1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,240 AHMADI: Of all the artists who have ever lived, 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,920 none are better known than Vincent van Gogh. 5 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:19,960 He is celebrated around the world. 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,640 His life and his work stand apart from any other painter, 7 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,560 filling galleries, books and movie theatres, 8 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,320 and selling every type of merchandise. 9 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:33,720 In the public imagination, he is an icon of art, 10 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,840 of loneliness and of the avant-garde. 11 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,200 But how much do we really know about Vincent? 12 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,120 Arguably, the answer lies in the pictures he painted - 13 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:50,400 not of the world around him, but of himself. 14 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,600 These works tell the story of Vincent van Gogh's artistic - 15 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:57,640 and emotional - journey. 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,040 In this film, for the first time, 17 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,320 art historians sit down to decipher 18 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,160 eight of van Gogh's most revealing self-portraits, 19 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,480 taking us as close as we'll ever come... 20 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,280 to understanding the man behind the icon. 21 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,160 In his own lifetime, Vincent van Gogh saw little success. 22 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:29,000 It was only after his death that people began to discover his work. 23 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,200 And with it, a myth was born. 24 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,720 STREET: So, van Gogh's career is incredibly short. 25 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,840 He's painting for about a decade. 26 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:39,800 But even within that decade, 27 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,640 the famous van Goghs occupy maybe four or five years. 28 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:44,800 So it's a really, really, really short career. 29 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:49,160 He was very lucky in that his brother Theo, who's an art dealer, 30 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,680 essentially supported him for his entire artistic career... 31 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,760 and supported him both physically, by paying for his rent, 32 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,280 his materials, but also emotionally, 33 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,240 by providing him with support for what he was doing. 34 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:06,600 He was probably Vincent's closest... 35 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,600 friend, ally, family member. 36 00:02:09,640 --> 00:02:12,920 And they corresponded through letter for... 37 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:15,160 the best part of Vincent's life. 38 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,360 People started to connect with Vincent's work 39 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,160 really quite soon after his death. 40 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,840 And in the first two decades of the 20th century, 41 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,520 there were quite important exhibitions of his work... 42 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,680 some of which remain the biggest exhibitions of his work, 43 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:29,680 containing hundreds of paintings all at once. 44 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:34,040 He was famously shown in 1910 at Roger Fry's exhibition, 45 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:35,960 which was Manet And The Post-Impressionists. 46 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,320 And it caused a furore at the time. 47 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,360 The effect of his work is felt... 48 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:44,280 more or less internationally by the middle of the 20th century. 49 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,200 So, it really...becomes a really important touchstone 50 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,640 for loads of artists - especially painters - but not just artists. 51 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:54,720 But what also happens to van Gogh is that the figure of van Gogh... 52 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,000 starts to gradually eclipse his work. 53 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,920 So, by the '50s, you have the movie Lust For Life, 54 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,840 which is a melodrama of its time... 55 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,680 about a concept of artistic genius 56 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,400 that was becoming very popular in the '50s. 57 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,200 (TENSE MUSIC) 58 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:32,840 And so our contemporary idea of van Gogh, 59 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:37,400 which we're always kind of trying to challenge and sort of tweak, 60 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,480 is formed by these cinematic representations. 61 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,200 And there are loads - I mean, Lust For Life is the most famous, 62 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:45,320 but there are lots of cinematic 63 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,280 and televisual representations of van Gogh. 64 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:49,720 Most of the time, they do the same thing, 65 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,840 which is to present him as a certain kind of figure 66 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:54,760 that's a little bit like a rock star, 67 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,840 which is a bit true, and mostly not true, I think. 68 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:01,120 I think his self-portraits are hugely important 69 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,480 in understanding and appreciating his work. 70 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:09,200 I think he chooses what to portray to people, 71 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:11,920 and I think that's why learning about the portraits, 72 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,480 and looking at the portraits, is so crucial in actually... 73 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,120 understanding what he wanted to show us. 74 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,320 MILLINGTON: Van Gogh painted at least 35 self-portraits. 75 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:22,800 A great number of artists have made self-portraits 76 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:25,440 throughout art history - among them, Rembrandt, 77 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,040 who we know van Gogh really admired. 78 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,600 A good question as to why van Gogh made so many self-portraits - 79 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:33,440 there was an absence of models. 80 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,160 They're really kind of practical reasons why he made so many... 81 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,960 absence of models - he had some bad luck with... 82 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,760 He would pay models who wouldn't turn up for sittings. 83 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:43,640 But Vincent was incredibly poor. 84 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:45,800 Being an artist model was a profession, 85 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:47,600 and he couldn't afford to pay them, 86 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,000 so he would turn to himself - he would turn to the mirror. 87 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,840 CHRISTIE: I think another reason why he did so many self portraits 88 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,880 was also it allowed him... 89 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,720 to really look at himself, not just physically, but inside his mind. 90 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,600 And there's a lot written about van Gogh and his mental state of mind. 91 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,840 And in this sense, he was able to be really introspective. 92 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:08,840 He was looking at himself, in a mirror, 93 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:10,840 for prolonged periods of time. 94 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,160 He's famous for his series of sunflowers, for his landscapes. 95 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,920 But he probably never painted them as often 96 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,560 over such a long period of time. 97 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,760 Whereas the self-portraits are a series he knew the most intimately, 98 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,360 and arguably, that he could control the most, 99 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:29,360 because he was that subject. 100 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,520 I think creating a self-portrait... 101 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:35,760 ..gives you a deep... 102 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,880 understanding and view of yourself, 103 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,120 which is why I don't do many of them - 104 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,680 because I find them so deeply personal. 105 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,680 They are a gateway into... 106 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:53,280 really delving into your subconscious. 