Location📍 Art Institute of Chicago → Gallery 241

Self-Portrait

In 1886, Vincent van Gogh left Holland and settled in Paris, where he was inspired by the city’s energy and his introduction to Impressionism. During his two-year stay in the French capital, he created at least twenty-four self-portraits. This early example is painted on prepared artist’s board and features densely dabbed brushwork, a hallmark of his style. The work reflects his response to Georges Seurat’s revolutionary pointillist technique in A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884. While Seurat used this method based on cool objectivity, Van Gogh transformed it into an intense emotional language. The painting’s surface dances with particles of color, including intense greens, blues, reds, and oranges. Dominating these staccato dots and dashes are the artist’s deep green eyes and the intensity of his gaze. Reflecting his focus on human subjects, he once wrote to his brother Theo, “I prefer painting people’s eyes to cathedrals”. This is one of thirty-five works that comprise the Winterbotham Collection.