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Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle (La berceuse)

A work made of oil on canvas.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of oil on canvas.

Date:

1889

Artist:

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)

About this artwork

Vincent van Gogh saw in Augustine Roulin—along with her husband, Joseph, and their children—a 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 “lullaby in colors.”

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’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, instructing that it be hung between two paintings of sunflowers.

Status

On View, Gallery 241

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Vincent van Gogh

Title

Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle (La berceuse)

Place

Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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.)

Credit Line

Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection

Reference Number

1926.200

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/27949/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

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