''Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear'' is an 1889

self-portrait Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...

by Dutch

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

artist

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

. The painting is in the collection of the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

and on display in the Gallery at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

. The painting includes inspiration from Japanese woodblock printing.

About the painting

In this self-portrait, Van Gogh portrays himself in a blue cap with black fur and a green overcoat with a bandage covering his ear and extending under his chin. Behind him is an open window, a canvas on an easel, with a few indistinguishable marks, as well as a Japanese woodblock print, ''Geishas in a Landscape'' made by Satō Torakiyo in the 1870s. The fur cap pictured in the portrait serves as a memory of the difficult working circumstances he encountered in January 1889. The cap had been recently purchased to keep his heavy bandage in place and protect him from the winter cold. Van Gogh used

Impasto Impasto is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides tex ...

painting strokes, a technique where paint is laid thickly on a surface to show marks of the Painting knife, to give the composition more energy and passion. He was inspired by

Adolphe Monticelli Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli (October 14, 1824 – June 29, 1886) was a French painter of the generation preceding the Impressionists. Biography Monticelli was born in Marseille in humble circumstances. He attended the École Municipale de ...

's use of impasto in his own paintings as illustrated by the letter he wrote to his brother, Theo, in 1888. Van Gogh had moved from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...

to establish a community of supportive artists called the Studio of the South. After renting four rooms in The Yellow House, he invited

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

to join him. On evening of 23 December 1888, Gauguin threatened to leave and Van Gogh approached him with a razor. Later that night, he sliced off his own left ear, which is not apparent in the portrait since he used a mirror to paint it, making it seem like the right ear is bandaged instead, and brought it to a prostitute in Arles.

History

In a 17 January 1889 letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh mentioned he had made a new self-portrait, which is believed to be this one. At the time of Van Gogh's death, this painting was in the possession of Julien (Père) Tanguy, although it was unclear how he had obtained it. Tanguy had posed twice for Van Gogh in 1887. It was exhibited in Paris 1901 and 1905 in a major Van Gogh retrospective. In 1928 Samuel Courtauld purchased it and it is currently in the collection of the

Courtauld Gallery The Courtauld Gallery () is an art museum in Somerset House, on the Strand, London, Strand in central London. It houses the collection of the Samuel Courtauld Trust and operates as an integral part of the Courtauld Institute of Art. The Court ...

in London.

The Japanese Art Influence

The art of

woodblock printing in Japan Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Invented in China during the Tang dynasty, woodblo ...

was of great influence for Van Gogh as he was a big collector of many Japanese pieces. Throughout his lifetime, he had collected hundreds of Japanese prints, including ''Geishas in a Landscape'' by Torakiyo Sato, which was then used as inspiration for the copy in the background of this portrait. Van Gogh's interest in Japanese art guided him to modernize his own art style. He enjoyed the bold colors and spatial effects of the Japanese prints which prompted him to start using them in all of his work including this portrait.

References

{{Vincent van Gogh Self-portraits Paintings by Vincent van Gogh 1889 paintings Paintings in the Courtauld Gallery Self-portraits by Vincent van Gogh Oil on canvas paintings

About the painting

History

The Japanese Art Influence

See also

References