Van Gogh. Self Portraits

It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and, if we accept this premise,  there can be no doubt that the remarkable series of self portraits painted by Vincent Van Gogh in his short but prolific career allows the most remarkable view into his psyche. Indeed, our fascination with this man makes it hard to believe that no one has mounted an exhibition like this before. The Courtauld itself owns the Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear, dating from his ill-fated encounter with Paul Gauguin, and, with this as a centrepiece, has brought together about half of the existing images. Our talk will look closely at the exhibited works, comparing them to as many of the other self portraits as possible, and exploring what each different view of the evolving artist tells us about his endlessly fascinating and richly varied output.

The exhibition runs at The Courtauld from 3 February - 8 May, and my introductory talk will be on Monday 14 February at 6pm. It will not be recorded.