Face to Face with Van Gogh

The Courtauld's recent exhibition on Van Gogh's Self Portraits is a masterclass in curation.

Van Gogh's self portraits are rare - it was only in the last four years of his life that he started experimenting with this genre and in that time produced thirty-five self-portraits. Normally these paintings are interpreted as physical manifestations of of Van Gogh's emotional turmoil, but the Courtauld sets out to prove otherwise:

'The exhibition goes beyond these subjective interpretations to explore the many ways Van Gogh approached self-portraiture: an outlet for experimenting with new styles, a cheap way of securing a model, a critical tool for psychological introspection, and a means of constructing his own identity.'

This is an exhibition with a clear singular ambition and it successfully demonstrates the diversity of Van Gogh's portraits and the multiple motivations behind them in less than twenty paintings. Across the two rooms there is a chronological flow showing the early experiments with colour and form into more confident and ambitious self-portraits.

This is the first time many of these pictures have been shown publicly side by side and the effect is striking. I was able to see Van Gogh's journey over time, how the backgrounds and colours changed, how his facial features shifted and how his severed ear was hidden from view. When Van Gogh began to paint again after his stay at a psychiatric hospital he wrote 'if I recover... it'll be because I've cured myself by working, which fortifies the will and consequently allows these mental weaknesses less hold'. These paintings are, as the Courtauld describes them, a 'courageous stance in the face of great distress'. It seems that self-portraiture was simultaneously an outlet, a therapy, a distraction and a joy.

The exhibition has an academic feel to it, almost as if one is progressing through an essay through each label and description. It's focused and instructive and the use of quotations allows visitors to pair their own personal reactions to paintings with their historical context. Vincent's voice is present in his face and through his words. For Vincent, a painter is able:

'to show people that there's something else in human beings besides what the photographer is able to get out of them with his machine... painted portraits have a life of their own that comes from deep in the soul of the painter and where the machine can't go'.

In a world where new technologies and photography appeared rivals, or at least alternatives, to painting, Vincent's self-portraits are dynamic demonstrations of identify. The self is present in both process and result - every brushstroke is an exploration of who he is in that moment, each shaping the face that finally emerges to meet a new pair of eyes searching for answers.