Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait, 1885

“Examination of the painting under infrared light and with radiographs has revealed that Gauguin made important changes in his self-image as he developed it ever more starkly. At first he portrayed himself in profile and included reproductions of his own paintings on the background wall. Turned to confront the viewer in the final work, he shows himself left-handed, like his image in a mirror, crowded in an attic space with a slanted beam, and cold, with the lapels of his heavy jacket wrapped together. Only his piercing eye escapes the bleak atmosphere.”

Kimbell Art Museum