Self-Portrait with Straw Hat

On this day in July 1890, one of the most influential artists of all time, Vincent van Gogh died at the age of 37, after having shot himself in the chest with a 7mm Lefaucheux pinfire revolver. There were no witnesses of this mysterious incident. The shooting may have taken place in the wheat field in which he had been painting, or in a local barn. Vincent was on his deathbed for 30 hours. According to Theo, his last words were: "The sadness will last forever."

Here we see his quite cheerful self-portrait. Wearing light summer clothes, the artist examines us with one blue and one green eye.  For this self-portrait, Van Gogh used an inexpensive alternative to canvas: cardboard. He then applied a layer of priming with dashes of purple. But the pigment in that purple paint has largely faded over time. A few strokes of pink are still faintly visible in his shoulder. The original colors, carefully composed by Van Gogh, have therefore been lost. For instance, the purple background once contrasted with his yellow straw hat.

We present today's work thanks to the Van Gogh Museum.  : )

If you would like to have more masterpieces of van Gogh with you every day, please check our van Gogh Notebook here.  : )

P.S. Here are 10 of Vincent van Gogh’s self-portraits you definitely need to know.