Vincent van Gogh
Saint-Remy, First week of September 1889
Oil paint on canvas
This is a rare example of Vincent van Gogh representing himself as a painter at work. Brushes and a palette with four colours – the main pigments used in this portrait (the pink on the right should be red but has faded) – protrude from the bottom of the composition.
This exhibition marks the first time in over 130 years that this self-portrait is reunited with the painting on its left, painted only a week earlier but showing Van Gogh in a very different light. Here, he appears more confident and less introverted. The two self-portraits haven’t been seen together since leaving the workroom in the asylum in Saint-Remy where Van Gogh painted them.