‘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,’ Vincent van Gogh once said. And he would know. Over the course of his short but prolific career, Van Gogh painted 35 self-portraits. The majority of these show him looking restrained and serious with bright red hair, green eyes and an angular face. Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat (1887) is one of Van Gogh’s boldest colour experiments from his formative period in Paris. The short stripes of blue and orange paint follow the outline of his head, creating a kind of halo, while the daubs of red and green intensify his piercing gaze and thick beard. On loan from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, it will highlight the forthcoming Van Gogh self-portraits exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in London.

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