107 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,160 So it is the ultimate in... 108 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:57,960 therapy. 109 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,280 STREET: What we get in these eight self-portraits by van Gogh 110 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,920 is a sense of who he thought he was 111 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,680 and how he wanted to be perceived by other people. 112 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:19,040 Vincent van Gogh is born on 30th March 1853, 113 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,960 in Zundert, a village in a southern province of the Netherlands. 114 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,200 But it isn't until the age of 27... 115 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,480 that he reaches a crossroads in his life. 116 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:35,320 It's now that he decides to fulfil his dream of becoming an artist. 117 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,480 Van Gogh's early life was relatively comfortable. 118 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,800 He was from a middle-class family. He was the eldest of six children. 119 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:45,560 Before he became an artist at the age of 27, 120 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:47,680 van Gogh tried many different careers. 121 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:49,960 He was a bookseller, a teacher. 122 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,560 So, when Vincent was 16, he was sort of taken into the family business, 123 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,560 which was art dealing, and he was taken into Goupil art dealers, 124 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,400 who were quite a big international art dealer 125 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,600 that his uncle Cent worked for. 126 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:03,440 So, he was brought to London 127 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,160 while he had a huge interest in art and literature. 128 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,600 And in London, this is where he discovered Charles Dickens, 129 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:13,160 and George Eliot - where he really immersed himself into English art. 130 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,400 I don't think he was a particularly good employee. 131 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:20,800 He was quite opinionated about what his clients were buying. 132 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:22,840 He was quite argumentative, 133 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,280 which meant that he didn't last particularly long. 134 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,200 Interesting, like a lot of things with Vincent, 135 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:31,680 I think it was really his brother Theo 136 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,200 who encouraged him to become an artist - 137 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:38,160 who spotted in his letters that he was sketching quite a lot. 138 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,240 That he was very good at describing things. 139 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,680 So, Vincent moves to Paris in 1886, 140 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,280 and he comes quite unexpectedly. 141 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:48,720 He arrives way sooner than he'd agreed with his brother, 142 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:52,960 and he just turns up after spending time in Antwerp and not quite... 143 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:54,800 I don't think, quite connecting with the way 144 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,120 he was learning art there - Paris is where it's at for him. 145 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,600 He's got a placement at an open studio with Fernand Cormon. 146 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,440 He's ready for this. 147 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,200 And here he paints himself as a man about town, 148 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,200 someone in a smart hat, smart coat. 149 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,360 He's a gentleman, the way he portrays himself here. 150 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,640 MILLINGTON: This self-portrait doesn't quite look as we imagine 151 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:16,560 van Gogh's typical works. 152 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,960 It's depicted in a much darker palette, with sombre, moodier tones. 153 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,520 That shows that at this point, he was inspired by the Dutch masters. 154 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,280 LEBETER: So what's interesting is that while the influence 155 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,440 of the impressionists comes to bear on Vincent, it's not immediate. 156 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:33,320 It's quick, but it's not immediate. 157 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:37,880 So, he's still making work like the Dutch school, like Rembrandt. 158 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,920 For Vincent van Gogh, his adopted home of Paris 159 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,480 will soon become more than just a place to live and work. 160 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:47,960 He will make new friends and embrace a modern, 161 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,000 radical approach to painting. 162 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:05,160 When Vincent van Gogh first arrives in Paris in 1886, 163 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,840 he is not the only creative in town. 164 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:12,320 The city is buzzing with painters, writers and thinkers. 165 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,400 Vincent writes to a friend in Belgium. 166 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,040 'Paris is Paris. 167 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,160 There is but one Paris. 168 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:23,360 And however hard living here may be, 169 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,680 the French air clears up the brain and does one good. 170 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:31,000 In Antwerp, I did not even know what the impressionists were. 171 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,960 Now I've seen them, and though not being one of the club yet, 172 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:38,960 I have much admired certain impressionist pictures.' 173 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:44,200 I think his life in Paris was probably quite frenetic. 174 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,960 I get the sense, from reading letters, and just from accounts, 175 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,200 there was so much to see and create, and there was a real fervour. 176 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,960 By the time Vincent arrived in Paris in 1886, 177 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,080 impressionism was in full flow. 178 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:01,080 And there were many young artists working in Paris 179 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,560 who were creating really avant-garde painting, 180 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:05,720 and he was exposed to that. 181 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,920 The impressionist movement was radical for its time, 182 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:10,760 because... 183 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:15,680 instead of creating works that were... 184 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:20,440 about specific objects, and detail, 185 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,480 it was more about... 186 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,480 capturing a moment, 187 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:28,200 an emotion, a mood. 188 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,080 It was through his brother Theo 189 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,920 that he could meet other painters who were like-minded. 190 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,000 Among these were Signac, Seurat and Pissarro, 191 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:38,440 who were experimenting with impressionism 192 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,440 and pointillist techniques. 193 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,160 applying small dabs of paint to the canvas, 194 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,560 which was a style that van Gogh then began to adopt himself. 195 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,400 While Vincent's in Paris, we do see the... 196 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,000 influence of impressionism start to come into his work. 197 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,560 Some of the first pieces that show this are his still lifes. 198 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,240 The browns of the Dutch school sort of get pushed aside, 199 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,040 and Vincent's bringing in a more modern palette. 200 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,720 So we can see the influence of pointillism 201 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:15,840 In Self-Portrait With Grey Felt Hat, 202 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:18,600 but Vincent's really putting his own stamp into this. 203 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,840 So instead of dots of pure colour, Vincent's bringing dashes 204 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:26,160 that create a sort of swirl and a halo effect around his head. 205 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,400 So again, he's pushing existing forms of art 206 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:31,240 to create it in his own way. 207 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:34,320 The really happy accident about Vincent's own appearance 208 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,880 for the self-portraits is that he has the perfect face 209 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:42,240 for a pointillist self-portrait in that he has red hair and green eyes. 210 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,480 The very colour of his own make-up is ideally suited for his own work. 211 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,880 In works like Self-Portrait With A Grey Felt Hat, 212 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,120 we can see van Gogh beginning to experiment 213 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:56,040 with impressionist techniques and those small dabs of colour. 