![]() Instead the artist presents a highly confrontational image. ![]() He could have depicted the other side of his head or made the bandage appear less prominent. Painted just under a month after he mutilated his ear, he does not shy away from the trauma he had suffered. In some paintings, such as the Courtauld’s Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear (the centrepiece of the coming exhibition), the artist is probing his inner self and presenting a facet of his life. Van Gogh’s Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear (January 1889) © The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust) He disliked what was then a fairly recent technological development, which presumably explains why we have no photographs of him as an adult.Īs Vincent told his sister Wil: “I myself still find photographs frightful and don’t like to have any, especially not of people whom I know and love.” On another occasion he told her that “it isn’t easy to paint oneself”, but “one seeks a deeper likeness than that of the photographer”. Vincent felt that portraiture (and presumably self-portraiture) could do what photography had failed to achieve. ![]() This is because most of us are as fascinated by his extraordinary life as his amazing art. When we look at Van Gogh’s self-portraits, so often we are hoping to get an insight into his personality and thoughts. Only a single photograph of Vincent’s face survives, taken when he was 19. As with Rembrandt, our view of Van Gogh’s appearance is almost entirely conditioned by the self-portraits. Among Vincent’s great predecessors, only his fellow Dutchman Rembrandt painted slightly more, and that was during a career lasting more than four times longer (with just over 40 paintings, compared with Van Gogh’s 35). I am writing an essay for the catalogue.įew artists have produced as many self-portraits as Van Gogh. Curated by the Courtauld’s curator Karen Serres, Van Gogh Self-Portraits will be the first show ever to cover the full chronological range, reassembling nearly half of his self-portrait works. It has just been announced that London’s Courtauld Gallery is to hold an ambitious exhibition on Van Gogh’s self-portraiture next spring (3 February-).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |