Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear

Van Gogh painted this self-portrait with a bandaged ear in January 1889, just days after the crisis of December 23rd in which he severed part of his own left earlobe. Rather than avoiding the episode, he confronted it directly through painting — wearing his bandage visibly, holding a pipe, his face calm and composed in deliberate contradiction to the chaos of what had just occurred. The Courtauld Gallery version shows him in a fur-lined coat against a painted canvas visible in the background. It stands as one of art history's most psychologically charged acts of self-representation, painted with extraordinary steadiness under extreme stress.

The composition is anchored by the white bandage across the left ear and cheek, which draws the eye immediately. The fur coat is rendered with thick, swirling strokes, and a Japanese woodblock print is visible in the upper right background, referencing Van Gogh's longstanding admiration for Japonism.