214 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:59,640 However, he's also upping the ante and adding more colour, 215 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:02,520 more expressive colours, and colour contrasts. 216 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:05,600 So we begin to get the bright orange next to the blue, 217 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:07,640 which really shimmer on the canvas. 218 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:11,320 While van Gogh typically worked on self-portraits 219 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,880 in one single session, we know from technical analysis... 220 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,400 that this one was made over a number of sessions. 221 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,000 And I think this indicates that he was still getting to grips 222 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,360 with this new style and technique at that time. 223 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:28,480 His brushstrokes have started... they feel like they're radiating out 224 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:32,080 in really thick daubs of impasto from the centre of his face. 225 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,520 They couldn't be more different... 226 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:38,480 from the self-portrait painted in late 1886, 227 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:42,200 where you often can't tell one brushstroke from the other. 228 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,480 Here you can almost isolate both each brushstroke... 229 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,400 and the colour used. 230 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:49,880 What I also think is really interesting about this portrait 231 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:54,640 is how he's chosen to portray himself in quite a smart suit. 232 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:58,720 He's now a serious person who is working in Paris, 233 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,280 who has absorbed some of the most radical changes in art 234 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,320 that have ever occurred, and not only has he absorbed them, 235 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:09,240 he's able to create them into his own unique style. 236 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,760 I think this is one of the most confident images 237 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,040 that he produces in his canon of self-portraits. 238 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,080 People might think that the self-portraits 239 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:20,280 are just for his own self-expression, 240 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,920 but he wanted to show them, and he wanted to sell them. 241 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,400 While he was in Paris, van Gogh took the initiative 242 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:27,560 to arrange exhibitions of his work, 243 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,800 and he actually exhibited this self-portrait, 244 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,720 with the likes of Toulouse-Lautrec and Emile Bernard, 245 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:35,800 in a restaurant in Montmartre. 246 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,400 However, the restauranteur gave him a call 247 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:41,720 and told him that the diners were complaining about the portraits, 248 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,040 so van Gogh turned up and took the paintings back to his flat. 249 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,560 For Vincent, the close of 1887 250 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,760 heralds more paintings and more self-portraits. 251 00:13:57,800 --> 00:13:59,960 But the chill of a Paris winter 252 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,640 also brings familiar feelings of sadness and dejection. 253 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:06,760 'Many thanks for your letter, 254 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:08,560 which I'd been looking forward to. 255 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,920 I daren't give way to the desire to write to you often 256 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:13,960 or to encourage this on your part. 257 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:18,880 All this correspondence doesn't always help to keep us, who are... 258 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,040 ..of a nervous disposition, 259 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,760 strong in cases of possible immersions in melancholy. 260 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:29,400 Here is an impression of mine, 261 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:32,840 which is the result of a portrait that I painted in the mirror. 262 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,920 A pink-grey face with green eyes... 263 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,040 ..ash-coloured hair, 264 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:42,920 wrinkled in forehead and around the mouth. 265 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:46,040 Stiffly wooden, 266 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,960 a very red beard, quite unkempt and sad. 267 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:56,760 This is what impressionism has to my mind over the rest. 268 00:14:57,640 --> 00:14:59,640 It isn't banal, 269 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,520 and one seeks a deeper likeness than that of the photographer.' 270 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,880 What's interesting about Vincent's letters to his sister Wil, 271 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,400 as opposed to his letters to Theo, 272 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,160 is because his sister is not from an artist background. 273 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:17,560 He goes into much more detail describing what he's working on, 274 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,480 and he gives a kind of, through words, 275 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,800 a picture of what he's trying to create. 276 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,760 MILLINGTON: In this self-portrait, we see... 277 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:26,880 Vincent presenting himself as a modern artist. 278 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,040 He's wearing a blue artist's smock, 279 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:34,040 and the whole portrait is painted in really bright, exuberant colours. 280 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,400 We have the bright oranges and the blues next to one another, 281 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:39,880 which became his signature style. 282 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,320 This portrait is one of van Gogh's... 283 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:47,200 most confident images as an artist. 284 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:51,280 He's positioned the easel right in the foreground. You cannot miss it. 285 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:53,640 He's holding his palette very prominently, 286 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,360 and there's a kaleidoscope of colours on it, 287 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:58,880 which references the brightening of palette 288 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:02,880 that happened in his transformation of style from moving to Paris. 289 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:06,160 I think there's a really interesting central element to the painting 290 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,840 in that he signed it and dated it in red, 291 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:12,200 virtually in the middle of the picture, 292 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,160 which again, I think, gives a signal to how... 293 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,760 confident he is about the picture, 294 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:19,960 and actually, probably how pleased he is. 295 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,800 This is the last self-portrait, that we know of, 296 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,040 that Vincent painted in Paris 297 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,360 before he then moved to the south of France. 298 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,800 And for me, the colours in this self-portrait 299 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,440 really indicate that search for light. 300 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:34,880 We know Vincent was sick of Paris. 301 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,600 He wanted to escape the city and reconnect with the countryside, 302 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,000 and find light and colour. 303 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,480 I think there is hope and positivity in this work. 304 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:47,440 And I think Vincent was very excited and hopeful 305 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:50,720 for what was going to come next after he left Paris. 306 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,760 And the plans that he had for an artist colony 307 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:56,560 where he was going to bring together lots of like-minded artists 308 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,400 was a source of huge excitement for him. 309 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,880 So while he does look drawn and slightly pained in this portrait, 310 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,680 it's actually a really exciting time in his life. And he felt that. 311 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:09,240 Like, he was aware that this is... the next big thing was coming. 