Self-Portrait with Felt Hat

Set this beside Van Gogh's later Paris self-portraits and it looks like a different painter. He had just arrived from the Netherlands in 1886, moving in with his brother Theo, and his colours were still those of his Dutch years, browns, dull greens, the dark felt hat almost merging into the background. The bright dabs of blue and orange were still ahead of him. This is Van Gogh at the very start of Paris, before the city's exhibitions and painters had worked on him. He turned to his own reflection partly out of thrift, having no money to hire anyone to sit. The face is sober and closed, watching itself in the mirror with none of the flash of colour he would soon let loose.