Self-Portraits by Vincent van Gogh

Most probably, Van Gogh's self portraits are depicting the face as it appeared in the mirror he used to reproduce his face, i.e. his right side in the image is in reality the left side of his face. The first self-portrait by Van Gogh that survived, is dated 1886. All Self-Portraits executed in Saint-Rémy show the artist's head from the left, i.e. the side with ear not mutilated. Van Gogh painted Self-Portrait without beard just after he had shaved himself. The self-portrait is one of the most expensive paintings of all time, selling for $71.5 million in 1998 in New York. At the time, it was the third (or an inflation-adjusted fourth) most expensive painting ever sold. No self-portraits were executed by Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, during the final weeks of his life. Almost at the same time, when his Catalogue raisonné was published, Jacob Baart de la Faille had to admit that he had included paintings emerging from dubious sources, and of dubious quality. Little later, in...