312 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,400 Bidding farewell to the friends he's made in Paris, Vincent heads south. 313 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:19,240 He has big plans for the future, 314 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,880 and is excited to escape the cool northern climate 315 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,000 for the warm, bright light of Provence. 316 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,120 On 21st February 1888, 317 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,400 Vincent arrives in Arles, in the south of France. 318 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:50,240 In Paris, he has adopted a modern style of painting. 319 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:52,760 But the pace of life there is too frenetic. 320 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,640 He hopes the serenity will restore some balance, 321 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:00,480 while the warmer weather and vivid colours will fire his art. 322 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:03,920 Vincent set off for the south of France 323 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,240 in search of light and colour. 324 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,760 But when he arrived, there was freezing conditions. 325 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,840 And the whole region was covered in snow. 326 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:13,840 However, he was still inspired 327 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,600 by these bright white fields and the light. 328 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:21,080 When he got to Arles, he was almost returned to a rural setting... 329 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:23,360 and we know from his early childhood 330 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:27,000 that he had an affinity with the rural landscape. 331 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:32,240 The overarching plan for Arles was to create an artist community. 332 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,240 So a cooperative of artists who would make work together, 333 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,800 share the proceeds of sales, 334 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,280 and fundamentally, collaborate to kind of create a new art. 335 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,880 He had this idea for a number of reasons - I think he thought... 336 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,600 the Japanese woodcut artist that had so inspired him, 337 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,120 and that he'd first come across in Antwerp. 338 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,320 Then when he was in Paris, he and his brother 339 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:56,200 amassed an incredible collection of 19th-century woodcut prints. 340 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,600 He had the idea that this is how Japanese artists worked together. 341 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:03,360 The fact that Vincent was keen to set up a cooperative 342 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:05,840 shows you a very different side to... 343 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,040 ..one that a lot of people know. 344 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,600 And that side of being very introspective, 345 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,120 it shows a side of... 346 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:20,240 community and collaboration, 347 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,800 and an understanding that in order to perpetuate... 348 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,600 this being an artist, he needed more, he needed support. 349 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:34,280 Not only emotional but practical support. 350 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:38,400 I think a lot of the people that Vincent was meeting in Paris, 351 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:40,880 they were all struggling - nobody had money. 352 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,480 And Vincent's brother Theo, at that time, was kind of dealing in art, 353 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,040 was a businessman, knew the art world. 354 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,640 So it's quite a pragmatic plan. 355 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,360 MILLINGTON: Vincent van Gogh had met Gauguin while he was in Paris, 356 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,120 through Theo, and he wanted this older artist to join him 357 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,320 in the south of France and become one of the first members, 358 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:11,880 and even the leader of his artist colony there. 359 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,440 Gauguin wanted Theo van Gogh to be selling his work, 360 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:17,360 to kind of represent him. 361 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,120 So there is an argument that Gauguin was sort of 362 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:22,800 trying to get to Theo through Vincent, 363 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,600 and kind of befriended Vincent as a way to get to Theo, 364 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:29,280 who was quite an important player in the art world in Paris. 365 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:32,400 So they corresponded, they exchanged portraits - 366 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,600 this one, which van Gogh dedicated to Gauguin. 367 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:39,560 And Gauguin reciprocated by sending a picture back to Vincent. 368 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:44,440 What's really interesting is in the letters to Theo about this portrait, 369 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:46,760 Vincent really believes in his own work. 370 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:49,880 He says in a letter that his portrait, he's sure, 371 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,200 stands up against that of Gauguin. 372 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,240 He's quite self-assured. 373 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,720 It's now known as Self-Portrait Dedicated To Paul Gauguin, 374 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,200 but it's had other titles. 375 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,280 I think one of them is Self-Portrait As Bonze, 376 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,200 which is a Japanese Buddhist monk. 377 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,360 And I think the link to the Buddhist monk... 378 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:14,160 ..was to showcase his commitment, his commitment to painting. 379 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,160 In Arles, Vincent painted everyday life. 380 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,040 He painted the cafe, blossom, 381 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:23,000 the harvest... of course, sunflowers. 382 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,640 It's the series of sunflowers which has become most famous. 383 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:31,280 And they were created because in preparing for Gauguin's arrival, 384 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,840 he wanted to decorate Gauguin's room. 385 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,520 And so he painted what have now become... 386 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:41,120 some of the most iconic images of... 387 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,120 late 19th-century art anywhere in the world. 388 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,360 Vincent and Paul Gauguin lived, and worked, 389 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,480 in this place called the Yellow House, in Arles. 390 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:53,600 Which was a very large building, 391 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,120 really designed for more artists to be working. 392 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:57,920 Unfortunately, it was just the two of them. 393 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,120 It became apparent, quite quickly, 394 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,200 after Gauguin had moved down to the south of France, 395 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,920 that this colony, this community that Vincent had envisioned... 396 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:09,720 would, in fact, just be him and Gauguin... 397 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:11,800 working intensely together. 398 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,400 Although most of Vincent's self-portraits 399 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:21,640 feature the artist's head and shoulders, 400 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,000 one iconic work stands apart from the rest. 401 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:28,880 LEBETER: So, van Gogh's chair is a really interesting take 402 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,360 on the self-portrait, because of course, he's not physically there. 403 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,920 But he's making a statement here about his personality 404 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,200 and his kind of outlook as an artist. 405 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:41,280 I think an artist can, very easily, be... 406 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,520 simultaneously present and not present 407 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,400 in the work that they produce. 408 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:49,520 It could be... 409 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:54,000 through the objects they choose to represent, 410 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,200 or even the lack of objects. 