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Van Gogh. Self-Portraits

Van Gogh. Self-Portraits

£25.00Price

Available as a fixed-page e-book through University of Chicago Press

 

This important publication accompanies the first ever exhibition devoted to Vincent

van Gogh’s self-portraits across his entire career. The exhibition at the Courtauld

Gallery and accompanying catalogue feature world-famous and lesser known works

from the great artist.

 

The myth of Van Gogh today is linked as much to his extraordinary life as it is to his

stunning paintings. His biography has often shaped the way that his self-portraits have been (mis)understood. Van Gogh. Self-Portraits reconsiders this aspect of his production and places the artist’s self-representation in context to reveal the role it plays in his oeuvre. It also explores the power and profound emotion of these highly personal paintings.

 

Van Gogh. Self-Portraits is the first time this theme has been exclusively addressed.

Self-portraits painted during Van Gogh’s time in Paris (February 1886 – February 1888) have been the subject of two exhibitions (in 1960 at Marlborough Fine Arts in London and in 1995 at the Kunsthalle in Hamburg) but never has the full chronological range been explored. The exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery features paintings from both the Parisian and Provençal periods. It brings together half of Van Gogh’s thirty-five known self-portraits to examine the ways the artist approached this particular subject-matter. On a practical level, painting himself provided Van Gogh with the cheapest and most patient of models and represented an important conduit for stylistic experimentation. He also used self-portraiture as an homage to his illustrious Dutch predecessor Rembrandt, as well as a way of fashioning his own identity and presenting himself to the outside world. Of particular interest is the striking way the evolution of Van Gogh’s self-representation over the short years of his artistic activity can be seen as a microcosm of his development as a painter.

 

In addition to the world-famous Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear in The Courtauld’s

collection, the exhibition showcases a group of major masterpieces brought together

from international collections, including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the

Mus e d’Orsay in Paris, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Gallery of Art in

Washington, D.C. among others. This beautifully illustrated catalogue includes detailed entries on each work, an appendix illustrating all of Van Gogh’s self-portraits and three insightful essays on the theme.

  • Edited by Karen Serres

    February 2022

    ISBN: 978-1-913645-20-5

    Paperback, 260 x 215 mm

    152 pages, over 65 colour illus.

     

    About the authors 

    Karen Serres is Curator of Paintings at The Courtauld Gallery, London. Louis van Tilborgh is Senior Research at the Van Gogh Museum and Professor of Art History at the University of Amsterdam. Martin Bailey is a Van Gogh expert and journalist at The Art Newspaper.

  • Exhibition

    The Courtauld Gallery, London

    3 February – 8 May 2022

  • In the press

    ★★★★★ "Unmissable ... there’s fascination at every turn: the colours, the brushstrokes, the magnificent forehead ... Van Gogh and his inferno of a talent are palpable." —The Guardian

     

    "Enormously inspiring, stirring" —FT

     

    ★★★★★ "Rigorous and thoughtful ... extraordinary"  —Evening Standard

     

    ★★★★★ “A landmark exhibition ... sensational.” —The Telegraph

     

     ★★★★★ “Van Gogh’s art at its rawest and most intimate.” —Independent

     

     ★★★★★ "Unprecedented" —The Times

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