CLIL - Lesson

1. 1889 Self-Portraits - a Comparison
Vincent Van Gogh & Paul Gauguin
CLIL - Liceo «Agnesi» Milano Silvia Caldarini

2. Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890),
Self-Portrait with Bandaged
Ear, 1889. Oil on canvas, 60 x
49. London, Courtauld Gallery
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Self-
Portrait, 1889. Oil on wood 79,2
x 51,3 cm. Washington,
National Gallery of Art
CLIL - Liceo «Agnesi» Milano Silvia Caldarini

3. The Backstage
• In February 1888
Vincent settled at
Arles, where he
painted more than 200
canvases in 15
months.
• During this time he sold
no pictures and
suffered from recurrent
nervous crisis.
• He became
enthusiastic for the
idea of setting up a
studio of the South for
like-minded artists.
CLIL - Liceo «Agnesi» Milano Silvia Caldarini

4. Van Gogh, Yellow House-The Street,
1888, Amsterdam, Oil on canvas, 76
x 94 cm. Amsterdam, Rijkmuseum
Van Gogh, The Bedroom at Arles,
oil on camvas, cm.72x90.
Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh,
Amsterdam
In May 1888, he rented four rooms on
Place Lamartine in Arles.
Vincent had finally found a place
where he could not only paint
but also welcome his friends.
CLIL - Liceo «Agnesi» Milano Silvia Caldarini

5. Van Gogh’s
“Studio” could be
analogous to
Gauguin’s circle in
Brittany at Pont-
Aven.
Towards the end
of the year he was
joined at Arles by
Gauguin.
CLIL - Liceo «Agnesi» Milano Silvia Caldarini

6. The Foundamental Question
Paul Gauguin, photo by Louis-
Maurice Boutet de Monvel,
1891. Musée Maurice Denis
Vincent van Gogh, photo
by Jacobus Marinus
Wilhelmus via Wikimedia
Commons
CLIL - Liceo «Agnesi» Milano Silvia Caldarini
Van Gogh found rich
layers of meaning in
natural world.
For Gauguin reliance on
external appearances marked
a lack of creative power.
Painting from
Imagination / Nature

7. The Self-Portraits as “Manifesto” of Art Believes
Depicted after leaving hospital
around 6 January 1889, it
confirms his esthetic grounded
in nature.
He manipulated his image to
accord with a symbolic
program: “…the face of an
outlaw… with an inner nobility
and gentleness… symbol of
the contemporary
impressionist painter”
(Gauguin)
The drama of the
recent events.
A Saint or an Outlaw?
CLIL - Liceo «Agnesi» Milano Silvia Caldarini
network of nuanced coloured touches;
crisp strokes; interlaced strokes;
predominant elements: the bandage;
the Japanese colour print = idyllic
view.
simplified surfaces; schematic drawing;
elements of caricature (= e.g. the halo;
the snake; the sidelong gaze and
sardonic grin/sneer), a purely mental
space.