411 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,240 So, when we look at Vincent's chair, 412 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:04,000 what sort of person would sit in a chair like this? 413 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,720 And you say, well, it's kind of rustic, you know, it's wicker. 414 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,080 And it looks like it was made by hand, 415 00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:14,520 and it looks like not much effort was given to decoration. 416 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,200 And it's not painted, and it's pretty... 417 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,440 like a farmhouse kind of chair. 418 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,160 And that's exactly what he wants you to be 419 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,200 thinking about when you look at the painting. 420 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:29,560 Not only that, the texture... of the painting itself, 421 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,040 which is pretty coarse and rough in places, 422 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:38,640 it emphasises this idea about the rural and the handmade, 423 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:42,960 and the dirty, and everything that isn't Paris, basically. 424 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,760 Everything that isn't sophistication, 425 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,360 the metropolitan, the designed, and all of that stuff. 426 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,240 He's basically... 427 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,680 naming his direction in this painting. 428 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:57,000 This kind of image of simplicity 429 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,120 says a lot about van Gogh as a person, 430 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,600 that he sees himself as a working person. 431 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:05,080 That he's a working artist, that he kind of has his... 432 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:07,040 fingers in the dirt, so to speak. 433 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,200 I often think about van Gogh's chair alongside one of his early works, 434 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,200 The Potato Eaters, as a sort of political statement 435 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,840 of him as a working person alongside working people in communities. 436 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,360 CHRISTIE: He's placed his pipe, his tobacco, on the chair, 437 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,040 and it's surrounded by... 438 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:27,000 a place he felt very comfortable, the Yellow House at Arles. 439 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,440 And it contrasts, quite clearly, 440 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,800 with what he painted as Gauguin's chair. 441 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,240 In Gauguin's chair, it's on a sort of what looks like a Persian rug. 442 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,920 It's a much sort of more sophisticated, richer environment. 443 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,320 The look of Gauguin's chair... 444 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:44,960 immediately tells us that we're dealing with a personality clash. 445 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,680 Because Gauguin's chair is quite elaborate, 446 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,080 relatively speaking - it's quite ornate. 447 00:24:51,120 --> 00:24:53,320 It looks quite kind of fancy. 448 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:58,440 It has a sort of class association that Vincent's chair doesn't have. 449 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,360 Van Gogh and Gauguin argued about modern painting, 450 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,960 and while Gauguin worked in a slow and methodical manner, 451 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,840 van Gogh worked in a more fast-paced style. 452 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,520 Vincent just couldn't get his head around... 453 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,840 trying to be more abstracted. 454 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:17,160 He wanted to be more linked to time and place. 455 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,880 Gauguin was quite an overbearing character, 456 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:21,840 who had a huge amount of self-belief, 457 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,200 and was quite keen to tell absolutely everyone 458 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,080 what he thought about their work. 459 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,080 So while Gauguin... 460 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:31,720 was a great proponent of the art of the imagination, 461 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:35,640 that you don't necessarily need to be out in nature to produce nature, 462 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,600 that how you can kind of envisage it in your head, 463 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,720 and onto canvas, is more important. 464 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,320 So their approach to work is completely different, 465 00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:45,680 and that comes to bear in the Yellow House 466 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,160 in what becomes quite a... 467 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,160 claustrophobic, I imagine, quite a cabin-fevered... 468 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,480 atmosphere in the house, where they are clashing up against each other 469 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:57,760 in that autumn and winter. 470 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,600 By 23rd December 1888, 471 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:04,200 van Gogh and Gauguin already had their artistic differences. 472 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,000 But this was the evening when they had a huge argument, 473 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,640 possibly about the fact that Gauguin, by this point, 474 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,080 wanted to leave, whereas van Gogh wanted to keep him here. 475 00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:16,640 So Gauguin had only been in Arles for a few months. 476 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,000 Gauguin had already thought about leaving and going back to Paris, 477 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,320 and had written to Theo to say that he changed his mind, 478 00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:26,240 and then very quickly, 479 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,440 the situation seems to have escalated quite dramatically. 480 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,480 Disagreements with Gauguin, 481 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,960 and what was clearly quite a tense period working together, 482 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:42,240 led to van Gogh's first bout of illness. 483 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,280 We're still not sure quite what that illness was. 484 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,080 There are many theories - whether it was a form of epilepsy, 485 00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:50,240 whether he was bipolar. 486 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:53,200 Whatever it was, it led to... 487 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,280 a major crisis on 23rd December, 488 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,760 where he tried to attack Gauguin with a razor. 489 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:03,240 We only really have Gauguin's account for what happened, 490 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,200 but it seemed that there was an argument in the Yellow House. 491 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:09,640 And Gauguin said that he was going to leave. Left the house. 492 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,320 He was pursued by Vincent, who... 493 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:15,760 Gauguin reports had a razor in his hand. 494 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,240 There was an altercation, no physical violence. 495 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,240 But there was an argument. Vincent went back to the Yellow House. 496 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,800 And Gauguin went somewhere else to stay the night. 497 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,320 And during that night, at some point, 498 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:31,360 Vincent is said to have cut off his ear. 499 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,680 There's a great deal of art historical debate 500 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,320 about how much of Vincent's ear that he took off. 501 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:41,720 I think that debate is somewhat redundant, 502 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:43,640 and that it doesn't really matter. 503 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,560 I think this is... 504 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:50,480 an acute mental health crisis that Vincent is going through, 505 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,640 and quite a shocking act of self-harm. 506 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,280 Whether he takes off his whole ear or the lobe is... 507 00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,120 irrelevant, really. 508 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,960 It's Christmas Eve... 509 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,920 when Vincent is admitted to hospital. 510 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,960 On hearing what has happened in Arles, 511 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,120 Theo van Gogh immediately leaves Paris and heads south. 512 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:14,800 He writes of his brother's condition to his wife, Jo. 513 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,160 'I found Vincent in the hospital in Arles. 