Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle La Berceuse by Vincent van Gogh (1889)

Resolution: 8676 × 10963 px

Augustine Roulin sits frontally in a red wooden chair, her dark green bodice and vivid green skirt set against an exuberant wall of stylised flowers and looping foliage. A rope passes through her folded hands to the unseen cradle below, while firm outlines, flattened space, and saturated complementary colours give the portrait the concentrated rhythm of a decorative print.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art dates La Berceuse to 1889 and identifies this canvas as the version Augustine Roulin chose for herself from Van Gogh’s group of five. The French title means both “lullaby” and “the woman who rocks the cradle.” Its significance extends beyond family portraiture: Van Gogh conceived Madame Roulin as an image of maternal consolation and imagined the painting comforting isolated sailors at sea, reminding them of childhood lullabies. The work unites individual likeness, Japanese-inspired pattern, and an ambitious symbolic role for colour.

This high-resolution digital image preserves the strong outlines, layered floral motifs, rhythmic brushwork, vivid greens and reds, and subtle details of the sitter’s face and hands. It is well suited to close study, striking interior display, and collectors interested in Van Gogh’s Arles portraits and his expressive use of colour.