During the ten years of Van Gogh's career as a painter, from 1881 to 1890, his work changed and grew richer, particularly in how he used color and techniques symbolically or evocatively.

[1] He said of portrait studies, "the only thing in painting that excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else.

I want to paint men and women with that something of the eternal which the halo used to symbolize, and which we seek to communicate by the actual radiance and vibration of our coloring.

"[3] Van Gogh saw "something deeper, more intimate, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning."

[4] The "peasant genre" that greatly influenced Van Gogh began in the 1840s with the works of Jean-François Millet, Jules Breton, and others.

"[6] This was a decided transition in approach to paintings from his earlier works influenced by Dutch masters, such as Rembrandt.

The painting may be reminiscent for Van Gogh of the times in his youth he fled to the Zundert Woods to escape from his family.

[12] A Girl in the Street, Two Coaches in the Background and Peasant Woman with Child on Her Lap are both part of private collections.

[13] Van Gogh was attracted to Sien partly for her pregnancy and made use of the opportunity to paint her infant boy.

[15] Although Van Gogh had been influenced by his cousin Anton Mauve and the Hague School, as well as the great Dutch masters, coming to Paris meant that he was exposed to Impressionism, Symbolists, Pointillists, and Japanese art (see Japonism).

The works of the Japanese printmakers Hiroshige and Hokusai greatly influenced Van Gogh, both for the subject matter and the style of flat patterns of colors without shadow.

In the two years from 1886 through 1888 he spent working in Paris, Van Gogh explored the various genres, creating his own unique style.

His paintings represented different aspects of ordinary life, such as portraits of members of the Roulin family and La Mousmé.

The reason for multiple works was partly so that the Roulin's could have a painting of each family member, so that with these pictures and others, their bedroom became a virtual "museum of modern art."

[3] Marcelle Roulin, the youngest child, was born on 31 July 1888, and four months old, when Van Gogh made her portraits.

[17] The three works show the same head and shoulders image of Marcelle with her chubby cheeks and arms against a green background.

[4] Camille Roulin, the middle child, was born in Lambesc in southern France, on 10 July 1877, and died on 4 June 1922.

[27] The Museum Folkwang work depicts Armand in what are likely his best clothes: an elegant fedora, vivid yellow coat, black waistcoat and tie.

Retreating from the city, he hoped that his time in Arles would evoke in his work the simple, yet dramatic expression of Japanese art.

Complementary shades of blue and orange, a stylistic deviation from colors of Impressionist paintings that he acquired during his exploration in Paris, stand out against the spring-like pale green in the background.

[2][28] Another painting from this time Girl with Ruffled Hair (The Mudlark) resides at Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland (F535).

He was initially confined to the immediate asylum grounds and painted (without the bars) the world he saw from his room, such as ivy covered trees, lilacs, and irises of the garden.

[34] As he ventured outside of the asylum walls, he painted the wheat fields, olive groves, and cypress trees of the surrounding countryside,[33] which he saw as "characteristic of Provence."

[30] First Steps is one of twenty-one paintings that Van Gogh made in Saint-Rémy that were "translations" of the work of Jean-François Millet.

"[39] Theo wrote Van Gogh: "The copies after Millet are perhaps the best things you have done yet, and induce me to believe that on the day you turn to painting compositions of figures, we may look forward to great surprises.

"[40] After leaving the south of France, Van Gogh's brother, Theo and artist Camille Pissarro developed a plan for Van Gogh to go to Auvers-sur-Oise with a letter of introduction for Dr. Paul Gachet,[41] a homeopathic physician and art patron who lived in Auvers.

[42] Van Gogh had a room at the inn Auberge Ravoux in Auvers[43] and was under the care and supervision of Dr. Gachet with whom he grew to have a close relationship, "something like another brother.

[48] During his time in Auvers, Van Gogh rented a room at the inn of Arthur Ravoux, whose sixteen-year-old daughter sat for three paintings.

Van Gogh depicts Adeline, rather than a photographic resemblance, with "impassioned aspects" of contemporary life through the "modern taste for color.

Adeline sat just once, but three paintings were made of her:[50] Neither she nor her parents appreciated Van Gogh's style and were disappointed that it was not true to life.