514 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:21,280 It was terribly sad being there... 515 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,760 because from time to time, all his grief would well up inside, 516 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:26,960 and he would try to weep... but couldn't. 517 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:32,040 Had he just once found someone to whom he could pour his heart out... 518 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:35,160 ..it might never have come to this. 519 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,160 In the next few days, 520 00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:39,480 they will decide whether he is to be transferred 521 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:41,520 to a special institution. 522 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,240 There is little hope, 523 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,880 but he has done more than so many in his life, 524 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,920 and suffered and fought more than most people are capable of doing. 525 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,520 If he must pass away... 526 00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:58,680 so be it. 527 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,280 But the thought of it breaks my heart.' 528 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,200 So Vincent is in hospital for a few days 529 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,600 but then returns to the Yellow House. 530 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:13,720 We know that Theo and Paul Gauguin went back to Paris the same day, 531 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,520 so now Vincent is alone in Arles. 532 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,120 Very soon after the incident... 533 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:22,400 Vincent returns to painting. 534 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,680 And it shows that he was a very resilient man. 535 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,240 And it also shows that he was totally dedicated to making art. 536 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:41,680 The first months of 1889 537 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,480 find Vincent van Gogh in the depths of a profound emotional struggle. 538 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,000 Returning to Arles after a stay in hospital, 539 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,800 Vincent paints what will become... 540 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:56,680 his most internationally recognisable self-portrait. 541 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:00,840 Self-Portrait With A Bandaged Ear 542 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:04,120 is another truly extraordinary self-portrait, 543 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:08,080 because it was painted a week, two weeks after... 544 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:13,320 van Gogh's first crisis of mental illness, when he cut off his ear. 545 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,400 Clearly, a very traumatic time... 546 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:18,600 for both himself and his family and everyone around him. 547 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,880 This is one of the most iconic self-portraits in Western art. 548 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:27,360 It is following quite a shocking episode, 549 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,800 and his reasons for creating this... 550 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,520 self-portrait are complex, 551 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:36,760 and maybe something we will never fully understand. 552 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,760 We know from the letters to Theo that... 553 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:44,120 Vincent is trying to reassure Theo that he's getting back to normality, 554 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:45,920 he's working again. 555 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,240 So you could possibly argue that this portrait is created 556 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:53,000 as a way to try and reassure his brother that he's on the mend. 557 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,280 In Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear, 558 00:30:55,320 --> 00:31:00,320 Vincent is in the Yellow House, and he's really buttoned up. 559 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,280 This is the first month of the year. It's really cold. 560 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,080 He's got his big overcoat on and his furry hat on. 561 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:09,520 And you can see the bandage around his ear, 562 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,800 which...he's turned his head towards you so you can see it. 563 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,080 He doesn't look... 564 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:16,960 traumatised. 565 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:21,160 He looks, actually, quite serious and together. 566 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,760 He's showing us, 'I'm still fully committed to being an artist. 567 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,440 I've got my easel behind me, and I'm showing you... 568 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:31,080 my hugest influence of the Japanese print. 569 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,640 I'm also placing myself within this studio in the south of France 570 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,720 to show how important Arles has been to me.' 571 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:39,800 So, I think, 572 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:44,000 considering the state of mind he was in a few weeks before this portrait, 573 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:47,040 it's a confident assertion... 574 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,640 of himself as an artist. 575 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:53,240 I think this work really does show how important self-portraiture is 576 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,280 to Vincent because it is the first thing that he creates 577 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,240 when he's released from the hospital and is back in the Yellow House. 578 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,960 And his first thought is to pick up a paintbrush again, 579 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,440 look in the mirror and paint what he sees. 580 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,000 So this self-portrait is a way of reckoning with himself. 581 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,520 This work could be seen as an image of recovery 582 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,880 just as much as it could an image of injury. 583 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,200 'Unfortunately, it's complicated in several ways. 584 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,960 My paintings are worthless. 585 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,280 They cost me an extraordinary amount, it's true. 586 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,360 Perhaps, sometimes, even in blood and brain. 587 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:50,320 Nevertheless... I've started work again, 588 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,240 and I already have three studies done in the studio. 589 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:56,760 I retain all good hope. 590 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,720 But I feel weak... 591 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:04,600 ..and a little anxious, and fearful.' 592 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:16,440 Vincent had had relapses and seemed to realise 593 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:19,440 he couldn't live this independent life in the Yellow House. 594 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,440 And so he admitted himself, voluntarily, 595 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,880 to the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Remy. 596 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,440 Far from slowing Vincent down, 597 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,600 a prolonged stay in hospital results in one of his most prolific periods. 598 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:47,320 As ever, self-portraits are central to his output. 599 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,440 'I hope you're well, and your wife too. 600 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,440 And that you'll enjoy a little of the good weather. 601 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:58,920 As for me, my health is good. 602 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,680 As for the head... 603 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:05,680 it will, let's hope, be a matter of time and patience. 604 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,920 I've been here almost a whole month and not one single time 605 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,520 have I felt the slightest desire to be elsewhere. 606 00:34:15,720 --> 00:34:17,520 Just... 607 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:20,160 the will to work again is becoming... 608 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:22,960 ..a tiny bit firmer.' 609 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:28,120 So the August 1889 portrait is really significant 610 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,000 for a number of different reasons. 611 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:34,000 Firstly, it wasn't thought to be a van Gogh until relatively recently. 612 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,200 Its attribution was contested for decades. 613 00:34:37,240 --> 00:34:40,320 And the Van Gogh Museum did a technical analysis on it 614 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,400 relatively recently and found that it definitely is a van Gogh 615 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:45,400 that was painted at Saint-Remy. 616 00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,240 Van Gogh is incredibly productive in Saint-Remy. 617 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,920 This is one of his most prolific periods in his career, 618 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,480 and where he creates some of his most iconic works as well. 619 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,600 CHRISTIE: He was quite lucky when he arrived, because it wasn't full, 620 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:00,560 and so he was able to have two rooms. 