Vincent van Gogh made over 35 self-portraits, the bulk of them (over 25) over a two year period while he was in Paris (1886-1888). He was broke at that time, and didn’t have money to hire models, so the simplest, least expensive solution was to paint himself.
[Extra special thanks to www.art-vangogh.com , a fantastic website with an immense gallery of Van Gogh’s work as well as some great biographical info!]
The Self-Portraits Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Pipe (1886), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Pipe (1886), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Cap (1886), drawing, Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Self-Portrait wth Cap (1886), drawing, Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat (1886), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat at the Easel (1886) , Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Two Self-Portraits and Several Details (1886), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 019 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1886), Kunstmuseum Den Haag , The Hague, Netherlands 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat Rijksmuseum , Amsterdam 019 021 029 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Pipe and Glass (1887), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Portrait of Theo van Gogh (1887), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat (1887), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait The Art Institute of Chicago 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Kröller-Müller Museum , Otterlo 03 3 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1886-87), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 026 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 019 028 03 3 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1886-87) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art , Hartford, CT 019 021 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Hat and Pipe Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 018 021 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1887 Jul-Aug), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 028 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1886-87), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 030 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 029 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Staw Hat (1887), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Straw Hat Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 018 019 03 3 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (1887), Detroit Institute of Arts 026 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1887), Musée D’Orsay , Paris 021 Vincent van Gogh (possible forgery?), Self-Portrait with Japanese Print (1887) Kunstmuseum Basel Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait The Belvedere , Vienna 029 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1887-88), Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection , Zürich 028 031 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (1887), Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York City Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 018 029 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait in Front of an Easel (1888), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat (1888), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gaugin (1888), Fogg Art Museum , Harvard University, Cambridge 029 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1888), private collection 021 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889), Courtauld Gallery , London, England Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe (1889), Collection Niarchos Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1889), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 018 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait without Beard (1889), private collection 026 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Musée D’Orsay , Paris 018 Vincent van Gogh (possible forgery?), Self-Portrait – à l’oreille mutilé (1889), National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design , Oslo 021 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Pipe (1886), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdamincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat (1886), Van Gogh Museum , AmsterdamVincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat at the Easel (1886) , Van Gogh Museum , AmsterdamVincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat Rijksmuseum , Amsterdam 019 021 029 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Pipe and Glass (1887), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdamincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait The Art Institute of Chicago 032 Chris with Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1886-87) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art , Hartford Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Hat and Pipe Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 018 021 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1887 Jul-Aug), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 028 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1886-87), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 030 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 029 032 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Staw Hat (1887), Van Gogh Museum , AmsterdamVincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Straw Hat Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 018 019 03 3 Chris with Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait (1887), Musée D’Orsay , Paris Chris with Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (1887), Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York City Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam 018 029 Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait in Front of an Easel (1888), Van Gogh Museum , AmsterdamVincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat (1888), Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam Chris with Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gaugin (1888), Fogg Art Museum , Harvard University, Cambridge Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889), Courtauld Gallery , London, England Chris with Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Chris and his sons with Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Vincent van Gogh (possible forgery?), Self-Portrait – à l’oreille mutilé (1889), National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design , Oslo 021 Chris with Vincent van Gogh , Self-Portrait Musée D’Orsay , Paris How Van Gogh’s Self-Portraits Shaped my Brush with Peril Project Looking at Van Gogh’s portraits, I feel like he didn’t have the skill or interest to accurately convey actual proportions of his face measurements, which creates a series of portraits that might have similarities, but to me they look less like a bunch of self-portraits of one person, and more like several portraits of several different similar-looking people, such as brothers or relatives.
It reminds me of The Simpsons Season 9, Episode 17, “Lisa the Simpson,” where we meet a bunch of Homer Simpson’s relatives, who all have a strong resemblance to Homer, but one is thinner, and one has a thicker head of hair, they’re different ages, and one has a mustache, and they have different fashion senses, and so on.
With this in mind, I thought it made for a fun joke, AND made much more sense to use all these portraits as if they were each a different character, and they’re a bunch of Van Gogh brothers who were all vicious, brutal thugs for hire.
Read the comic book, “Brush with Peril”: BACK TO MASTER LIST Small List of Great Artists Small List of Museums
