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f2d2d05e9510d84f0b7a342242946d04"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/postman.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Joseph Roulin"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/2017\/08\/18\/joseph-roulin\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Joseph Roulin"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/","name":"","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f2d2d05e9510d84f0b7a342242946d04","name":"tni_adm","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e3fce28652963250518b25166257b2af32e0a01524b94c339f1042c277562ba9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e3fce28652963250518b25166257b2af32e0a01524b94c339f1042c277562ba9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tni_adm"},"url":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/author\/tni_adm\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.vangoghgallery.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}