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The birthday boy, Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), would have been 172 years old had he been able to join the party. Despite that fact, his presence was felt in the moving, intimate portraits of the Roulin family that he made during his most prolific years, 1888-1889, in southern France towards the end of his life. He completed six paintings of Joseph, the 47-year-old patriarch of the Roulin family, plus three sketches, and eight of his wife Augustine, including two with their infant daughter. Of their children, he made three paintings each of 17-year-old Armand, 11-year-old Camille, and the infant Marcelle.

MFA Boston was able to feature two of their own much-loved Van Goghs, Postman Joseph Roulin (1888) and Lullaby: Madame Augustine Roulin Rocking a Cradle (La Berceuse) (1889) among the twenty-three portraits in the show. In preparation for the exhibition, painting conservator Lydia Vagts had a rare opportunity to remove these particular paintings from the walls of the permanent galleries, so they could be examined out of their frames. 

In a behind the scenes video, Vagts and Katie Hanson, William and Ann Elfers Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, discussed what they learned after examining every square inch of Van Gogh’s beloved  under ultraviolet light. Hanson said, “I feel like it’s a painting I thought I knew really well.” She was astounded to see La Berceuse, the title of the painting, written directly on the canvas by Van Gogh in his distinctive script. It was in a section of the painting where Van Gogh used Geranium Lake, a fugitive red color known to fade—which it had over time—rendering the title invisible to the naked eye.

Because of his value to the institutions who own his work, securing Van Gogh loans is always challenging, so this represents a major success by the two curators, Hanson (Boston) and Nienke Bakker from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. 

Not all the paintings were done from life. Some were repetitions or copies of work by Van Gogh that he had originally completed. He gave these copies to the family. They were gifts, payment for the friendship and kindness the Roulin family had offered Van Gogh, who was unsuccessful at creating a family of his own in spite of his desire to have a partner and be a father, which he expressed in letters throughout his life. 

The paintings of the chubby baby Marcelle, who was born during Van Gogh’s stay with the family, are charming and fun to compare with a black and white photo of her taken in 1955 at the age of 67. Marcelle lived until 1980, dying at the age of 92. In 1955, her reminiscences of Van Gogh were recorded. 

The emphasis on the drama in his life, his ultimate suicide at age 37, his delicate emotional and psychological state of mind hyped in no fewer than ten feature and documentary films, as well as books and essays, have led to Van Gogh being the stereotypical poster boy wearing the label, “tortured genius.” 

It was in the 19th century when people began to see a relationship between creativity and mental illness. Van Gogh was aware of this connection, and he attempted to examine his behavior in this light. He researched the lives of other artists to better understand the role psychological strife played in his own ability to create great art. 

Laura Prins, PhD and art history lecturer in the Netherlands specializing in historical views of the “mad genius” reputation, has spent much of her career studying Van Gogh. In an informative interview on the MFA’s website, Prins states, “It was to get consolation that he was not the only one dealing with these pressing things that you face if you strive to be a great artist. When everyone seems to think you’re mad or obsessed or different, when no one else understands what you’re doing, you have to believe in yourself. That is something you see with many artists… It was not because of his illness that he was such a great artist but, despite his illness, he could still be this great artist.”

Organized in partnership with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, is accompanied by a catalogue from MFA Publications. Boston is the only venue in the United States where you can see this eye-opening revisioning of Van Gogh’s most personal and cherished portraiture.