Self-portraits by Vincent van Gogh

The portraits of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) are the self-portraits, portraits of him by other artists, and photographs—one of which is dubious—of the Dutch artist. Van Gogh's dozens of self-portraits were an important part of his ''œuvre'' as a painter. Most probably, van Gogh's self-portraits are depicting the face as it appeared in the mirror he used to reproduce his face, i.e. his right side in the image is in reality the left side of his face.

Self-portraits

1885

On July 14, 2022, an almost certainly authentic self-portrait of van Gogh was uncovered under his 1885 painting "Head of a peasant woman". Lesley Stevenson, a conservator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, discovered it during an X-ray examination of their existing pieces. It shows a bearded van Gogh in a brimmed hat and a neckerchief around his throat. His left ear was clearly visible. The portrait is covered under layers of cardboard and glue, which experts are searching for ways to remove in order to confirm its authenticity. They believe it was painted when van Gogh moved to France and learnt about the work of the impressionists there, an experience that influenced his more colourful and expressive style that is much admired today. The Dutch painter is known to often reuse his canvases or work on their reverse in order to save money. The X-ray image will be featured at a Royal Scottish Academy exhibit in Edinburgh and displayed using a specially made lightbox.

Paris 1886

The first self-portrait by van Gogh that survived, is dated 1886.

File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnisse.jpeg, '' Two Self-Portraits and Several Details, Drawing, Paris, 1886
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F1378r)
File:Zelfportret als schilder - s0160V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat at the Easel,'' 1886
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F181)
File:Zelfportret - s0159V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Pipe'', 1886
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F208)
File:Vincent van Gogh - Self-portrait with pipe - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Pipe'', 1886
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F180)
File:Zelfportret met vilthoed - s0162V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat'', 1886
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F208a)
File:Self-Portrait1.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Autumn 1886, Paris
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague (F187v)
File:Self-Portrait6.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Winter 1886/87
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (F 268)
File:Zelfportret - s0097V1962v - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Winter 1886/87
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F 269v)
File:Zelfportret - s0155V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Winter 1886/87
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F 267)
File:Vincent van Gogh - Self-portrait - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Winter 1886/87
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (F 380)
File:Zelfportret Rijksmuseum SK-A-3262.jpeg, ''Self-Portrait'', 1887
Oil on pasteboard, 42 cm x 34 cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (F295)

Paris 1887

File:Zelfportret met glas - s0161V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Pipe and Glass'', 1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F263a)
File:Zelfportret - s0156V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat'', March/April 1887
Oil on pasteboard, 19 × 14 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F296)
File:Vincent van Gogh - Self-Portrait - Google Art Project (454045).jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', 1887
Oil on artist's board, mounted on cradled panel, 41 × 32.5 cm
Art Institute of Chicago (F 345)
File:Vincent van Gogh - Zelfportret - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Straw Hat'', Summer 1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F469)
File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnis mit Strohhut1.jpeg, ''Self-Portrait with Straw Hat'' (reverse image), 1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F61v)
File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnis mit Strohhut2.jpeg, ''Self-Portrait with Straw Hat'', Summer 1887
Oil on pasteboard, 34.9 × 26.7 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts (F526)
File:Van Gogh Self-Portrait with Straw Hat 1887-Metropolitan.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Straw Hat'', 1887
Metropolitan Museum of Art (F365v)
File:Zelfportret met strohoed en pijp - s0068V1962v - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Straw Hat and a Pipe'' (reverse image), 1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F179v)
File:Zelfportret - s0065V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Summer 1887
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F 356)
File:Zelfportret - s0135V1962v - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Summer 1887, Paris
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F77v)
File:Zelfportret - s0071V1962v - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Summer 1887, Paris
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F109v)
File:Van Gogh Self-Portrait Autumn 1887.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', Autumn 1887
Oil on canvas, 47 × 35 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris (F320)
File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnis mit japanischen Druck.jpeg, ''Self-Portrait with Japanese print'' December, 1887
Kunstmuseum, Basel (on loan from Emily Dreyfus Foundation) (F319)
File:Zelfportret met grijze vilthoed - s0016V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat'', Winter 1887/88
Oil on canvas, 44 × 37.5 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F344)
File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnis27.jpeg, ''Self-Portrait'', 1887–88, (F1672a)
File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnis 29.jpeg, ''Self-Portrait'', 1887-88
Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zürich (F366)
File:Zelfportret als schilder - s0022V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait as a Painter'', December 1887 - February 1888, Oil on canvas, 65.1 cm × 50 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F522)

