Portrait de l'artiste, 1887
Vincent Van Gogh
Oil on canvas
This self-portrait painted in Paris in the autumn of 1887, illustrates the radical changes in Van Gogh's painting since his arrival in the French capital in March 1886. His palette is paler and his brushstrokes are longer and more fragmented. This new style, which was influenced by his contact with Gauguin and Bernard, emphasises the expressiveness of the subject influenced also by the "scientific painting" of Seurat and Signac, he exploited the strong contrast between the complementary colours blue and orangey-yellow. The face of the artist, a recent convert to modern art, radiates a degree of confidence.
[Musée d'Orsay]
Taken in Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay, in the Beaux-Arts former railway station of Gare d'Orsay, built 1898-1900 for the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans, designed by Lucien Magne, Émile Bénard and Victor Laloux. The train services were electric, which defined the building structure and allowed a canopy rather than train shed. Until 1939 the station was the terminus for trains from the southwest, until the trains became too large for the station to support, with suburban services continuing for a bit longer. After being railway station, the building was used as a mailing centre during the war and then to process prisoners of war (returning or departing). Post-war, the building was used for various films and theatre, before coming under threat of demolition in the 1970s, and then proposed as a museum - a competition was held in 1978 and the contract awarded to ACT Architecture (Pierre Colboc, Renaud Bardon and Jean-Paul Philippon) and Gae Aulenti to design the interior. The museum was formally opened in December 1986 by President François Mitterrand.
Portrait de l'artiste, 1887
Vincent Van Gogh
Oil on canvas
This self-portrait painted in Paris in the autumn of 1887, illustrates the radical changes in Van Gogh's painting since his arrival in the French capital in March 1886. His palette is paler and his brushstrokes are longer and more fragmented. This new style, which was influenced by his contact with Gauguin and Bernard, emphasises the expressiveness of the subject influenced also by the "scientific painting" of Seurat and Signac, he exploited the strong contrast between the complementary colours blue and orangey-yellow. The face of the artist, a recent convert to modern art, radiates a degree of confidence.
[Musée d'Orsay]
Taken in Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay, in the Beaux-Arts former railway station of Gare d'Orsay, built 1898-1900 for the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans, designed by Lucien Magne, Émile Bénard and Victor Laloux. The train services were electric, which defined the building structure and allowed a canopy rather than train shed. Until 1939 the station was the terminus for trains from the southwest, until the trains became too large for the station to support, with suburban services continuing for a bit longer. After being railway station, the building was used as a mailing centre during the war and then to process prisoners of war (returning or departing). Post-war, the building was used for various films and theatre, before coming under threat of demolition in the 1970s, and then proposed as a museum - a competition was held in 1978 and the contract awarded to ACT Architecture (Pierre Colboc, Renaud Bardon and Jean-Paul Philippon) and Gae Aulenti to design the interior. The museum was formally opened in December 1986 by President François Mitterrand.