Self-Portrait Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Description of Vincent van Gogh’s painting Self-Portrait

The artist Vincent Van Gogh painted a large number of paintings entitled simply, "Self-Portrait." Among such an abundance of images of the famous creator, we will focus on an 1887/88 self-portrait painted in oil on canvas in Paris.

In front of us is the face of a man who has passed the limits of his mature years. His eyes are black, somewhat frightened and a little preoccupied by something he has seen or experienced. He is wearing a red beard. His facial features are somewhat thin, and his nose is rather large.

There are a lot of facial wrinkles, and especially visible between the eyebrows, indicating that the author was frowning while he was painting this work. His mouth is slightly ajar in an exhausted distraction.

The overall feeling of the portrait is painful. The hair on the man’s head is light red and slicked back, very well traced on the forehead bald patches and bags under his eyes. The face resembles the coloring of faded autumn leaves, the skin of the forehead is pale. One ear is neat and very well seen in its rounded shape, the other is protruding, but due to the half-turn of the head it remains invisible to the inattentive viewer.

The artist’s neck is short and very thin. The white shirt is buttoned up, the lapels of the brown jacket are close to his neck and are decorated with small stripes of ochre color. The whole picture is somewhat rippled, like an old black-and-white movie, and gives us the feeling that we are looking at some kind of chronicle, almost a fading personality.

Red, brown, ochre, black and greenish, with yellow streaks dominate the painting. Brushstroke technique is quite large, so the canvas looks more like a panel made of wax or colored plasticine. Despite the fact that the author is a recognized personality, the painting looks rather mediocre.