Arles

File:Zelfportret met pijp en strohoed - s0163V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat'', Summer 1888
Oil on pasteboard, 42 × 31 cm
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F524)
File:Van Gogh self-portrait dedicated to Gauguin.jpg, ''Self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gauguin'', September 1888
Oil on canvas, 62 × 52 cm
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA (F476 - see Provenances below)
File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnis34.jpeg, ''Self-portrait dedicated to Charles Laval,'' Arles, November/December 1888
Private collection (F501)
File:Van Gogh - Selbstbildnis mit verbundenem Ohr und Pfeife.jpeg, ''Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear'', January 1889
Oil on canvas, 51 × 45 cm
Private Collection (F529)
File:Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear - Vincent van Gogh.jpg, ''Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear, Easel and Japanese Print'', January 1889
Oil on canvas, 60 × 49 cm
Courtauld Institute Galleries, London (F527)
File:Vincent Van Gogh 0013.jpg, ''Painter on his way to work'': Vincent van Gogh on the road to Montmajour, August 1888 (F 448), Oil on canvas, 48 × 44 cm, believed to have been destroyed by fire in World War II

Saint-Rémy

All the self-portraits executed in Saint-Rémy show the artist's head from the left, i.e. the side with non-mutilated ear.

File:Vincent_van_Gogh_-_Self-Portrait_-_Google_Art_Project_(719161).jpg, alt= A portrait of Vincent van Gogh from the left (good ear) holding a palette with brushes. He is wearing a blue cloak and has yellow hair and beard. The background is a deep violet., ''Self-Portrait'', August 1889
Oil on canvas, 57 × 43,5 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (F626, JH1770)
File:Vincent van Gogh - Self-Portrait - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'', September 1889
Oil on canvas, 65 × 54 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris. This may have been Van Gogh's last self-portrait. (F627 - see Remarks below)
Image:Vincent Willem van Gogh 102.jpg, ''Self-portrait without beard'', end September 1889
Oil on canvas, 40 × 31 cm
Private collection. Another contender for being Van Gogh's last self-portrait (F525 - see Remarks below).

Auvers-sur-Oise

No self-portraits were executed by van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, during the final weeks of his life.

Remarks

* F208a: ''Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat'' is amongst the earliest of van Gogh's self-portraits. It was discovered late in the family collection and was not exhibited before 1945. Opinions differ about the date and place of its execution. De la Faille thought it painted in Antwerp before 1886, while Hulsker thought it painted in Paris in spring 1886. Hendriks and Tilborgh opt for autumn 1886, based on its resemblance to van Gogh's work that winter when he began to embrace Neo-impressionism. X-ray analysis reveals a nude figure study below. Since students did not work from nude models at Antwerp, this places the painting as executed in Paris where van Gogh had enrolled in Fernand Cormon's ''atelier''. There is no other work in van Gogh's ''oeuvre'' which complements this portrait, which has led to some authors such as Dorn questioning its authenticity. However Hendriks and Tilborgh are satisfied that the painting is consistent with others executed at the beginning and end of van Gogh's first year in Paris. Marc Edo Tralbaut, van Gogh's principal biographer, especially valorised the portrait, selecting it for the dust-jacket of his biography and stating that van Gogh had "laid himself bare" for the portrait. Tralbaut notes that van Gogh painted a number of self-portraits at this time, possibly because of his difficulty in getting models to sit for him. He was in poor health and his teeth were falling out, prompting him to grow a moustache to conceal them. At this time he was wearing city-clothes in an effort to stress his middle-class background as he strove to establish a conventional career for himself as an artist.
*F627: This painting may have been van Gogh's last self-portrait, which he gave to his brother.
*F525: This painting may have been van Gogh's last self-portrait, which he gave to his mother as a birthday gift.Pickvance (1986), 131 Van Gogh painted ''Self-Portrait without beard'' just after he had shaved himself (Hulsker thought it painted in Arles following his admission to hospital after mutilating his ear when he was also shaved, as can be seen in the "bandaged ear" portraits F527 and F529). The painting can be seen in the third (smaller) version of '' Bedroom in Arles'' at the Musée d'Orsay. The self-portrait is one of the most expensive paintings of all time, selling for $71.5million in 1998 in New York. At the time, it was the third (or an inflation-adjusted fourth) most expensive painting ever sold.

