Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (obverse: The Potato Peeler)

In Paris, without money to hire models and determined to improve as a figure painter, Van Gogh repeatedly turned to the mirror. This 1887 self-portrait is not a stable declaration of identity. It is a laboratory in which the face is rebuilt through color.

Short strokes of blue, green, orange, and red do not simply fill outlined shapes. They touch, oppose, and activate one another, reflecting Van Gogh's encounter with Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism, and modern color theory. The straw hat catches light, but the eyes remain concentrated and unsmiling. Brightness does not make the sitter carefree; it sharpens his alertness.

The painting occupies the front of the same canvas whose reverse bears The Potato Peeler. That physical pairing makes the self-portrait more than a story of stylistic progress. Van Gogh literally carries his earlier world behind the new image. The laboring woman remains present, unseen, beneath every look at the artist's face.

Artwork facts and open-access image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Curatorial text: Collebook.

Stand first at the hat. Its yellows and loose woven marks gather the strongest light. Then descend to the face, where short strokes change direction across the brow, cheeks, beard, and jacket.

The colors are separate but not isolated. Blue makes orange more vivid; green presses against red. Van Gogh is testing how a face can emerge from relationships rather than smooth modeling. The eyes interrupt that surface play. They look steady, tired, and intensely awake.

This is also an object with a hidden side. Behind the self-portrait is The Potato Peeler, painted two years earlier. Imagine the dark figure at the back while you look at this bright face. The canvas carries two kinds of labor at once.