Self-Portrait 1887

Curator: Standing before us is Vincent van Gogh’s "Self-Portrait" from 1887. Editor: The intensity hits you immediately, doesn’t it? There’s a raw quality, almost unsettling in the way the eyes seem to penetrate right through you. Curator: It's striking how Van Gogh consistently returns to the self-portrait. It's an exploration, a construction of identity against the backdrop of personal struggle and societal constraints, wasn't it? Think of how class and mental health access played roles here. Editor: Absolutely. And it’s all there in the materiality. Look at the layering of the paint – that characteristic impasto. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving, his physical presence imbedded in the very fabric of the work. Notice the quick, deliberate strokes forming planes of light and shadow. What was the economic reality, too, that influenced his limited means or resourcefulness when producing the art? Curator: It’s more than just a surface. It’s a record of labor, as you put it, that is very clearly embodied in Van Gogh. He's positioning himself both as a worker and, dare I say, a kind of rebel against the traditional portraiture of the time. Editor: Rebel, yes! There’s nothing polished or idealized here. This isn’t about representing wealth or status. It’s about the sheer physical act of making, using the materials to almost sculpt his own likeness. And how his clothes represent the kind of working person, laborer that he must have identified with or that he probably was. Curator: I agree. We also must also confront his representation of masculinity. Considering that the conventional depictions of man are powerful and stoic, it really makes this a complex investigation of mental struggle and, again, socioeconomic position. Editor: I leave feeling acutely aware of how our contemporary ideas of artistic genius tend to ignore the lived, material realities that birthed this, or any artwork for that matter. Curator: And for me, seeing him depicted in such an unconventional, almost vulnerable way, reminds us to ask ourselves how artistic success can come with psychological damage.