Portrait of Armand Roulin

Armand Roulin was the teenage son of postman Joseph Roulin, and Van Gogh painted him multiple times in Arles during late 1888, producing several versions in different poses and with different hats. Van Gogh was fascinated by the young man's liminal quality — at the threshold of adulthood — and rendered him with acute attention to that transition. The version in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen shows Armand in a yellow jacket against a contrasting background, the color combination electrifying in its intensity.

The yellow jacket placed against a dark background creates a bold chromatic opposition that was deliberately engineered. The treatment of the jacket is bravura — loose and confident — while the face receives more careful, nuanced attention.