Self Portrait in a Grey Felt Hat
Vincent Van Gogh
Paris, 1887
Van Gogh has many famous pieces such as Starry Night, Irises, and Bedroom in Arles, but I enjoy this painting out of his many self portraits for the clever use of color and skill in consistency. Many of Van Gogh’s self portraits were used as testing grounds for styles of painting and interestingly depict many different styles that he chose to practice on. At this stage of his self portrait journey, his brushstroke skill is growing profoundly and the rhythmic nature of his painting adds to the emotion and direction of a still life portrait. There are strokes that form down his nose, but every other stroke outside of that radiates from the central point on his face, widening an already stern expression. Clever use of the rippling effect of curved strokes around his head create an aura-like effect doppled with orange spots that might represent a starry sky. Although there are many obvious similarities in colors used throughout this piece, there are very few instances (white outlining on the jacket), where it is a apparent that a singular color made up the majority of a single brush stroke, as this is but a minor detail- bold single color strokes are very common in oil paintings. There is much speculation about the processes in which Van Gogh painted, and interestingly enough it has been very well studied. There have been algorithms created (De-pict), that actually replicate Van Gogh’s style and through X-ray analysis have found that there were at least 3 different layers of brush stroke patterns before the final product was produced. Many of these intermediate layers provide framework for getting feel for the direction of the painting, but as more layer progresses, they add dimension and underlying highlights to an apparent strictly conformed painting.
I chose to compare Van Gogh’s work to UAF’s very own Todd Sherman. I am a very big fan of Mr. Sherman’s work, and actually struggled trying to find good photographs of some of his work. Here are a few examples. 
Someone
Todd Sherman
Fairbanks, Alaska
Walrus, Momma Polar Bear, Young Polar Bear, and Ringed Seal
Todd Sherman
Fairbanks, Alaska 2014
Sherman’s work has a very colorful style, which I find similar to Van Gogh’s Self Portrait. There are many colors used in both paintings that would not be traditionally considered for shading or highlighting, but inherently bring life to the pieces. Examples include the many of the dark greens and light blues chosen by Van Gogh for shading around the eyes (perhaps to bring out his own green eyes), and Sherman’s yellows and pinks found in his Polar Bear paintings. Much of Van Gogh’s style comes from his carefully executed rhythmic brushstrokes, but the lighthearted freeing style of Sherman’s less constructed depiction of animals in the natural world.
-More of Todd Sherman’s work if you have the interest, many of his pieces around the University are not in this portfolio. http://www.toddsherman.com/artwork/index.html
Variations in style give each artist their own appeal and admirable qualities, I enjoy both styles, especially for the bold use of non traditional colors to provide dimension as well as character to the pieces they chose to paint.
Kuang, Yubin, D. Stork, and F. Kahl. “Improved curvature-based in painting applied to fine art: Recovering van Gogh’s partially hidden brush strokes” n.d. http://www2.maths.lth.se/vision/publdb/reports/pdf/KuangStorkKahlfinal.pdf
so much depends 
I too really enjoy Van Gogh’s work! My favorite piece is Almond Blossom the way Van Gogh used delicate colors and dabs of pink and a beautiful deep blue background just is amazing to me! I have seen some of his self portraits and you are correct that as his self portraits progresses the style was refined. Do you prefer the earlier version of Van Gogh’s self portraits or later versions? I really enjoyed Todd Sherman’s work the bear is a really cool with all the different blues, yellows and whites blending together. Even better though is that Todd is a fellow UAF alumni.
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I love Van Gogh’s art work. Along with the self portrait that you displayed in your blog I also enjoy his piece “Starry Night”. I think the comparison between Todd Sherman and Van Gogh was excellent. I love how you can see both of their brush strokes however Van Gogh’s are more abrupt and Sherman’s are smoother. I did not know Todd Sherman was painter for the art right outside of the museum. I should have known considering you can find his art all over campus. I particularly love his art because he incorporates all the colors of the rainbow but does it in a way where the art still looks very realistic. Do you know if he usually just paints portraits or has he branched off into landscapes as well?
http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889
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I used to be a fan of Van Gogh’s work when I was younger but as I got older, I saw his work as poorly constructed pieces of artwork. So many other impressionist and post impressionist do a great work of creating pieces that demonstrated great technique and skill while at the same time, being just as intensely imbued with emotion and color. In that area, Van Gogh’s work is lacking in my opinion. Still I enjoyed your blog and your comparison to
a more comtempary artist like Todd Sherman. Still, I didn’t see any comparison to any other art era in your post, something that would highlighted the specifics of the Van Gogh’s work and perhaps given me a deeper appreciate of his work.
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