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AHMADI: Of all the artists
who have ever lived,

none are better known
than Vincent van Gogh.

He is celebrated around the world.

His life and his work stand apart
from any other painter,

filling galleries,
books and movie theatres,

and selling every type
of merchandise.

In the public imagination,
he is an icon of art,

of loneliness and of the avant-garde.

But how much
do we really know about Vincent?

Arguably, the answer lies
in the pictures he painted -

not of the world around him,
but of himself.

These works tell the story
of Vincent van Gogh's artistic -

and emotional - journey.

In this film, for the first time,

art historians sit down to decipher

eight of van Gogh's most revealing
self-portraits,

taking us as close
as we'll ever come...

to understanding
the man behind the icon.

In his own lifetime,
Vincent van Gogh saw little success.

It was only after his death that
people began to discover his work.

And with it, a myth was born.

STREET: So, van Gogh's career
is incredibly short.

He's painting for about a decade.

But even within that decade,

the famous van Goghs
occupy maybe four or five years.

So it's a really, really,
really short career.

He was very lucky in that his
brother Theo, who's an art dealer,

essentially supported him
for his entire artistic career...

and supported him both physically,
by paying for his rent,

his materials, but also emotionally,

by providing him with support
for what he was doing.

He was probably
Vincent's closest...

friend, ally, family member.

And they corresponded
through letter for...

the best part of Vincent's life.

People started to connect
with Vincent's work

really quite soon after his death.

And in the first two decades
of the 20th century,

there were quite important
exhibitions of his work...

some of which remain
the biggest exhibitions of his work,

containing hundreds of paintings
all at once.

He was famously shown in 1910
at Roger Fry's exhibition,

which was
Manet And The Post-Impressionists.

And it caused a furore at the time.

The effect of his work is felt...

more or less internationally
by the middle of the 20th century.

So, it really...becomes
a really important touchstone

for loads of artists - especially
painters - but not just artists.

But what also happens to van Gogh
is that the figure of van Gogh...

starts to gradually eclipse
his work.

So, by the '50s,
you have the movie Lust For Life,

which is a melodrama of its time...

about a concept
of artistic genius

that was becoming
very popular in the '50s.

(TENSE MUSIC)

And so our contemporary idea
of van Gogh,

which we're always kind of trying
to challenge and sort of tweak,

is formed by
these cinematic representations.

And there are loads - I mean,
Lust For Life is the most famous,

but there are lots of cinematic

and televisual representations
of van Gogh.

Most of the time,
they do the same thing,

which is to present him
as a certain kind of figure

that's a little bit
like a rock star,

which is a bit true,
and mostly not true, I think.

I think his self-portraits
are hugely important

in understanding
and appreciating his work.

I think he chooses
what to portray to people,

and I think that's why
learning about the portraits,

and looking at the portraits,
is so crucial in actually...

understanding what
he wanted to show us.

MILLINGTON: Van Gogh painted
at least 35 self-portraits.

A great number of artists
have made self-portraits

throughout art history -
among them, Rembrandt,

who we know van Gogh really admired.

A good question as to why van Gogh
made so many self-portraits -

there was an absence of models.

They're really kind of practical
reasons why he made so many...

absence of models -
he had some bad luck with...

He would pay models who wouldn't
turn up for sittings.

But Vincent was incredibly poor.

Being an artist model
was a profession,

and he couldn't afford to pay them,

so he would turn to himself -
he would turn to the mirror.

CHRISTIE: I think another reason
why he did so many self portraits

was also it allowed him...

to really look at himself, not just
physically, but inside his mind.

And there's a lot written about van
Gogh and his mental state of mind.

And in this sense, he was able
to be really introspective.

He was looking at himself,
in a mirror,

for prolonged periods of time.

He's famous for his series
of sunflowers, for his landscapes.

But he probably
never painted them as often

over such a long period of time.

Whereas the self-portraits are a
series he knew the most intimately,

and arguably,
that he could control the most,

because he was that subject.

I think
creating a self-portrait...

..gives you a deep...

understanding and view of yourself,

which is why
I don't do many of them -

because I find them
so deeply personal.

They are a gateway into...

really delving
into your subconscious.

So it is the ultimate in...

therapy.

STREET: What we get in these
eight self-portraits by van Gogh

is a sense of who he thought he was

and how he wanted to be perceived
by other people.

Vincent van Gogh
is born on 30th March 1853,

in Zundert, a village in a southern
province of the Netherlands.

But it isn't until the age of 27...

that he reaches
a crossroads in his life.

