
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000868Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle (La berceuse)
Inscriptions
Inscribed: Vincent, Arles, 89 (on the arm of the chair); La Berceuse (to the right of the chair)
Provenance
The artist; sent to his brother, Theo van Gogh (died 1891) [Letter 767 Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, May 2, 1889]. Paul Gauguin, Paris [this and the following according to La Faille 1928, no. 506]; Auguste Pellerin Collection (died 1929), Paris; Galerie de l’Art E. Blot, Paris [Paris 1909]; Amédée Schuffenecker (1854-1936), Saint-Maur, Paris; Galerie de l’Art Marcel Bernheim, Paris; Frederic Clay Bartlett (died 1953), Chicago by at least 1923 [Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 1923, cover ill.]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1926.
Exhibition history
Mannheim Kunsthalle, Internationale Kunstausstellung, March 1 - October 20, 1907, cat. 1080. Paris, Galerie E. Druet, Cinquante Tableaux de Vincent van Gogh, November 8 - 20, 1909, cat. 10 Paris, Galerie Marcel Bernheim, Exposition rétrospective d'oeuvres de Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), January 5 - 24, 1925, cat. 28. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Apr.-Sep. 1925 Boston Arts Club, Jan. 1926.. Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 377. Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–Nov. 1, 1934, cat. 311. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Feb. 1936. D. Rosen, July 1947 New York, Wildenstein and Co., Van Gogh: Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Public Education Association, Mar. 24 - Apr. 30, 1955. Nagaoka, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 20–May 29, 1994; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24, 1994; Yokohama Museum of Art, Aug. 6–Sep. 25, 1994. Detroit Institute of Arts, Van Gogh: Face to Face, Mar. 12-June 4, 2000; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, July 2–Sep. 24, 2000; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 22, 2000–Jan. 14, 2001. Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South, The Art Institute of Chicago, Sep. 22, 2001-Jan. 13, 2002; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Feb. 9-June 2, 2002. Art Institute of Chicago, Van Gogh's Bedrooms, Feb. 14 - May 10, 2016, no cat. no., plate 25. Sapporo, Hokkaidõ Museum of Modern Art, Van Gogh & Japan, Aug. 26- Oct. 14, 2017, cat. 122; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Oct. 24, 2017-Jan. 8, 2018; Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art, Jan. 20-Mar. 4, 2018; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Mar. 23-June 24, 2018. Washington DC, The Phillips Collection, Van Gogh: Repetitions, Oct. 12, 2013 – Jan. 26, 2014, cat. 24; Cleveland Museum of Art, Mar. 2 – May 26, 2014. 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Het Noordbrabants Museum, Van Gogh's Inner Circle: Friends, Family, Models, Sep. 21, 2019 - Jan. 12, 2020, cat. 75. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Van Gogh and the Roulin Family, Mar. 30–Aug. 3, 2025, no cat. no., fig. 50; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Sep. 3, 2025–Jan 11, 2026.
Publications
Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 17, no. 7 (1923), cover ill. Modern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: Art Institute, 1926), 12, pl. 13. J[acob]-B[aart] de la Faille, L’Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh: Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 1 (Paris and Berlin: G. van Oest, 1928), no. 506. Jacob-Baart de la Faille, The Works of Vincent van Gogh, His Paintings and Drawings (New York: Reynal, 1970), 224 (ill.), 225, no. F506. Richard R. Brettell, “The Bartletts and the ‘Grande Jatte:’ Collecting Modern Painting in the 1920s,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12, no. 2 (1986): 106, 107 fig. 3. Louis van Tilborgh, et al., "Weave matching and dating of Van Gogh's paintings: an interdisciplinary approach," Burlington Magazine (February 2012): 112 (color ill.), 119. Van Tilborgh, Louis, et. all. Van Gogh & Japan, exh. cat. (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum; Sapporo: Hokkaidō Shimbun Press; Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2018), 40, 79, 85, 192, cat. 122 (ill.). Rathbone, Eliza et al., Van Gogh: Repetitions, exh. cat. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 74-75, 118-19. Walter Feilchendeldt, Vincent van Gogh: The years in France, Complete paintings 1886-1890. Dealers, collectors, exhibitions, provenance (London: Philip Wilson, 2013), 117 (ill.). Richard Kendall, Sjraar van Heugten, and Chris Stolwijk, Van Gogh and Nature, exh. cat. (Williamstown, MA: Clark Art Institute, 2015), 157 fig. 128. Gloria Groom, ed., Van Gogh's Bedrooms, exh. cat. (New Haven and London: Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Press, 2016), 8, plate 25. Sjraar van Heugten and Helewise Berger, Van Gogh's Inner Circle: Friends, Family, Models, exh. cat. (Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: ACC Art Books, 2019), 98 cat. 75, 99 (color ill.), 101, 212. Nienke Bakker and Katie Hanson, Van Gogh: The Roulin Family Portraits, exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts; Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2025), 52, 86–90, 88 fig. 50, 154, 160, 218.
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)
- Date
- 1889
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 92.7 × 73.8 cm (36 1/2 × 29 1/2 in.); Framed: 111.9 × 91.8 × 8.3 cm (44 1/16 × 36 1/8 × 3 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- oil on canvas
- Style
- Post-Impressionism
- Place
- Netherlands
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection
- Accession no.
- 1926.200
More by Vincent van Gogh in museum collections

Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000237
Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000261
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000656
Terrace and Observation Deck at the Moulin de Blute-Fin, Montmartre
Vincent van GoghEarly 1887 · Painting
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000869
Open-access museum record · AT-00000868
Powered by Art Trackers