Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat

During the cold months of 1887 into 1888, Vincent van Gogh turned his gaze on himself once again in this self-portrait, one of more than thirty he created. The reason was practical rather than vain: he rarely had the money to hire models, so he became his own subject. Wearing a grey felt hat, he looks out with a steady, somewhat weary stare. The background steals much of the attention, built from short dashes of blue, orange, and red that seem to spin and pulse around his head like waves of energy.

Van Gogh made this while sharing an apartment in Paris with his brother Theo, a stretch of time when he was absorbing everything happening around him. The bright palettes of the Impressionists and the dotting technique of the pointillists left a clear mark on his work. That influence shows in the tiny strokes and specks that make up every part of the canvas, right down to his face and reddish beard. Instead of smoothing his colors together, he set contrasting shades next to each other so they would seem to vibrate. The result captures an artist mid-transformation, testing ideas that would soon become unmistakably his own.