Artsology

Van Gogh Baby Go!

An arts game for kids of all ages, featuring the baby from Vincent Van Gogh's 1888 painting "Madame Roulin and Her Baby." Think about how babies like to crawl (or walk) and explore new areas around them ... in this game, the Van Gogh baby is exploring the game play field and trying to advance to the next level!

Note: this game needs to be played on a computer or device with a keyboard, as player movement is controlled by the arrow keys.

Game objective: Use the arrow keys to move the Van Gogh baby through the landscape, and move towards the spinning circle to advance to the next level. At level 2, you'll see two Van Gogh babies ... now you need to use the in-field props (such as the brick walls, purple pegs, or green plants) to help position both Van Gogh babies so that they reach the spinning circle at the same time in order to advance to levels 3, 4, and 5. The water is a hazard - don't let the Van Gogh baby fall in! Use the "X" key to confirm the start of play (you need to click in the game play area for the "x" key to be recognized), and if you get stuck on a level, you can tap on "R" to reset that level and try again.

Note: This game needs to be played on a desktop or laptop computer with a keyboard.

Click here if you want to restart the game from the beginning.

Here's a look at Van Gogh's original painting of our game's curious baby explorer!

Titled "Madame Roulin and Her Baby," Vincent Van Gogh made this painting in 1888.

Here's some more information about this painting and the situation in which Van Gogh painted it: the baby's name is Marcelle Roulin, and is the child of Madame Augustine Roulin and her husband Joseph, who lived in Arles, in the south of France. Joseph Roulin was the postman that Van Gogh painted here. Here's another painting that Van Gogh made of Joseph Roulin, baby Marcelle's father.

Van Gogh spent a lot of time with the Roulin family after the artist relocated from Paris to Arles in February of 1888. The time in Arles became one of Van Gogh's most prolific periods as he completed 200 paintings and more than 100 drawings and watercolours in the 2 years that he lived there.

Vincent Van Gogh painting Madame Roulin and Her Baby, created in 1888