The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has opened "Van Gogh and the Roulins: Together Again at Last," the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Vincent van Gogh's portraits of postman Joseph Roulin and his family. The show, which runs until January 11, 2026, features the artist's first portrait of Roulin on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, alongside the very wicker armchair on which Roulin posed in 1888. The chair, originally bought by Van Gogh for his Yellow House in Arles, was acquired by the museum in 1969 and is exhibited for the first time since then. The exhibition previously drew 280,000 visitors in Boston.
The exhibition matters because it reunites a major Van Gogh portrait with its original prop, offering rare insight into the artist's working process and his close friendship with Roulin. The show also highlights Van Gogh's debt to Dutch Golden Age painting, particularly Frans Hals's "The Merry Drinker," which inspired the composition and loose brushwork of the Roulin portrait. By bringing together the painting, the chair, and related drawings, the exhibition deepens understanding of Van Gogh's portraiture and his personal connections in Arles, while drawing significant public interest on both sides of the Atlantic.