621 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:04,480 So he used one room for his studio and one room that he slept in. 622 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,200 And actually being in the asylum, which was an odd monastery... 623 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:12,000 ..set up a kind of regular routine for him. 624 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:14,440 What's a really key thing to understand 625 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:16,600 about the way that Vincent worked... 626 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:20,120 was that he did not paint when he was in his periods of crisis. 627 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:22,920 He couldn't paint. He didn't want to do anything. 628 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:24,880 He couldn't even write letters home 629 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,600 when he was in his periods of crisis. 630 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:30,280 This self-portrait is the exception to the rule, 631 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,640 and is one of the only works that he made 632 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,440 while he was going through a period of mental health crisis. 633 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,120 MILLINGTON: This self-portrait stands in stark contrast 634 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:43,520 to many of the others - Vincent used a much more muted palette, 635 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,080 and these sort of lurid greens for this self-portrait. 636 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:48,840 For me, there's something quite... 637 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:50,800 claustrophobic about the composition. 638 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:52,840 And we know at the time that he'd been banned 639 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:54,880 from going outside of the hospital. 640 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,840 In this portrait, Vincent looks sick. 641 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,360 And in fact, he had recently... 642 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,240 had this incident where he ingested paint. 643 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,200 And paint at this time was highly toxic. 644 00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:09,240 So he got sick, and his paints were taken away from him. 645 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,720 Theo then wrote to the hospital, saying actually, 646 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,440 he needs his paint, cos his paint is kind of his medicine. 647 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,360 It's what helps him get on an even keel mentally. 648 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,400 So he got his paints back. 649 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:22,600 But he wasn't able to leave the hospital. 650 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:25,760 So he was painting, essentially, 651 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,240 plant life, vegetation in the courtyard, 652 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,000 and views from outside of the asylum window. 653 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,480 He still wants to show he's an avant-garde artist, 654 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:35,480 because you see, in the background, 655 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:38,360 this wonderfully dynamic brushwork, 656 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:40,480 these bold colour contrasts. 657 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:42,880 But his facial features here, 658 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,160 he does look incredibly vulnerable. 659 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,080 And I think it's a very rare... 660 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:53,240 moment where... he let that side of his character 661 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,240 come out in one of the self-portraits. 662 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:57,120 I think, for me, this... 663 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:01,200 this really is one of the bleakest portraits that van Gogh created. 664 00:37:01,240 --> 00:37:04,760 This is a man who looks exhausted, he looks drawn, 665 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:08,440 his gaze is not as confident, 666 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:12,200 not as direct as it is in some of the other self-portraits. 667 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:15,440 And I think it's... it's interesting... 668 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,320 who Vincent was creating this painting for. 669 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,560 Was this for a public? Almost certainly not. 670 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,680 I think this is one of the clearest indications of Vincent... 671 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:26,680 coming to terms with himself, 672 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:29,400 of trying to understand what is happening to him. 673 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:41,200 So one of Vincent van Gogh's final self-portraits is created 674 00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:45,000 mere days after the August 1889 self-portrait. 675 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,400 And the difference between the two could not be more stark. 676 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:50,960 Here, Vincent looks confident. 677 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,280 The direct gaze is back. 678 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:57,320 He's an artist who is in complete control of his craft. 679 00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:00,000 What stands out to me about this portrait 680 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,840 is that it's a celebration of colour again. 681 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:08,400 The blues and the smock and in the background are truly so deep, 682 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:11,880 so vibrant, almost like the colours in Starry Night, 683 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,320 in those other works from this time in his life 684 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,480 that we know so well, and we love so much. 685 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:21,000 He's showing everyone that regardless of his mental state, 686 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:25,320 he still has this very fervent commitment to be an artist. 687 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,320 When you look at the style, it's absolutely dazzling. 688 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,520 He's holding a palette. He's turned facing the viewer. 689 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,280 Again, you see those complementary colours coming through. 690 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:36,480 He's wearing the painter's spot, which is blue, 691 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:40,840 which contrasts with his sort of orange features within his face. 692 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:43,800 You see the reds and the greens drawing out... 693 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:47,240 the definition of his eyes, and his nose, and his beard. 694 00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:49,760 It is an absolutely cracking portrait, 695 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,120 which I think is... 696 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:55,200 a real culmination of what he'd learnt. 697 00:38:55,240 --> 00:38:58,440 He's showing himself with his brushes and his palette, 698 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,280 and he's someone who again, is thinking about... 699 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:05,760 the next step as an artist who is moving forward his career. 700 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,640 And as a bookend of this self-portrait, 701 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:12,360 and going back to the self-portrait in 1886 in Paris, 702 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,640 three years have passed between those two paintings. 703 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:21,040 And the advances that Vincent has made in that time is unprecedented. 704 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,600 It couldn't be more different to that early self-portrait 705 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:26,800 that we first looked at from 1886, 706 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,160 where he was emerging from a dark background. 707 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:33,640 Here, he's literally radiating energy. 708 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:37,520 I think this is an incredible culmination... 709 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:40,960 of all that he'd learnt, and absorbed, 710 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:42,840 since moving to France. 711 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:46,560 In May 1890, 712 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:48,680 Vincent decides to move north again. 713 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,000 He remains incredibly productive, 714 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,760 making 75 paintings in 70 days. 715 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:01,760 Vincent moves to Auvers, which is a little village northwest of Paris, 716 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,600 to be closer to Theo. 717 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:07,240 There's a sense that the dream of the studio of the South, 718 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:09,200 of the Yellow House, is kind of over. 719 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,640 It's as though he recognises that it's over, I think. 