Artist | Vincent van Gogh

Year | 1889

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

65 × 54.2 cm

Location

Musée d'Orsay↗, Niveau supérieur, Salle 36

Self-Portrait

Like Rembrandt and Goya, Vincent van Gogh often used himself as a model and produced over forty-three self-portraits in ten years, observing himself critically in a mirror. Thus he wrote to his sister: "I am looking for a deeper likeness than that obtained by a photographer." He also mentioned to his brother the difficulty of painting oneself, noting that Rembrandt's portraits are "more like a revelation". In this 1889 head-and-shoulders view, the artist wears a suit instead of his usual pea jacket. Attention is focused on the face, where his features are hard and emaciated, and his green-rimmed eyes appear intransigent and anxious. The dominant colour, a mix of absinth green and pale turquoise, finds a counterpoint in its complementary colour, the fiery orange of the beard and hair. The model's immobility contrasts with the undulating hair and beard, echoed and amplified in the hallucinatory arabesques of the background.