User:The Renaissance Explorer/Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear

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Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear is an 1889 self-portrait by Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh. The painting is in the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art and on display in the Gallery at Somerset House. The painting includes inspiration from Japanese Woodblock printing.

About the Painting
In this self-portrait, Van Gogh portrays himself in a blue cap with black fur and a green overcoat with a bandage covering his ear and extending under his chin. Behind him is an open window, a canvas on an easel, with a few indistinguishable marks, as well as a Japanese woodblock print, Geishas in a Landscape made by Satō Torakiyo in the 1870s. (added citation)

'''The fur cap pictured in the portrait serves as a memory of the difficult working circumstances he encountered in January 1889. The cap had been recently purchased to keep his heavy bandage in place and protect him from the winter cold. '''

'''Van Gogh used Impasto painting strokes, a technique where paint is laid thickly on a surface to show marks of the Painting knife, to give the composition more energy and passion.  He was inspired by Adolphe Monticelli's use of impasto in his own paintings as illustrated by the letter he wrote to his brother, Theo, in 1888. '''

On evening of December 23, 1888, Gauguin threatened to leave and Van Gogh approached him with a razor. Later that night, Van Gogh he sliced off his left ear, which is not apparent in the portrait since he used a mirror to paint it, making it seem like the right ear is bandaged instead, and brought it to a prostitute in Arles.

The Japanese Art Influence
'''The art of Woodblock printing in Japan was of great influence for Van Gogh as he was a big collector of many Japanese pieces. Throughout his lifetime, he had collected hundreds of Japanese prints, including Geishas in a Landscape by Torakiyo Sato, which was then used as inspiration for the copy in the background of this portrait. '''

'''Van Gogh's interest in Japanese art guided him to modernize his own art style. He enjoyed the bold colors and spatial effects of the Japanese prints which prompted him to start using them in all of his work including this portrait. '''