Postmen are rarely depicted in art history. And when they do appear, it is often as anonymous figures delivering either good or bad news. The French postman Joseph Roulin is a striking exception: his name and face live on thanks to the portraits that Vincent van Gogh made of him and his family.
Introduction at the post office
Vincent van Gogh and Joseph Roulin met in the summer of 1888, probably at the train station in Arles, where Roulin worked as a postman. His official title was brigadier-chargeur: he was responsible for loading and unloading the post that was transported by train. Vincent regularly sent paintings to his brother Theo in Paris, and it is likely that this is how he got to know Joseph Roulin. It was probably also Joseph who delivered Theo’s letters to Vincent.
Friendship in the café
Van Gogh and Roulin often met at Café de la Gare, and soon became friends. Joseph knew little about art, but he enjoyed talking politics. Vincent appreciated the companionship, as he didn’t know many people in Arles. The painter Paul Gauguin was set to come to Arles in October, but that was still some time away. Vincent wasn’t only glad to have someone to talk to, he was also intrigued by the postman’s striking appearance, with his large beard and uniform adorned with gold-coloured buttons.
Van Gogh was eager to paint a portrait of Roulin. Portraits were important to the artist, but he couldn’t paint as many as he would have liked in Paris due to a lack of models. Vincent had already been experimenting with vibrant colours in his landscapes, and wanted to try out his ideas in portraiture. He believed that light and colour were key to the future of painting.
The first portraits of Joseph Roulin
The postman posed for Vincent several times: over the course of about six months, the artist made six paintings and three drawings of him. The first portrait, painted in late July 1888, shows him sitting in his blue uniform against a pale blue background. Van Gogh wasn’t trying to achieve a photographic likeness, he wanted to capture the man’s character, using bright, bold colours. Expressing a sense of something timeless and universal was the greatest challenge: ‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to paint the postman as I feel him’, he wrote to Theo.
Vincent van Gogh, Postman Joseph Roulin, 1888, oil on canvas, 81.3 × 65.4 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Robert Treat Paine, 2nd. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Vincent van Gogh, Postman Joseph Roulin, 1888, oil on canvas, 65 × 50,5 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts. Donation of mr. and ms. Walter Buhl Ford II. Photo: © Detroit Institute of Arts / Bridgeman Images
An ode to the uniform
In the series of portraits of Joseph Roulin the uniform plays an important role. The blue outfit, with the word ‘postes’ in large letters on the cap, leaves no doubt about the model’s identity. Vincent was making a statement: he showed that portraits were no longer reserved for the wealthy. Roulin’s pose also gives the portrait a certain status.
After the first portrait, Vincent painted Joseph only from the shoulders up, placing the focus squarely on his face. Joseph looks at us with a firm, yet friendly gaze. The symmetry of the composition draws attention to the irregularities of his face: a slightly crooked nose, the moustache that falls across his lip in uneven tufts. It’s details like these that make the portraits feel so lifelike.
The third and fourth portraits of Joseph
In autumn 1888, Vincent painted a third and fourth portrait of Joseph, set against green and yellow backgrounds. This put greater emphasis on the blue uniform. The flowers and signature were only added later, once the green background had dried. At Joseph’s left shoulder, for instance, you can see how the red paint overlaps the blue of his jacket.
Detail of: Vincent van Gogh, The Postman, Joseph Roulin, 1888, Oil on canvas, 65,7 × 55,2 cm, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, Photo: with thanks to The Barnes Foundation
Detail
Here you can see how the red paint runs over the blue jacket, an indication that Vincent added the flowers and his signature to the background at a later stage.
Vincent van Gogh, Joseph Roulin, 1888, oil on canvas, 65 × 54 cm, Kunst Museum Winterthur. Gift of the Heirs of Georg Reinhart, 1955. Photo: SIK-ISEA, Zürich, Martin Stollenwerk
The fourth portrait, with the yellow background, stands out from the earlier three. It looks a lot more modern, due to the simplified forms and a lack of depth and details. Vincent probably painted it in the evening, by the dim glow of gaslight, causing the details to blur. You can see that he painted the beard as a single mass of light and dark patches, without accentuating individual hairs as in the earlier portraits.
By the end of the year, Vincent had painted the entire Roulin family. But shortly before Christmas, the artist’s life changed for good. Since October, Vincent had been living and working together with Gauguin, his artist friend. The collaboration did not go as smoothly as Vincent had hoped, and after an especially heated discussion, Vincent cut off his left ear in a state of complete confusion. He was taken to hospital. Gauguin took the train back to Paris, leaving Vincent alone.
A friend in difficult times
Following this tragic event, the postman watched over Vincent. Joseph saw to it that the Yellow House was tidied up, and when Vincent was discharged from hospital on 7 January 1889, he spent the whole day with him. ‘I am with him as often as my work allows, and if anything should happen again, I will let you know as quickly as possible’, wrote Joseph to Vincent’s worried sister.
On 17 January, Vincent suffered another blow: his best friend Joseph was being transferred to Marseille, and left three days later. Madame Roulin and the children stayed behind in Arles. Even though the postman wasn’t around to sit for him, Vincent still painted a fifth and sixth portrait of Joseph in January and February 1889.
Vincent van Gogh, The Yellow House (The Street), 1888
Fifth and sixth portrait of Joseph
Vincent may have painted these final two portraits as a tribute to his friend, using an earlier work as a guide. The 1889 portraits stand out for their lavishly decorated backgrounds. The fifth painting features dahlias and leaves, motifs that Vincent also used in his portraits of Madame Roulin (La Berceuse).
In the sixth, we see poppies, cornflowers, daisies and roses. These red, white and blue flowers were no coincidence. They likely refer to the colours of the French flag, which in turn symbolise liberty, equality and fraternity. In this way, Vincent created a final tribute to his politically minded friend Roulin.
Vincent van Gogh, Joseph Roulin, 1889, oil on canvas, 64.4 × 55.2 cm, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William A. M. Burden, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rosenberg, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Mr. and Mrs. Armand P. Bartos, The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection, Mr. and Mrs. Werner E. Josten, and Loula D. Lasker Bequest (all by exchange), Image: © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA
Vincent van Gogh, Joseph Roulin, 1889, Oil on canvas, 65 × 54 cm, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. © Collection Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, the Netherlands. Photo: Rik Klein Gotink
Friendship from afar
About five months after Roulin left Arles, Vincent packed up his things as well. In May 1889, he voluntarily admitted himself to a hospital for people with mental health problems. At first, Vincent and Joseph kept in touch by letter, but eventually they lost contact. In about 1900, Roulin sold the five portraits – along with two landscapes by Van Gogh – to Ambroise Vollard, a Paris-based art dealer. He received 450 francs for the lot. It was a pittance, considering that ten years earlier, Anna Boch had paid 400 francs for a single Van Gogh painting.
Roulin had no idea what the paintings were worth. Vollard, a shrewd dealer, certainly did, and seized the opportunity for a bargain, taking advantage of Roulin’s lack of awareness. But it was nevertheless a lot of money to Joseph. He had retired from the postal service a few years before the sale, aged 55, and supplemented his modest pension by working as a metalworker. When his health began to decline, the extra money likely came in useful. Joseph Roulin died in Marseille in 1903, aged 62.
An entire family, immortalised
Vincent van Gogh didn’t only paint Joseph; the rest of the family also sat for him. In the next part, you'll get a closer look at the eight (!) portraits that Vincent painted of Augustine Roulin, Joseph’s wife.