Viewing The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Van Gogh. Self-Portraits

The first major exhibition dedicated to Vincent van Gogh’s self-portraits brings together around half of the 35 surviving examples, among them the iconic Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear from the Courtauld’s own collection and Self Portrait with a Palette, one of his last self-portraits before his death in 1890.

Spanning his short but prolific career, the exhibition explores what prompted Van Gogh to depict himself so often, while charting the evolution of his painterly style. With only one portrait photo of Van Gogh known to exist, his self-portraits tell us almost everything we know about his appearance. But they also show something of his personality. He described the last self-portrait he did in Paris as ‘quite unkempt and sad’ […] something like, say, the face of – death’.

Featuring significant loans from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the National Gallery in London, this much-anticipated exhibition reveals Van Gogh’s skill, creativity and ingenuity and offers an unparalleled insight into his changing psychological condition and the way he viewed himself. Book tickets now.