“Self-portrait”
Vincent Van Gogh and his well-loved self-portraits truly have a special place in art history.
This striking oil on artist’s board painting, titled “Self-portrait”, is by the Dutch artist, Vincent Van Gogh, and dates to 1887. This is one of Van Gogh’s many self-portraits that he painted soon after his arrival in Paris. In 1888, he had come to live with his brother, Theo. Van Gogh painted 30 self-portraits between 1886 and 1889.
Van Gogh painted self-portraits to experiment with his stylistic techniques, but also because he could not afford to hire models as often as he needed them. Money was always an issue for Van Gogh. In a letter to fellow artist, Paul Gauguin, in 1888, Van Gogh discussed his recent purchase of a mirror. He said:
“I purposely bought a mirror good enough to enable me to work from my image in default of a model, because if I can manage to paint the colouring of my own head, which is not to be done without some difficulty, I shall likewise be able to paint the heads of other good souls, men and women.”
The self-portrait shown here was done in a pointillist style and is much different from Van Gogh’s usual self-portraits. It shows a strong stylistic influence from French artist, Georges Seurat, who had made recent waves in the art world with his 1884 painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”.
The red and blue colors of the clothes against the green and orange colors of the background also show how Van Gogh was exploring the use of complementary colors in his work. Prior to Paris, his color palette was darker and more subdued overall. His exposure to the Parisian art scene and the artists within it lightened his palette a great deal. The bright and bold saturation of the colors in conjunction with the look in Van Gogh’s eyes creates an overall stunning piece with a vivid glimpse of what he looked like.
This 1887 “Self-Portrait” of Vincent Van Gogh is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, in Illinois, in the United States.
For more on Vincent Van Gogh, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
