# Self-Portrait

**Vincent van Gogh** (Dutch, 1853–1890)  
1887  
Oil on artist's board, mounted on cradled panel  
41 × 32.5 cm (16 1/8 × 12 13/16 in.); Framed: 61.6 × 53.4 × 8.9 cm (24 1/4 × 21 × 3 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1954.326. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/80607).

## About this work

Van Gogh’s face is as well known as his art—in fact, it is inseparable from it. The artist painted more than 35 self-portraits over his lifetime. This one was created in Paris under the influence of Seurat and pointillism. The intense dabs of paint and color, anchored by his eyes, create a turbulent energy, giving the viewer a deep sense of the artist’s presence.

_Text from the Art Institute of Chicago._

Vincent van Gogh painted this in 1887, aged 34. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

Painting of a red-haired, bearded man with light skin, painted in short brushstrokes and multicolored dots. The background is likewise a mass of small, closely spaced colored dots, these in green, blue, and red-orange.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Vincent van Gogh](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/vincent-van-gogh)

Dutch, 1853–1890; born in Zundert; died in Auvers-sur-Oise

Van Gogh worked as an art dealer, teacher and lay preacher before he turned to art in 1880, at twenty-seven. His early pictures of Dutch peasants are dark and heavy; in Paris from 1886 he met the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, and his palette brightened. In Arles in 1888–89 he painted with intense colour and thick, directional strokes, and he worked on at the asylum in Saint-Rémy and finally at Auvers-sur-Oise. The Poet’s Garden belongs to a group made to decorate Gauguin’s room in the Yellow House.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Netherlands
- The artist was 34
- Real size: about 16 × 13 in (41 × 32 cm). The 12 × 16 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Subjects: portraits, red (color), blue (color), green (color), orange (color), artist, self-portraits, emotions
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/215.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/215/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/self-portrait-aic-80607).