La Berceuse (Woman Rocking a Cradle; Augustine-Alix Pellicot Roulin, 1851–1930)

Van Gogh called this portrait of the Arles postman’s wife his ‘lullaby,’ a picture he hoped would console those who looked at it. Painted in 1889 during his turbulent year in Provence, it belongs to the series of five versions he devoted to Madame Roulin; in his letters he described it as his most personally meaningful effort of the period and a testament to the expressive warmth of his late portraiture.