The Zouave

Van Gogh painted Lieutenant Paul-Eugène Milliet, a young Zouave officer stationed in Arles, twice in the summer of 1888 — once in bust format and once in this three-quarter version. Milliet was a casual acquaintance who tolerated Van Gogh's company on outdoor sketching expeditions, and Van Gogh was fascinated by the theatrical costume of the Zouave regiment: their red kepi, loose blue jacket, and vivid trousers offered a riot of complementary colour. He wrote to Theo that the Zouave portrait had cost him 'great effort' and that 'the brutal man in red and blue' was a deliberate challenge to his own colour system. Milliet reportedly found the portrait unflattering.

The red cap against the blue collar creates a tight complementary opposition at the focal point of the composition. The vermilion and orange of the jacket are built up in overlapping brushstrokes. The tiled or painted background of green and orange adds further colour tension to an already vivid scheme.