The record dates Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat to 1886, the first Paris year. Self-portraiture is a Paris phenomenon in this catalogue and the record is blunt about it: there are no painted self-portraits dated before 1886 here, and from 1886 onward there are eighteen, four of them dated 1886 and seven dated 1887. The change of city and the beginning of the self-portraits are the same event in the chronology.
The canvas is 32.5 x 41 cm and is held by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The measured palette resolves to brown, still the Dutch reading โ 1886 is the year of transition, not of arrival.
The felt hat recurs so often that the catalogue has to work to keep the entries distinct: alongside this one there is Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat at the Easel from the same year, and from 1887 both Self Portrait with Felt Hat and Self Portrait with a Grey Felt Hat, held by different museums. These are separate canvases with separate dimensions and separate owners. The differences between them are exactly what a chronological catalogue is for, and exactly what gets lost when a single image is allowed to stand for the whole run.
Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [หvษชnsษnt หสษชlษษฑ vษล หษฃษx] ; 30 March 1853 โ 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he c
Dutch art dealer, 1866-1911
High-resolution image of the work, hosted on Wikimedia Commons.
Louie Drehmer, Curator, Vincent van Gogh Paintings
Louie curates Vincent van Gogh Paintings, cross-referencing every entry against museum records, Wikidata, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, and Wikipedia.
Self-Portrait with Dark Felt Hat is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, 1886, held at Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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