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Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle (La Berceuse)
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch (worked in France), 1853–1890)
1889
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
92.7 x 72.7 cm (36 1/2 x 28 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of John T. Spaulding
Accession Number48.548
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
While in Arles, Van Gogh painted Augustine Roulin, the wife of postal worker Joseph Roulin (35.1982), in bold, exaggerated colors against a vividly patterned floral background. The rope in her hands leads to a cradle beyond the confines of the frame. At right, the painter inscribed the title “La Berceuse,” which means both “lullaby” and “she who rocks the cradle.” The Roulins had a baby at home, but Van Gogh conceived of the action in a broader sense as well, writing to his brother that he would like to see this painting “in the cabin of a boat” where fishermen in “their melancholy isolation, exposed to all the dangers, alone on the sad sea…would experience a feeling of being rocked, reminding them of their own lullabies.” This painting is one of five variations Van Gogh painted on the same subject.
InscriptionsLower right, along chair: La Berceuse
Provenance1889, consigned by the artist to his brother, Theo van Gogh (b. 1857 – d. 1891), Paris [see note 1]; 1889, gift of Theo van Gogh on behalf of the artist to Émile Bernard (b. 1868 – d. 1941), Paris [see note 2]; between 1892-1894, consigned by Émile Bernard to Julien-François Tanguy (dealer; b. 1825 – d. 1894), Paris; by 1894, sold by Julien-François Tanguy for 600 francs [see note 3]. By 1905, Count Antoine de la Rochefoucauld (b. 1862 – d. 1959), Paris [see note 4]; before 1928, sold by the Count de la Rochefoucauld to Paul Rosenberg (dealer; b. 1881 – d. 1959), Paris and New York [see note 5]; 1928, owned jointly by Paul Rosenberg and Georges Wildenstein (dealer; b. 1892 – d. 1963), Paris and New York; 1928, sold by Paul Rosenberg and Georges Wildenstein to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 – d. 1948), Boston [see note 6]; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)
NOTES:
[1] In a May 21, 1889 letter (no. 774), Theo Van Gogh acknowledged his receipt of a group of paintings from Vincent Van Gogh. According to Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten, Nienke Bakker (eds.), Vincent van Gogh - The Letters. Version: October 2021, Amsterdam & The Hague: Van Gogh Museum & Huygens ING (https://vangoghletters.org), this consignment contained four portraits of Madame Augustine Roulin, including this painting.
[2] In a letter dated about May 23, 1889 (no. 776), Vincent Van Gogh instructed Theo van Gogh to give the painting to Émile Bernard.
[3] In a letter dated after September 8, 1894, Émile Bernard told his mother that he had consigned the painting to Julien-François Tanguy, who had sold it (Neil McWilliam, ed., Émile Bernard: Les Lettres d’un Artiste (1884-1941), Dijon, 2012, p. 338). Émile Bernard organized a Van Gogh retrospective in April 1892 at the Galerie Le Barc de Boutteville, Paris to which he lent the painting. Julien-François Tanguy died on February 6, 1894, so the painting had to have been consigned to and sold by Tanguy prior to that date.
[4] Count Antoine de la Rochefoucauld lent the painting to a Van Gogh Retrospective held at the Salon des Indépendants, Paris, from March 24 to April 30, 1905.
[5] In an oral account given to MFA curator William George Constable in 1948, Paul Rosenberg said he bought the painting from Rochefoucauld.
[6] Until 1932, Georges Wildenstein and Paul Rosenberg were business partners, sharing the same building for their New York Galleries at 647 Fifth Avenue. John Spaulding made separate payments for the painting to Wildenstein and Rosenberg from 1928 to 1933.
NOTES:
[1] In a May 21, 1889 letter (no. 774), Theo Van Gogh acknowledged his receipt of a group of paintings from Vincent Van Gogh. According to Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten, Nienke Bakker (eds.), Vincent van Gogh - The Letters. Version: October 2021, Amsterdam & The Hague: Van Gogh Museum & Huygens ING (https://vangoghletters.org), this consignment contained four portraits of Madame Augustine Roulin, including this painting.
[2] In a letter dated about May 23, 1889 (no. 776), Vincent Van Gogh instructed Theo van Gogh to give the painting to Émile Bernard.
[3] In a letter dated after September 8, 1894, Émile Bernard told his mother that he had consigned the painting to Julien-François Tanguy, who had sold it (Neil McWilliam, ed., Émile Bernard: Les Lettres d’un Artiste (1884-1941), Dijon, 2012, p. 338). Émile Bernard organized a Van Gogh retrospective in April 1892 at the Galerie Le Barc de Boutteville, Paris to which he lent the painting. Julien-François Tanguy died on February 6, 1894, so the painting had to have been consigned to and sold by Tanguy prior to that date.
[4] Count Antoine de la Rochefoucauld lent the painting to a Van Gogh Retrospective held at the Salon des Indépendants, Paris, from March 24 to April 30, 1905.
[5] In an oral account given to MFA curator William George Constable in 1948, Paul Rosenberg said he bought the painting from Rochefoucauld.
[6] Until 1932, Georges Wildenstein and Paul Rosenberg were business partners, sharing the same building for their New York Galleries at 647 Fifth Avenue. John Spaulding made separate payments for the painting to Wildenstein and Rosenberg from 1928 to 1933.