Self-Portrait
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, Summer 1887
oil on cardboard, 19 cm x 14.1 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
'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,' Van Gogh once wrote to his brother Theo. He presents himself in this self-portrait as a respectable bourgeois, wearing an elegant suit and felt hat.
The small painting is done in shades of pastel grey-blue. This was an unusual palette for Van Gogh, who even changed the colour of his eyes to match it. In reality they were green, yet they are shown in this painting as grey-blue. The bright red beard stands out strongly against all the grey tones.
- F-number
- F0296
- JH-number
- JH1210
- Object number
- s0156V1962
- Dimensions
- 19 cm x 14.1 cm, 28.8 cm x 23.9 cm, 4.3 cm
- Provenance
- Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, summer 1887; after his death on 25 January 1891, inherited by his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Paris; administered until her death on 2 September 1925 by Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Bussum/Amsterdam/Laren; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh, Laren, to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 10 July 1962; agreement concluded between the Vincent van Gogh Foundation and the State of the Netherlands, in which the preservation and management of the collection, and its placing in the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, to be realized in Amsterdam, is entrusted to the State, 21 July 1962; given on loan until the opening of the museum on 2 June 1973 to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; on permanent loan to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from 2 June 1973 and at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, since 1 July 1994.
- artist
- Vincent van Gogh
- Credits (obliged to state)
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
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Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Vincent van Gogh. Paintings & Drawings, Mainly from the Collection of Ir. V.W. van Gogh, 29 October-10 December 1955, no. 30
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Homburg, Cornelia, Reynaerts, Jenny, Greer, Joan Eileen, Sund, Judy Ellen, Vincent van Gogh : timeless country - modern city, 2010, p. 254
