Portraits of an artist as a young man

Despite a short artistic career of only about 10 years, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) became a significant figure in the story of modern art. A tireless and meticulous draughtsman, he also painted prolifically, creating scores of iconic images in all three genres—landscapes, portraits, and still life. Overcoming severe physical, mental, and financial stress, he sought to combat his anxieties by immersing himself in artistic endeavours before shooting himself to death at the age of 37 in a cornfield at Auvers sur Oise, just north of Paris.

Among other things, Van Gogh painted 36 self-portraits between 1886 and 1890. In July 2022, a hidden self-portrait was discovered in the collection of The National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, painted on the back of a study for his famous work, ‘Potato Eaters’ (1885).

According to researcher Bregje Gerritse at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, van Gogh struggled to find models for his work as he had no money to pay them. He, therefore, turned to his mirror, using himself as a model, and began practising painting portraits. He employed different accessories, such as hats and pipes, to make himself appear different in each image. The self-portraits were not meant to be sold but were only his study material. On his part, van Gogh confessed: “People say—and I’m quite willing to believe it—that it’s difficult to know oneself—but it’s not easy to paint oneself either.”

Curiously, the only known photographic portrait of van Gogh was taken when he was 19. That picture shows him as a rather scruffy young man with unkempt hair. The artist is supposed to have had a general dislike for photographs, even telling his sister once: ‘I myself still find photographs frightful and don’t like to have any, especially not of people whom I know and love.’ 

Therefore, to comprehend what the Dutch master looked like in real life, apart from this single photograph and self-portraits, one has to look at the few paintings created by his artist friends.

Russell’s masterpiece

Historians largely agree that the most accurate depiction of van Gogh is the 1886 painting by the little-known Australian expatriate John Russell (1858-1930). The image bears a strong aesthetic element and marks the sitter as a truly intense and involved artist rather than a tortured genius.

The picture, which resembles a photograph, shows the renowned artist looking directly at the viewer. Set against a dark background, the subject’s weathered face is lit by the glow of Rembrandtesque light. Russell was obviously admired by van Gogh, who called him ‘a man who has much gravity and strength’. When Russell gifted the painting to him as a token of their friendship, van Gogh was ecstatic. Years later, he wrote to his brother Theo, reminding him to “take good care of my portrait by Russell, which means a lot to me.”

Painter of sunflowers

Historians point out that van Gogh’s portrait was also painted by two other artist friends, Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901). Gauguin’s painting, The Painter of Sunflowers (1888), portrayed him in a rather unflattering light. Van Gogh supposedly remarked, ‘My face has lit up a lot since, but it was indeed me, extremely tired and charged with electricity as I was then.’

‘More than a little mad’

A Scottish artist born in Bengaluru, Archibald Standish Hartrick was one of those who painted van Gogh. “Van Gogh was a rather weedy little man, with pinched features, sandy hair and beard and a light blue eye,” recalled Hartrick. “He had an extraordinary trick of pouring out sentences in a mixture of Dutch, English and French, then glancing quickly at you over his shoulder and hissing through his teeth… When excited, he looked more than a little mad.”

Hartrick described Russell’s portrait of van Gogh as ‘an admirable likeness, more so than any of those by van Gogh or Gauguin,’ and opined that it captured one of the Dutchman’s quirks. Today, experts concur that Russell’s portrait offers the most accurate and realistic likeness of Vincent van Gogh.