Vincent van Gogh
Today we present Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait because ... today is Vincent van Gogh's birthday! Van Gogh painted this self-portrait in the winter of 1887–88, when he had been in Paris for almost two years. It is clear from the work that he had studied the technique of the Pointillists and applied it in his own, original way. He placed the short stripes of paint in different directions. Where they follow the outline of his head, they form a kind of halo.
The painting is also one of Van Gogh’s boldest color experiments in Paris. He placed complementary colours alongside one another using long brushstrokes: blue and orange in the background, and red and green in the beard and eyes. The colors intensify one another. The red pigment has faded, so the purple strokes are now blue, which means the contrast with the yellow is less powerful.
We present this painting thanks to our favorite Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. :)
P.S. Read here about the mystery of Vincent Van Gogh’s death.