720 00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:16,280 During the summer of 1890, Vincent was hugely productive, 721 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:18,720 painting at least one work a day. 722 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:21,440 However, we also know he was riddled with... 723 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:23,880 doubts and worries about his future. 724 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:29,040 Theo and his wife, Jo, had just had a child earlier that year. 725 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:31,520 It was a recurring worry for Vincent 726 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,560 that he was becoming a financial and emotional burden 727 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,400 on his brother Theo. 728 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:40,400 And I think the arrival of a child into their marriage... 729 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:42,680 accentuated that. 730 00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:45,360 Theo was also having troubles at work, 731 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,200 and he was thinking about leaving the Goupil Gallery 732 00:40:48,240 --> 00:40:49,960 and starting up on his own, 733 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:53,920 which would have added financial stress to the household. 734 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,360 And Theo, of course, had been financially supporting Vincent 735 00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:59,560 for years up until that point. 736 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:03,760 In July 1890, 737 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,800 Vincent walked out into a wheat field in Auvers 738 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:10,240 and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. 739 00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:14,360 He managed to make it back to the house where he was staying, 740 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:19,360 and he survived for a day and a half with mortal injuries. 741 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:23,600 He wouldn't let anyone in the house tell Theo that night, 742 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,560 because he didn't want him to worry and rush to... 743 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:31,360 ..rush from Paris there and then, so Theo was only informed the next day. 744 00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:34,560 He apparently arrived, and Vincent died, 745 00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:38,120 with Theo by his bedside, later that same day. 746 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:44,920 'Vincent said, "I would so like to go." 747 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:47,960 And an hour later, he had his wish. 748 00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:51,440 Life weighed so heavily on him.' 749 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,600 Theo van Gogh dies just six months after Vincent, 750 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:11,080 and they are both buried alongside one another in Auvers, near Paris. 751 00:42:12,240 --> 00:42:14,480 Over the next few decades, 752 00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,160 interest in Vincent's work begins to grow. 753 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,760 The really key person... 754 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:24,480 who was responsible for van Gogh's legacy 755 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:26,920 was his sister-in-law, Jo Bonger, 756 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:28,880 who was married to his brother Theo. 757 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:32,280 Over the years, van Gogh had just been sending his work to Theo, 758 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:34,800 and he actually said because he couldn't pay Theo, 759 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:36,960 he was paying him, essentially, in paintings. 760 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:42,200 And so Jo suddenly found herself responsible for all this work. 761 00:42:42,240 --> 00:42:44,840 She was a smart and savvy businesswoman, 762 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:48,440 who negotiated sales, and also loans of paintings, 763 00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:50,720 to museums and galleries around the world. 764 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:54,520 Another really crucial thing that happened in 1914 765 00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:57,920 was the first publication of the letters between Vincent and Theo, 766 00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:02,040 and opening up that personal story straight away 767 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:04,480 added into that artistic legacy, 768 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:06,440 as well as the paintings themselves. 769 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:08,600 And now, over 100 years later, 770 00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:11,960 he is, without doubt, one of the most iconic, 771 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,160 if not the most iconic, artist of the late 19th century. 772 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:19,800 Vincent van Gogh became a global phenomenon. 773 00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:21,760 His story has touched millions. 774 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:25,520 But his self-portraits speak of more than just loneliness 775 00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:27,560 and mental breakdown. 776 00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:30,280 They speak of resilience, 777 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,280 and the transcendent power of art. 778 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,720 These eight portraits show a very multifaceted 779 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:38,880 and complicated artist, 780 00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:41,480 who went through various stages of development, 781 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:44,960 both in his artistic life but also in his personal life. 782 00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:48,360 And I think his portraits would show that development, 783 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,520 would show these moments of turmoil but also of triumph. 784 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,480 These portraits, they're crucial to knowing him. 785 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,160 MILLINGTON: There's something really frank and expressive 786 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:00,240 in the way that van Gogh portrayed himself in his self-portraits. 787 00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:02,960 We go beyond the myth of the tortured genius 788 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,440 and see a painter mastering his craft 789 00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:09,040 and becoming one of the greatest modern artists of all time. 790 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,320 They're a way for us to... 791 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,360 get an insight into him as a person, 792 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,240 where he lived, but also how his practice developed. 793 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:22,160 STREET: I think the self-portraits... 794 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:25,200 have made van Gogh even more beloved. 795 00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:29,680 When we see Vincent looking out at us from a painting, 796 00:44:29,720 --> 00:44:33,080 remember, he's looking at himself in a reflection in a mirror, 797 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,680 first of all, but now he looks at us. 798 00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:37,840 And somebody looking at you in a painting 799 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:42,120 is a way of building a bridge between their world and ours. 800 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:46,880 And that's why, I think, they feel so close to us. 801 00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:49,600 I think anyone who... 802 00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:52,600 creates so many self-portraits 803 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,880 is, one, very brave, 804 00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:58,120 and, I think, 805 00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:02,360 intimately connected to their own emotional state. 806 00:45:03,240 --> 00:45:06,160 Creating so many self-portraits, 807 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:09,520 I think, is also a way of documenting... 808 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:13,560 ..the stages of your... 809 00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:18,040 mental state, and its ups... 810 00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,080 and its downs. 811 00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,720 What I think is particularly incredible 812 00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:27,000 about Vincent's self-portraits is you've got the myth of... 813 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:29,720 him cutting off his ear, and so that obviously draws people in. 814 00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,040 But then when, I think, 815 00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:34,440 people look properly at all the self-portraits, 816 00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:37,280 they realise they aren't... 817 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:41,840 just portraits of someone who is totally mentally ill, 818 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:43,840 painting without direction. 819 00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:47,840 They were the result of years of painstaking... 820 00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:49,760 effort on his part. 821 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:53,200 They don't feel sad and downtrodden. 822 00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:55,800 They feel uplifting and affirmative. 823 00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:59,080 And I think that is the power of seeing them all together. 824 00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:14,880 Subtitles by Sky Access Services www.skyaccessibility.sky