3-075-190 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Postman Roulin, 1888. Between late July 1888 and April 1889, Van Gogh painted at least six portraits of Joseph-Etienne Roulin (1841-1903), a postman in Arles. Here, the artist concentrated on Roulin's head, which he described in a letter as "somewhat like Socrates, hardly any nose at all, a high forehead, bald crown, little gray eyes, bright red chubby cheeks, a big pepper-and-salt beard, large eyes."