OIL PAINTING: Self Portrait, 1889
THIS, the last of van Gogh self-portraits and one of the greatest, was painted only months before his death.
The compulsive, restless and crossing all over brushstrokes of the background, recalling the work of mental patients, is for some physicians an evidence that the painting was done in a psychotic state. But the self-image of van Gogh shows a masterly control and power of observation, a mind perfectly capable of integrating the elements of its chosen activity.