Self-Portrait

Painted in 1885, this early self-portrait was made during Gauguin's first sustained period as a full-time artist following his departure from the stock exchange during the financial crisis of 1882. He had sacrificed financial security for art and was often in serious material difficulty — a choice that also caused the breakdown of his marriage, as his wife Mette took the children back to Copenhagen. He was in his late thirties, committed to painting but not yet having found his distinctive voice. The self-portrait reflects his Impressionist training and his determination to make himself the subject of serious artistic scrutiny.

The self-portrait is painted with the Impressionist approach of the mid-1880s — varied, responsive brushwork building form through colour modulation. The face is rendered with direct observation, the colour palette relatively naturalistic. No hint yet of the radical Synthetist simplifications that would transform his work within a few years. A competent, honest early work that shows Gauguin's solid grounding in Impressionist technique.