Vincent van Gogh's Self-Portraits - The Many Faces of the Tormented Genius

Considered one of the greatest painters of all time, Vincent van Gogh has produced a rich body of work that has inspired generations of artists worldwide. It is hard to grasp that such a master of color, during his troubled lifetime, was largely ignored and even ridiculed. Van Gogh of such immeasurable talent was so ahead of his time that many did not know what to think when confronted with his work, for there was nothing like it to compare it with.  

Faced with a lack of financial support, he could not find any model; thus, many of his paintings feature beautiful Dutch landscapes and still lifes. Yet even with limited recourses, van Gogh found a way to create a portrait by painting himself. During a relatively short period, he produced more than 2000 artworks, among them 36 self-portraits. Vincent Van Gogh’s self-portraits showcase his personality, while the later ones also reveal the gradual decline of his health. Van Gogh once wrote:

People say – and I’m quite willing to believe it – that it’s difficult to know oneself – but it’s not easy to paint oneself either.

Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat at the Easel, 1886

Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat at the Easel was painted between September and November of 1886, after his move to Paris. As his other paintings, it shows the artist’s exceptional command of color and texture and is one of the first ones in which Vincent van Gogh portrayed himself as an artist. Standing behind the easel, he holds a palette covered in unmixed colors. This Post-Impressionist work showcases a man who has come to the city, which at the time is a center of art in Europe, eager to make his name as a painter.

Currently, the painting is on view in Vincent van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands. 

Self-Portrait with Straw Hat, 1887

The oil painting on canvas entitled Self-Portrait with a Straw is a colorful depiction of the artist as a farmer and shows how Vincent van Gogh sees himself. Different directions of brushstrokes can be seen in the background, clothes, the hat, and the face. Combined with different shades of blue, yellow, and orange, they all perfectly work together and immediately draw the eye of the viewers to the van Gogh’s face. This canvas was painted on the reverse of an earlier peasant study.

Self-Portrait with Straw Hat is hanging at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, 1887/88

Inspired by Neo-Impressionism and the new technique introduced by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in 1886 called pointillism, Vincent Van Gogh painted Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat in the winter of 1887/88. This van Gogh self-portrait is one of his earliest color experimentations. The priceless oil painting shows the artist’s unique take on pointillism as he carefully combines complementary colors that, combined, intensify one another, such as orange and blue for the background and green and red for the face. The brushstrokes are done in different directions, like the ones around the head that form a halo.

Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat is held in Van Gogh Museum.

Self-Portrait as a Painter, 1887 – 1888

Vincent van Gogh’s Self-portrait as a Painter shows how much he has advanced as an artist in Paris. There is also more attention to small details as he made sure the button was on the right side, not reverse, as he saw in the reflection. This work was his last portrait in Paris and depicts a man tired of life in the French capital. About the canvas to his sister van Gogh wrote:

Wrinkles in the forehead and around the mouth, stiffly wooden, a very red beard, quite unkempt and sad.

Self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gauguin, 1888

Van Gogh left Paris in 1888 and moved to the south of France, hoping to establish an art colony in Arles. As part of his goal to reinvent painting, he exchanged self-portraits with fellow artists. From his friend Paul Gauguin, he received Self-Portrait Dedicated to Vincent van Gogh (Les Misérables), and he responded by sending him Self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gauguin. It was inspired by Japanese prints and painted without shadows on the background. Unlike other portraits, the artist depicted himself with monastic severity here.

Vincent Van Gogh’s Self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gauguin is held at Harvard Art Museums.

Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear, Easel and Japanese Print, 1889

Van Gogh’s Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear, Easel and Japanese Print was painted one week after he left the hospital, where he was admitted when he cut his own ear after a heated argument with Gauguin. This haunting Van Gogh’s self-portrait depicts an artist who is struggling yet is fully determined to continue painting. On the right is a Japanese print by Sato Torakiyo, which has always been a powerful inspiration for Van Gogh, and on the left is an empty canvas on an easel. There is a sense of melancholy combined with perseverance in the focused face of the artist.

Vincent van Gogh’s Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear, Easel, and Japanese Print is currently located in the Courtauld Gallery in London.

Self-Portrait, September 1889

This painting, entitled simply Self Portrait, is beloved to be painted just a few months before Vincent van Gogh died. The canvas struggles to contain the overflow of the artist’s feelings onto his surroundings. The background rhythms are quite similar to the rhythms of famous work The Starry Night. Once again, there is a strong contrast between the fading shades of blue and orange in Vincent van Gogh’s beard, alluding to his mental and emotional strain. The work has almost a hallucinogenic quality as the movements of brushstrokes swirl and merge.  

Self-Portrait (1889) hangs in Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Self-portrait without beard, 1889

Self-portrait without beard Vincent Van Gogh painted in an asylum near the end of his life. It is one of the most expensive paintings ever sold. In 1998, this exceptional Van Gogh self-portrait was sold in an auction in New York City for a whopping $71.5 million. Even though he struggled financially, he gave it to his mother for her birthday. Self-portrait without beard is currently unavailable for public viewing as it is part of a private collection.