Each museum has its own treasure of the town hall, and at the Courtaud Gallery in London, England, this status was borne by Van Gogh's famous painting "Self-Portrait with Bandages Around the Ear".
"Self-Portrait with Bandages wrapped Around the Ears" by Vincent M. Van Gogh, 1889
Collection of the Courtaud Gallery, London
This is Van Gogh's most famous self-portrait and one of the most famous in the history of art. The image of the man who self-harmed after a mental breakdown in the picture triggered a century-long misunderstanding of the artist in later generations, but it also reminds us of:
Regarding Van Gogh, his artistic myths have always been closely related to his extraordinary personal life, as well as his stunning paintings.
A painting exhibition being held at the Courtaud Gallery in London, Van Gogh. Self-Portraits tries to show this further.
Van Gogh. Self-Portraits exhibition site
Courtaud Art Gallery, London
The most comprehensive exhibition ever on Van Gogh's self-portraits, 16 van gogh self-portraits from Amsterdam, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Paris were carefully selected, accounting for half of van Gogh's total self-portraits.
From his early self-portraits in a dark felt hat in Paris to his last self-portrait before his death in 1890, Van Gogh painted a total of 35 self-portraits in his lifetime, a staggering number considering his short artistic career.
The sheer number of these paintings, their striking pictorial tension, and the artist's own highly recognizable facial features have made Van Gogh one of the most recognizable figures in art history and popular culture.
Bontaka partial self-portrait
The images left by the painter in these portraits—bearded, beardless, short-cut, shaved, disheveled, sick, improved health, confident, nervous, withdrawn, sunken cheeks and ears after tooth extraction—provide a reference for his physical condition, self-image, and mental state.
More importantly, they can also be seen as evidence of Van Gogh's pursuit of a unique artistic language, as an amazing artist's experiment with painting and personal style, and as well as, to express convictions:
Van Gogh always believed that painting could do what the emerging photography of the time could not do. In his view, the artist can seek a "deeper similarity" through painting, which emerges from the feeling of "the depths of the painter's soul". Portraits, especially self-portraits, gave Van Gogh plenty of opportunities to develop his artistic skills and ideas.
"My favorite subject — far more than anything else — is portraiture, modern portraiture."
—Vincent van Gogh
Compared to other painting subjects, self-portraits always have a unique intimacy, allowing us to look directly into the more hidden corners of the artist's mind. For the artist, self-portraits are also a technical test: if you can draw the complex colors of your own head, "I can certainly paint other men and women." In a painting created between December 1886 and January of the following year, van Gogh's smooth red beard on his face remained almost entirely in the darkness. But just a few months later, it turned into a fiery deep red and orange, showing a thick broken line. This is an amazing development.
Self-portraits by Van Gogh from various periods
These technical explorations followed Van Gogh in his hometown of The Netherlands, Paris, the south of France and other places, leaving behind a series of outstanding works containing emotional depth and psychological insight in just 5 years. Although Van Gogh suffered physical and mental blows during this period, he always insisted on finding an original expression "in the depths of the soul".
Van Gogh in Paris
February 1886 - February 1888
Vincent Willem van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, to a family of Protestant priests in Zindert, a Dutch village. In his early years, he worked as a clerk and trading house agent, as well as a missionary in the mines, and finally devoted himself to painting. His early painting style was realistic, influenced by traditional Dutch painting and the French Realist school.
In the Dutch school, Rembrandt was a master painter who was obsessed with creating self-portraits – he created more than 40 self-portraits in his 40-year career.
Rembrandt's self-portrait, 1659
Van Gogh's early style of self-portrait shows his homage to his fellow Dutchman; in terms of the timing and number of self-portraits, Van Gogh was even more obsessed with this subject than Rembrandt— he created more than thirty self-portraits in just five years from 1885 to 1889.
The reason van Gogh's self-portraits are so prolific is due to practical considerations and to the need for practice. The earliest batch of self-portraits of Van Gogh was created in Paris, when he lived with his brother Theo, lived frugally, and could not pay for hiring models; at this time, Van Gogh was exposed to a large number of new techniques related to modern art, which stimulated his creative passion, self-portraits became an important theme of Van Gogh's extensive artistic practice, and different painting techniques collided and merged in his self-portraits, resulting in different and changeable styles.
