“Portrait of Vincent van Gogh”
After seeing van Gogh so many times through his own self-portraits, it is really interesting to see him through someone else’s eyes.
“Portrait of Vincent van Gogh” is an oil on canvas painting by the Australian impressionism and post-impressionism artist, John Russell, also sometimes referred to as John Peter Russell. It was made in November 1886. Unfortunately for Russell, this painting is more well-known for the sitter it depicts than the artist that made it.
This was painted in the realism style, before Russell’s shift to a more impressionist style. It is believed by art historians to be the portrait that has the most likeness to what van Gogh actually looked like. Russell had originally painted van Gogh in a blue striped suit against a plain monochromatic background. The painting has darkened over time, obscuring that detail. Vincent holds a pencil in his right hand and looks askance at the viewer. His gaze is piercing. Above Vincent’s head, painted in red, Russell wrote the text “Vincent, in friendship”.
This is not the only piece by Russell depicting van Gogh. Between 1886 and 1888, Russell made a series of sketches of van Gogh’s head, “Five head studies of Vincent van Gogh, which is currently in the collections of the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney, Australia.
Russell met van Gogh at the atelier of the history painter, Fernand Cormon, in Paris where the two were taking studio classes. Both being outsiders in Paris, they formed a friendship and stayed connected for several years. When van Gogh wanted to start an art colony in Arles in southern France, Russell was someone he considered inviting to live with him, before settling on Paul Gauguin. Unfortunately, like most of van Gogh’s friendships, the relationship was strained. The two artists wrote letters to each other until van Gogh’s death in 1890.
After completing the painting, Russell gave it to van Gogh who insisted on trading art for it, a practice that Vincent did with all his artist friends. In 1886, van Gogh sent this portrait to his brother, Theo van Gogh, to take care of. In 1889, the painting was still on his mind, and he wrote to his brother, saying “take good care of my portrait by Russell, which means a lot to me.” It means a lot to us, too.
“Portrait of Vincent van Gogh” is currently on display at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
For more on John Russell, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
