The Courtauld Gallery re-opened in late 2021 after being closed for several years for renovations to make better use of the limited space it has in Somerset House, a listed building. Its first major exhibition of 2022 is a selection of Van Gogh's self-portraits, about half of all the self-portraits he painted in his short life.
There are 15 paintings and one drawing self-portrait, one symbolic self-portrait and one portrait of his friend Eugene Boch. The Courtauld owns one of the paintings, the self-portrait of Vincent with a bandaged ear, and the other works come from various collections around the world. They're all roughly the same size and shape and most have a plain background rather a scene of a room or landscape behind him.
I wandered from painting to painting wondering what Van Gogh was trying to achieve with these paintings. Was he just practicing and using himself as a convenient model? His style clearly changed between the paintings, sometimes noticeably, using his brush markings in different ways to evoke the image of his face but was there more to it? His colour palette changes frequently, from rather dark and 'formal' self-portraits to freer, lighter paintings, sometimes in a hat and formal coat or jacket and sometimes in more informal or work clothes. No doubt there'll be a learned essay in the catalogue about this.
In only one of the paintings does he present himself as a painter, with a canvas, palette and brushes, wearing his painters' smock. Artists have been painting themselves like this for as long as they've done self-portraits.
One of my favourite paintings is of Van Gogh in a straw hat, in which the only dark element is his eyes. It's slightly smaller than the others but is very attractive in the gentle, almost dappled, colours he's chosen for it. Perhaps that's why it's in the chunky black frame? It would look very different in a lighter and thinner frame (my hint to the Detroit Institute of Art where it normally resides).
Mr Van Gogh is known for his bright ginger beard and in one painting it almost jumps off the canvas at you. He was experimenting with pointillism at the time, using dots of contrasting colours to create the image. It's fascinating to look at his brush marks with dots and little dashes of colour on his jacket and filling the background with more usual marks on his face, particularly over his nose to create the contours, a definite mix of styles creating his own style.
It's interesting to note the different frames his works are placed in, presumably the frames they came in when loaned to the Courtauld. Most are quite thick and chunky in different styles and colours and I can't help but think they'd look better in simpler frames. They're not big paintings so having a chunky frames makes them appear bigger by taking up more wall space but I don't think that adds anything to the paintings themselves.
There is also only one full face self-portrait with Vincent looking straight out at the viewer. Apparently he didn't like showing his full face since it demonstrated his gaunt, sunken cheeks due to losing his teeth.
A final two paintings for you, the famous self-portrait with a bandaged ear that is the only one in the exhibition with a background of what looks like his room with art on the wall. In none of the paintings does he look particularly happy or relaxed. There must have been bright moments in his life but you wouldn't guess that from the self-portraits.
A painting I am very familiar with is Van Gogh's painting of his chair, a symbolic self-portrait, since it's normally in the National Gallery. I don't have a problem with including this painting since it is a representation of him, his chair with his pipe and tobacco on the seat is saying 'this is me'. It was a companion piece to the painting he did of Gauguin's chair from the short time they lived and painted together. He signs it simply as 'Vincent'.
This is a lovely exhibition and I'm pleased I've seen it (several times now). It hasn't shown me different side to Van Gogh the man or the painter but it does emphasise his constant experimentation, even in relatively small ways. He died very young but left behind a wealth of paintings. Highly recommended.
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