Van Gogh's trip to Paris began in February 1886. When Van Gogh first arrived, he knew almost nothing about the Parisian art scene, especially the modern school. In creating self-portraits, he also took on the distinct styles of the dutch traditional school, such as The Self-Portrait in a Black Felt Hat:
Self-Portrait in a Black Felt Hat, by Vincent van Gogh, 1886-1887
Van Gogh Museum Collection
The painting is one of the first self-portraits van Gogh created after his arrival in Paris, with a dark background, restrained brushstrokes and the brightest part on the face – a reference to Rembrandt's treatment of the stage drama of the portraits. The visual effect is as if the figure in the painting is standing on a black stage and a strong light hits his face. A similar work is Van Gogh's Self-Portrait of a Pipe Smoker, created in the same year:
Self-Portrait of a Pipe Smoker, by Vincent van Gogh, 1886
The painting reveals Van Gogh's penchant for smoking when he painted, saying:
"The most beautiful paintings were painted by me in bed with a pipe in my bed, in a half-dream, half-awake state."
After Theo rented a larger apartment and rented a studio for Van Gogh, Van Gogh began to shift his focus to the exploration of modern painting schools, such as the new school of painting that was popular in Paris at the time, the pointillist school, and applied it to his self-portraits:
Self-Portrait by Vincent van Gogh, 1887
Pointillist is a painting technique not encountered elsewhere by Van Gogh, pioneered by Georges Seurat and Paul Signek. Van Gogh, after getting to know Signek, began to use it in a highly personal way. In this self-portrait, although Van Gogh's beard, hair and face are outlined with paint, his jacket and background are decorated with bright dots of color in the style of color.
In Paris, Van Gogh created 26 of the 35 self-portraits, some of which were very explicit and explored the technique of pointillism, while others were free in style, such as Van Gogh in a straw hat in 1887:
Van Gogh in a Straw Hat, by Vincent van Gogh, 1887
In contrast to his highly controlled "pointillist" portraits, the painting employs expressive brushstrokes to create a tight composition. A large number of oil paints softened the silhouette, and Van Gogh unified the image in an intuitive way. Van Gogh wearing a straw hat in the picture is like a happy farmer living in the sun of Southern France, and the brightly colored scenery such as the sun, wheat fields and gardens in Southern France really makes Van Gogh fascinated.
A clip from the movie "Beloved Van Gogh"
In 1888, after two years of living in Paris, Van Gogh's emotional instability caused him to begin to have difficulties with Theo. At this point, Van Gogh thought that living in a different place completely might rejuvenate him.
Self-Portrait as a Painter, created in early 1888, is Van Gogh's last portrait in Paris:
Self-Portrait as a Painter, by Vincent van Gogh, 1888
In this painting, Van Gogh's hair is deliberately depicted in a yellowish color, which forms a distinct complementary color to the blue color of the clothes – an application of what Van Gogh learned during his two years in Paris.
During the creation of this painting, Van Gogh began to try to express the mental images of the artist through painting, but he admitted that it was quite difficult to successfully achieve this goal:
"Draw yourself – anyway different from the photos ... And seeking deeper similarities than photographers is not an easy task. ”
(Portrait of Van Gogh)
With a desire for "more colors, more sunshine", on February 19, 1888, Van Gogh boarded an overnight train to the south of France, leaving the mist and rain of Paris for Arles.
Van Gogh in Arles
February 1888 - May 1889
Arles is a small town in Provence, where Van Gogh settled mainly to experience the more intense colours:
"Being surrounded by colors like this is a new feeling for me and makes me extremely excited."
During this period, Van Gogh began exchanging self-portraits with artist friends such as Emile Bernard, whom he met in Paris, to promote artistic collaboration. In this way, Van Gogh gained a deeper understanding of the new styles of his fellow painters, such as folk art, symbolism, Japanese painting art, and "cloisonné."
In September of the same year, Van Gogh moved from his former boarding house café into the famous yellow house and invited Paul Gauguin to Arles to live and work with him.
The Yellow House by Vincent van Gogh, 1888
Although the two had hardly known each other before, Van Gogh was eager to communicate with his artist friends, hoping that the brotherhood between the artists of his dreams would be realized from getting along with Gauguin.
Gauguin reluctantly accepted, and at first the two got along happily, and this "Self-Portrait dedicated to Gauguin" proves the original beauty of this friendship:
Self-Portrait to Gauguin, by Vincent van Gogh, 1888
In this work, Van Gogh exaggerates his facial features, amplifying an emotion. He kept his head bare, making himself look like a "monk," a simple worshipper in front of the eternal Buddha. This incorporates the "pleats" technique that originated in Japan:
"I tilted my eyes slightly in the Japanese way."
Van Gogh presented the painting to Gauguin as a souvenir, thus demonstrating his multiple identities: both a modern painter and a pursuer of the spirit of art.
