Van Gogh and Self Portraits

As an artist, Van Gogh had a number of subjects that he continuously returned to. This includes flowering orchards, flowers, wheat fields, cypresses and self portraits. Of these motives, self portraits stands out as while the other subjects can help us understand the mental state of Van Gogh, the self portraits also help us see Van Gogh’s view of himself. As such, they add another level of enlightenment to our understanding of Van Gogh reproductions.
Van Gogh was very active in the practice of self portraits. In the period between 1886 and 1889, he painted 37 self portraits. Amounting to almost 1 per month in the period, this thus gives us a unique almost biographical insight into the artist’s view of himself in these years.

It is also worth noting that in 1890, when Van Gogh had moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, he did no longer produce any self portraits of himself. This despite the fact that this was his most productive period, with almost a new painting completed every day, he did not produce any self portraits at this point.

Previous Van Gogh self portraits can be divided according to where they were painted. A large part were made in Paris, and especially the early one of these were done in the slightly darker colors the artist featured then. From Arles, we have normal portraits as well as some where the left ear of the artist is covered by a bandage. These are from January 1889, shortly after he cut off part of his ear. The following self portraits from Saint Remy only show the artist facing with the left side of his face visible. He never did a self portrait in Saint Remy that showed his right side, with his damaged ear.

The self portraits of Van Gogh are in themselves very famous. Among them we find Self Portrait Without Beard from 1889, which was sold for USD 71.5 million on auction at Christies in 1998. Self Portrait with Straw Hat and Self Portrait, both from 1887, are also among the most loved self portraits by Van Gogh.