Provenances

*F476: Vincent van Gogh, Arles, (1888) gift; to Paul Gauguin, (1888-1897) sold. mbroise Vollard, Paris. aul Cassirer Gallery, Berlin.Dr. Hugo von Tschudi, Berlin, (1906-1911), by descent; to his widow, Angela von Tschudi, Munich (1911-1919), to Neue Staatsgalerie, Munich, (1919-1939); removed from the collection by the National Socialist (Nazi) authorities in 1938,(EK16554) consigned; to alerie Fischer, Lucerne, Switzerland, sale: Gemälde und Plastiken Moderner Meister aus Deutschen Museen, 30 June 1939, no. 45 to Maurice Wertheim (1939-1951) bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1951. Notes: Gauguin sold the painting for Fr 300, Hugo von Tschudi bought the painting for the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, with funds from sponsors, but did not submit it to the Kaiser for pre-approval. He took the painting to Munich when he assumed post there.

Scandals

In Nazi Germany, Vincent van Gogh's works were among those labelled generally "degenerate art". Several works were seized and sold/or destroyed by NS authorities including the self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gauguin, September 1888, which was seized from the Moderne Staatsgalerie in Munich to be sold at auction in 1939 in Lucerne, Switzerland, while other works by van Gogh could remain in this collection, but were kept under lock and key.

Fakes

Almost at the same time as when his ''Catalogue raisonné'' was published, Jacob Baart de la Faille had to admit that he had included paintings emerging from dubious sources, and of dubious quality. Shortly after, in 1930, De la Faille rejected some thirty odd paintings, which he had originally included in his catalogue - together with a hundred of others he had already excluded: ''Self-portraits'' - and ''Sunflowers'' - held a prominent place in the set he now rejected. In 1970, the editors of De la Faille's posthumous manuscript brand marked most of these dubious ''Self-portraits'' as forgeries, but could not settle all disputes, at least on one:

* The ''Selfportrait 'a l'éstampe japonais, then in the collection of William Goetz, Los Angeles, was included, though all editors refused its authenticity.

Meanwhile, the authenticity of a second "''self-portrait''" has been challenged:

* The ''Selfportrait, 'à l'oreille mutilée, acquired in 1910 for the Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, had been unanimously rejected by scholars and technical researchers for decades, until provenance research by staff members reported ''pro domo'' the contrary. On January 20, 2020 the results of research into this painting were published, and the conclusion was that this is a real Van Gogh painting, painted in the time that he was in a mental institution.
Note the painter shows his right ear, if painted via a mirror, while Van Gogh cut his left ear.

Portraits of Vincent van Gogh by other artists

File:Vincent van Gogh - s0273V1962 - Van Gogh Museum.jpg, John Russell, ''Vincent van Gogh'', 1886, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Toulouse-Lautrec de Henri Vincent van Gogh Sun.jpg, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, '' Portrait of Vincent van Gogh'', 1887, pastel on cardboard, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
File:Paul Gauguin - Vincent van Gogh painting sunflowers - Google Art Project.jpg, Paul Gauguin, ''The Painter of Sunflowers'', 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Photographs

File:Vincent van Gogh at circa 13 years of age.jpeg, Photograph of Theo van Gogh, age 13, 1866
File:Vincent van Gogh January 1873.jpeg, Photograph of Vincent van Gogh, age 19, c. 1873
File:Vincent van Gogh photo.jpg, Photo by Victor Morin, c. 1886, Quebec. Discovered in the early 1990s, a disputed, unconfirmed photograph of Vincent.

See also

*List of works by Vincent van Gogh

Sources

Notes

References

* Dorn, Roland: ''Vincent, portraitiste: Bemerkungen zu ein paar heissen Eisen'', in: Lukas Gloor, ed.: ''Van Gogh echt falsch: Zwei Selbstbildnisse der Sammlung Emil Bührle'', Zürich 2005, pp. 7 – 21
* Hammacher, A. M.: ''Van Gogh: Selbstbildnisse'', Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1960; 2nd edition 1970
* Hendriks, Ella; van Tilborgh, Louis. ''Vincent Van Gogh Paintings: 2'', Lund Humphries 2011,
* Van Lindert, Juleke, & Van Uitert, Evert: ''Een eigentijdse expressie: Vincent van Gogh en zijn portretten'', Meulenhoff/Landshoff, Amsterdam 1990
*Pickvance, Ronald. ''Van Gogh In Saint-Rémy and Auvers'' (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Abrams, 1986.
*Tralbaut, Marc Edo. ''Vincent van Gogh'', London 1961, Macmillan,
*

External links

''Van Gogh, paintings and drawings: a special loan exhibition''
a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on these portraits (see index)
photograph supposedly of Van Gogh and Gauguin from 1887
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