However, this great friendship in Van Gogh's ideal lasted only two months:
In December 1888, due to the discord between the two men's artistic concepts and Van Gogh's unstable tension, the relationship between Gauguin and Van Gogh deteriorated, and Gauguin began to become more and more worried about his mood swings and manic behavior. Finally, after Van Gogh experienced a serious psychotic episode, he cut off his left ear with his own hands. Van Gogh was immediately hospitalized and bandaged by Dr. Felix Rey.
Van Gogh painted two portraits of the left ear bandaged, "Self-Portrait with a Pipe and Bandaging the Ear" and "Self-Portrait with the Ear Bandaged":
Left: "Self-portrait smoking a pipe and bandaging your ears"
Right: Self-Portrait with Ears Bandaged
The first is after a storm over Van Gogh's psychotic episode, in which Van Gogh portrays himself as in a state of calm, obedience. Above all, this portrait is a true record of his extraordinary ability to heal himself.
Van Gogh often mentioned in his letters to Theo that smoking a pipe would comfort him when he was depressed—echoing his self-portrait in Paris. In addition, Van Gogh's use of complementary colors in this painting is concise and direct, reaching a peak in the use of color.
The second "ear-cutting self-portrait" appears to depict a more peaceful Van Gogh. When we see this portrait, it is as if we are staring with Van Gogh at the artist in the mirror who has just healed his wound. Van Gogh carefully examined himself over and over again, and we can clearly see from the portrait his depiction of a delicate eagle hook nose and collapsed cheeks, van Gogh began to find inner peace during the painting process, and slowly liberated from the conflict with Gauguin. "I retain all good hope," he said in a letter to his brother.
Van Gogh's letter to his brother
It is worth noting that part of the painting also shows a part of the yellow house, a white easel, and a Japanese print hanging on the wall, revealing the influence of Japanese art on Van Gogh.
Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy
May 1889 - September 1889
After a series of psychotic episodes and subsequent hospitalizations, Van Gogh felt he could no longer take care of himself in Arles. In addition, the ear cutting incident caused some citizens to fear his capricious behavior and asked the local police to take him away.
In May 1889, Van Gogh volunteered to go to Saint-Rémy, not far from Arles, and was admitted to the local St. Paul's Psychiatric Hospital.
During his hospitalization, Van Gogh was treated with kindness: the attending physician Perón assigned him an empty ward as a studio, and allowed him to walk to the hospital garden to sketch during his emotional calm; other patients were happy to help Van Gogh when his condition was stable, and in return, Van Gogh also painted portraits of his patients.
Self-Portrait in Saint-Rémy, by Vincent van Gogh, 1889
This "Self-Portrait in Saint-Rémy" was created in September 1889, and although Van Gogh was mentally fragile at this time and could only occasionally paint high-quality works, this self-portrait undoubtedly became a new peak in Van Gogh's artistic creation:
The self-portrait uses painting techniques comparable to Rembrandt and Titian, and Van Gogh shows a majestic momentum. The flowing whirlpool in the background reflects a flowing tension, contrasting with the extremely precise portrait in the main body of the painting, making Van Gogh's eyes the center of the whirlpool or storm - but he does not seem to be swept by this whirlpool, he looks calm and determined, like a hard reef lapping at the waves of the whirlpool.
Van Gogh's eyes in the painting are dignified and determined, trying to hide the pain of being tormented by illness, and the vortex formed by the paint in the background is coiled in his brain, passing through his head, outlining his chaotic mental emotions, as if a "clinical map" depicting his physical and mental suffering.
From this painting, we seem to be able to feel the sharp pain of his soul being torn apart in spiritual purgatory.
Van Gogh in the midst of an emotional vortex
Also in September 1889, Van Gogh created the last self-portrait of his life:
Self-Portrait to a Mother, by Vincent van Gogh, 1889
This self-portrait is a 70th birthday gift from Van Gogh to his mother. He shaved off his beard and shaved his face clean, wanting to present a healthy face to his mother. But his countenance still projected an uneasiness and fear.
During his hospitalization, Van Gogh's frequency and severity of his illness increased, and this condition may have been the main cause of his uneasiness and fear. In the self-portrait, Van Gogh sketches subtle changes in expression with tough lines, and in the different levels of blue background presented in the picture, he hopes to find a spiritual calm, a place of soul.
*The pictures in this article are from the network
Read the recommendation
Book Recommendation
Portrait of Van Gogh
Author: [English] Ralph Ski
Publisher: Beijing Fine Arts Photography Publishing House
Translator: Geng Wei
This book is a collection of portraits by the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, including portraits and self-portraits of artists for others. The book focuses on portraits and self-portraits, analyzing each painting and revealing the inner pain, fear, self-doubt, and occasional joys of life expressed by the painter Van Gogh through his paintings. The book depicts the background of each painting and explains it in words, so that the reader can clearly understand the colors and feelings conveyed in the portrait.
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