How About a Self-Portrait?

Recently an e-mail came to me which requested my submission of art for a self-portrait show. I realized that I had not done a self-portrait since high school!

Do I hear a challenge?

Vincent Van Gogh might hold the record for the most self-portraits painted.



The first step for a portrait: need an image.

Taking a photograph of myself was an experience in itself! I learned, after several attempts for a "good picture", that we prefer the image of ourselves to have a certain look. How many times have you looked at a photograph of yourself and not liked it?

This brought back ancient memories of when I was drawing children's portraits. I photographed them and drew from the photo. When I presented the finished portrait to the parents they either loved it or hated it. I even tried to make some changes in their presence, but this did not always correct the problem. Sometimes the child did not like the portrait; my niece for example.

Finally, I have an acceptable image for the self-portrait. The next question is what medium to use......pencil, watercolors, or maybe even oil paints?

When I painted the portrait of my grandson, I enjoyed the dialogue with him as I painted and the study of his features. What will it be like to stare for hours at my face? I believe I have embarked on an insightful journey......

Vincent and Gauguin

Artists Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin spent time together and painted.

Would you have liked to be a fly on the wall in the studio?


Portrait of Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers
Paul Gauguin
December 1888

The portrait honors the bond of friendship between the two artists, although they never saw each other again after Gauguin's departure that winter. It is noted that their discussions about art would become debates, and then hostile arguments. By the end of the winter their friendship had become frayed.

Vincent portrayed his life with Gauguin in Arles in these paintings of chairs:


Vincent's Chair with his Pipe
Vincent Van Gogh
December 1888


Gauguin's Chair
Vincent Van Gogh
November 1888

The two paintings of Vincent's and Paul Gauguin's chairs are among the most often analyzed of Van Gogh's works. These companion paintings have attracted much attention because of the symbolic interpretations underlying the subject matter. Van Gogh himself discussed these works in a number of his letters, but didn't include any detailed interpretations of the underlying meaning of the paintings.

The Real Van Gogh

Still Life with a Plate of Onions
(and a letter)
Vincent Van Gogh (January 1889 - letter 732)
oil on canvas, 49.6 x 64.4 cm
The Real Van Gogh - the Artist his Letters will open on Saturday at the Royal Academy of Art in London.

The exhibition displays some 65 paintings, 30 drawings and 35 letters. Together these express the principal themes of his longstanding correspondence with his brother Theo. Other artists have written letters but no other artist has written quite so much about the process of creating art - on a contemporaneous basis.

Van Gogh's letters are rarely exhibited because of their fragility - which makes this a very rare exhibition. These are also very powerful documents which help to create a real sense of connection with Van Gogh.

Most importantly this exhibition tackles some of the myths about Van Gogh and reveals him as being a very different artist from the one which is decribed by 'popular' publications and films.

This exhibition clearly conveys how Van Gogh lived his life on paper - he drew, he painted, he read and he wrote. His was a very solitary existence - he was apparently so intense and focused on what he was interested in that he was very difficult to live with.

He comes across as a very intelligent and well read man in this exhibition. Also, although his excution of a painting may have been fast at times, the letters and drawings clearly demonstate that he is somebody who studied hard, practiced in a very deliberate way to develop his skills, and created plans for his compositions and colour schemes only after he had thought about this at some detail.


Letter 902 - the very last letter from Vincent to Theo Van Gogh
Drawing of Wheatfields after the Rain (the Plain of Auvers)

In his very last letter to Theo dated Wednesday 23rd July 1890, four days before he shot himself in the chest - Van Gogh sent sketches of two no. 30 canvases depicting immense streches of wheat after the rain.......the unfinished letter to Theo, a draft of the one that was actually sent was found on Vincent's person after he shot himself in the fields on 27 July 1890 (and is in the exhibition)
From The Exhibition Catalogue: The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters

If you'd like to read the letters you can now do so now by visiting the new Van Gogh Museum website dedicated to them - Vincent Van Gogh - The Letters. This gives you access to all 902 letters.

Van Gogh's Gardens

Did you know that Van Gogh made many drawings and paintings of gardens? Apparently, gardens are identified as a favorite motif of Van Gogh.


Flowering Garden with Path
Vincent Van Gogh (Arles July 1888)
Oil on canvas, 72 x 91cm,


Flowering Garden
Vincent Van Gogh (Arles July 1888)
Oil on canvas, 92.0 x 73.0 cm.

Here is the letter to his brother, Theo, about the above paintings.

Van Gogh on YouTube

Have you visited the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris, France?

The museum is dedicated to artwork in the period 1848 to 1914 and is, in part, a temple to Impressionism. Essentially it starts where the Louvre leaves off. The artwork housed in the museum came from three different collections.

There is one room in the museum containing 18 Van Gogh paintings. Katherine Tyrell says, "It's certainly an experience to be in a room with quite so many Van Goghs. You'll note from the video that it's very crowded. However, that's what all the rooms are like on the top floor where the late nineteenth century and Impressionist paintings are displayed. However people always like to linger in the Van Gogh room......."



Like Rembrandt and Goya, Vincent van Gogh often used himself as a model; he produced over forty-three self-portraits, paintings or drawings in ten years.