One of van Gogh¡¯s closest friends and favorite sitters in Arles was the local postman, Joseph Roulin. While painting this work, van Gogh wrote to his brother, ¡°I am now at work with another model, a postman in blue uniform, trimmed with gold, a big bearded face, very like Socrates.¡± Indeed, the modest postman has all the authority of an admiral. Van Gogh also painted several portraits of Madame Roulin (for example, MFA object no. 48.548), as well as images of their children, delighted, as he wrote, to depict ¡°a whole family.¡± Title Postman Joseph Roulin Creator Vincent van Gogh Date Created 1888 Physical Dimensions 81.3 x 65.4 cm (32 x 25 3/4 in.) Provenance 1889, given or left by the artist to Joseph and Marie Ginoux, Arles; July 9, 1897, sold by the Ginoux, through Henri Laget, to Ambroise Vollard (b. 1867 - d. 1939), Paris [see note 1]; probably September 1, 1897, sold by Vollard to Cornelis Hoogendijk (b. 1866 - d. 1911), The Hague [see note 2]; May 21-22, 1912, posthumous Hoogendijk sale, Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, lot 26, to Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (stock no. 19248) and Paul Cassirer, Inc., Berlin; 1916, sold by Cassirer to Carl Sternheim (b. 1878 - d. 1942) and Th¨¦a Sternheim (b. 1883 - d. 1971), La Hulpe, Belgium [see note 3]; February 11, 1919, Th¨¦a Sternheim sale, Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, lot 8, not sold [see note 4]; until 1928, in the Sternheim collection [see note 5]; 1928, sold by Th¨¦a Sternheim, through Alfred Flechtheim, to the Galerie ¨¦tienne Bignou, Paris [see note 6]; 1928, sold by Bignou to M. Knoedler and Co., New York (stock no. A289) and Alex Reid and Lef¨¨vre, Ltd., London [see note 7]; 1928, sold by Knoedler to Robert Treat Paine, 2nd (b. 1861 - d. 1943), Boston; 1935, gift of Robert Treat Paine, 2nd, to the MFA. (Accession Date December 5, 1935) Medium Oil on canvas
