“Self-Portrait on a Japanese Background”
This oil on canvas painting is “Self-portrait on a Japanese Background” by Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Meijer de Haan (or Meyer de Haan) from 1889-1890.
This painting dates to the period of de Haan’s life when he was living in Le Pouldu, Brittany, France with his paramour, Marie Henry, and French artist, Paul Gauguin. De Haan had seen how successful the Impressionist art movement had become and was experimenting with colors and quick brush strokes as seen in this piece here; a far cry from the dark history paintings his career had begun with in his native home of Amsterdam.
In October of 2012, de Haan’s “Self-Portrait on a Japanese Background” and six other paintings by artists Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Matisse, and Freud were stolen from the Kunsthalle Art Museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Together, the art that was taken was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In July of 2013, the thieves were found in Romania but without the art. They had smuggled the artwork outside of the country inside of pillows. One of the thieves’ mothers told police that she had burned the paintings to protect her son, and evidence found in her fireplace appeared to corroborate that unfortunate fact, though we still do not know for certain. This painting may be gone forever.
For more on Meijer de Haan, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
