Self-Portrait as a Painter

Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Paris, September-November 1886

oil on canvas, 46.5 cm x 38.5 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

This is one of the earliest self-portraits painted by Van Gogh – and the first in which he portrayed himself as an artist. He stands at his field easel, holding his palette. After more than five years of practice in the Netherlands and Antwerp (BE), he was eager to make his name as a painter in Paris.

The rectangular palette is covered with splotches of paint; each one is a pure, unmixed colour. At the top is a small jar of turpentine for thinning the paint. There are two holes in the palette: in one we see Van Gogh's thumb and in the other two brushes.

F-number
F0181
JH-number
JH1090
Object number
s0160V1962
Dimensions
46.5 cm x 38.5 cm, 60.8 cm x 53.8 cm
Provenance
Left by the artist at the apartment of his brother Theo van Gogh, Paris, sometime between September and November 1886; after his death on 25 January 1891, inherited by his widow, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, and their son, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Paris; administered until her death on 2 September 1925 by Jo van Gogh-Bonger, Bussum/Amsterdam/Laren; transferred by Vincent Willem van Gogh, to the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam, 10 July 1962 (ratified 28 December 1970); agreement concluded between the Vincent van Gogh Foundation and the State of the Netherlands, in which the preservation and management of the collection, and its placing in the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, to be realized in Amsterdam, is entrusted to the State, 21 July 1962; given on loan until the opening of the museum on 2 June 1973 to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; on permanent loan to the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh from 2 June 1973 and at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, since 1 July 1994.
artist
Vincent van Gogh
Credits (obliged to state)
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

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