Vincent van Gogh: Portrait of Postman Roulin

Portrait of Postman Roulin, Vincent van Gogh, 1888, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit (United States)

Van Gogh’s portraits fascinate me for a reason I never tire of exploring: his rare ability to paint not a face, but an inner state. Where other portraitists seek likeness, Van Gogh seeks essence, and he achieves it through that swirling, vibrant brushwork that seems to pulse across the surface of the canvas. In Joseph Roulin, the Arles postman he sees daily and will paint no fewer than six times, he finds a subject worthy of him: a friend, almost a lifeline during a period of great vulnerability. This portrait, held at the Detroit Institute of Arts, is one of the first in this exceptional series. Discover it today on VMuseum.

Why did Van Gogh paint the same village postman six times in less than a year?

What the painting answers

Look at this man. His blue cap marked “POSTES” in golden letters. His salt-and-pepper beard, dense, almost sculptural. His dark uniform with its yellow buttons. Van Gogh himself describes him in a letter: a high forehead, a bald skull, small round red cheeks. But this is no cold description. It is a declaration of affection. Against that vibrating turquoise background, Van Gogh’s post-impressionist brushwork makes every centimetre of canvas tremble. The beard lives. The blue eyes hold their gaze. The uniform weighs. This oil on canvas, 65 x 50.5 cm, is not an official portrait. It is an act of tenderness, painted.

What history answers

In February 1888, Van Gogh settles in Arles. He is looking for the light of the South and the company of ordinary people. Joseph-Etienne Roulin, a postal worker at the Arles station, becomes his closest friend. Between July 1888 and April 1889, Van Gogh paints at least six portraits of him and his family. A series without equal in his entire body of work. Arles is also the most intense period of his life: Gauguin’s arrival, the crisis of the severed ear, the internment at Saint-Rémy. Roulin will be present at every critical moment. To paint this face is to paint an anchor.

Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) produced more than 900 paintings in ten years. Unrecognised in his lifetime, his expressive post-impressionism and inimitable touch left a lasting mark on all of 20th-century art.

Now at the Detroit Institute of Arts

The Detroit Institute of Arts is currently presenting Highlights from the Modern Collection (ongoing exhibition). Some 65 masterworks from its modern collection are brought together during the renovation of the permanent galleries: Cézanne, Monet, Picasso, O’Keeffe, Van Gogh. A rare opportunity to see them in an entirely reimagined light.
Source : dia.org/events/exhibitions/highlights-modern-collection

A question for you

💭 Long before Warhol and his repeated silkscreens, who had already understood that painting the same face over and over could become an artistic gesture in its own right?