Self-Portrait
Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, July-August 1887
oil on canvas, 43.2 cm x 31.3 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Van Gogh has painted this self-portrait in a multitude of blues. Not only the background, but also his face: even the whites of his eyes are blue.
He painted the self-portrait on the back of a still life because he couldn’t afford any new canvas. Previously, he had sometimes obtained painting materials on credit or in exchange for paintings. He got them from Père Tanguy, owner of a Parisian art supplies shop. But Tanguy’s wife put a stop to that. Vincent wrote angrily to his brother Theo, describing her as an ‘old witch’.
- F-number
- F0109v
- JH-number
- JH1303
- Object number
- s0071V1962v
- Dimensions
- 43.2 cm x 31.3 cm, 54.7 cm x 42.8 cm, 7.0 cm
- Provenance
- Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, sometime between mid-July and August 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)
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Van Gogh aan het werk, 1 May 2013-13 January 2014
Amsterdam, Hermitage Amsterdam, Vincent. Het Van Gogh Museum in de Hermitage Amsterdam, 29 September 2012-25 April 2013
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Van Gogh te gast in het Rijksmuseum. Meesterwerken van het Van Gogh Museum, 19 September 1998-2 May 1999
Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Van Gogh. Die Pariser Selbstbildnisse, 17 March-28 May 1995, no. zonder nr.
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Parijse zelfportretten van Vincent van Gogh, 10 June-9 October 1994
London, Marlborough Fine Art, Van Gogh Selfportraits, October 1960, no. 10
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh, 24 June-September 1955, no. 108
Antwerp, Zaal Comité voor Artistieke Werking, Vincent van Gogh, 7 May-19 June 1955, no. 200
Zurich, Kunsthaus Zürich, Vincent van Gogh, 9 October-21 November 1954, no. 25
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Eeuwfeest Vincent van Gogh, 23 July-20 September 1953, no. 54
Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum, Eeuwfeest Vincent van Gogh, 24 May-19 July 1953, no. 54
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Vincent van Gogh, 30 March-17 May 1953, no. 62
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Vincent van Gogh. Collectie ir. V.W. van Gogh, 12 October 1948-10 January 1949, no. 64
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh, 14 September-1 December 1945, no. zonder nr.
Paris, Les nouveaux musées, Quai de Tokio, La vie et l'oeuvre de Van Gogh, June-October 1937, no. 3
Snell, Sylvia, Vincent van Gogh : the self-portraits : what do they tell us about the man and the artist?, 2014, p. 88-89