It's now that he decides to fulfil
his dream of becoming an artist.

Van Gogh's early life
was relatively comfortable.

He was from a middle-class family.
He was the eldest of six children.

Before he became an artist
at the age of 27,

van Gogh tried
many different careers.

He was a bookseller, a teacher.

So, when Vincent was 16, he was sort
of taken into the family business,

which was art dealing, and he was
taken into Goupil art dealers,

who were quite a big
international art dealer

that his uncle Cent worked for.

So, he was brought to London

while he had a huge interest
in art and literature.

And in London, this is where
he discovered Charles Dickens,

and George Eliot - where he really
immersed himself into English art.

I don't think
he was a particularly good employee.

He was quite opinionated
about what his clients were buying.

He was quite argumentative,

which meant that
he didn't last particularly long.

Interesting, like a lot of things
with Vincent,

I think it was really
his brother Theo

who encouraged him
to become an artist -

who spotted in his letters
that he was sketching quite a lot.

That he was very good
at describing things.

So, Vincent moves to Paris in 1886,

and he comes quite unexpectedly.

He arrives way sooner
than he'd agreed with his brother,

and he just turns up after spending
time in Antwerp and not quite...

I don't think,
quite connecting with the way

he was learning art there -
Paris is where it's at for him.

He's got a placement at
an open studio with Fernand Cormon.

He's ready for this.

And here he paints himself
as a man about town,

someone in a smart hat, smart coat.

He's a gentleman,
the way he portrays himself here.

MILLINGTON: This self-portrait
doesn't quite look as we imagine

van Gogh's typical works.

It's depicted in a much darker
palette, with sombre, moodier tones.

That shows that at this point, he
was inspired by the Dutch masters.

LEBETER: So what's interesting
is that while the influence

of the impressionists comes to bear
on Vincent, it's not immediate.

It's quick, but it's not immediate.

So, he's still making work like
the Dutch school, like Rembrandt.

For Vincent van Gogh,
his adopted home of Paris

will soon become more
than just a place to live and work.

He will make new friends
and embrace a modern,

radical approach to painting.

When Vincent van Gogh
first arrives in Paris in 1886,

he is not the only creative in town.

The city is buzzing with painters,
writers and thinkers.

Vincent writes to a friend
in Belgium.

'Paris is Paris.

There is but one Paris.

And however hard living here may be,

the French air clears up the brain
and does one good.

In Antwerp, I did not even know
what the impressionists were.

Now I've seen them, and though
not being one of the club yet,

I have much admired
certain impressionist pictures.'

I think his life in Paris
was probably quite frenetic.

I get the sense, from reading
letters, and just from accounts,

there was so much to see and create,
and there was a real fervour.

By the time Vincent
arrived in Paris in 1886,

impressionism was in full flow.

And there were many young artists
working in Paris

who were creating
really avant-garde painting,

and he was exposed to that.

The impressionist movement
was radical for its time,

because...

instead of
creating works that were...

about specific objects, and detail,

it was more about...

capturing a moment,

an emotion, a mood.

It was through his brother Theo

that he could meet
other painters who were like-minded.

Among these were
Signac, Seurat and Pissarro,

who were experimenting
with impressionism

and pointillist techniques.

applying small dabs of paint
to the canvas,

which was a style that van Gogh
then began to adopt himself.

While Vincent's in Paris,
we do see the...

influence of impressionism
start to come into his work.

Some of the first pieces
that show this are his still lifes.

The browns of the Dutch school
sort of get pushed aside,

and Vincent's bringing in
a more modern palette.

So we can see
the influence of pointillism

In Self-Portrait With Grey Felt Hat,

but Vincent's really
putting his own stamp into this.

So instead of dots of pure colour,
Vincent's bringing dashes

that create a sort of swirl
and a halo effect around his head.

So again, he's pushing
existing forms of art

to create it in his own way.

The really happy accident
about Vincent's own appearance

for the self-portraits
is that he has the perfect face

for a pointillist self-portrait in
that he has red hair and green eyes.

The very colour of his own make-up
is ideally suited for his own work.

In works like Self-Portrait
With A Grey Felt Hat,

we can see van Gogh
beginning to experiment

with impressionist techniques
and those small dabs of colour.

However, he's also upping the ante
and adding more colour,

more expressive colours,
and colour contrasts.

So we begin to get
the bright orange next to the blue,

which really shimmer on the canvas.

While van Gogh
typically worked on self-portraits

in one single session,
we know from technical analysis...

that this one was made
over a number of sessions.

And I think this indicates
that he was still getting to grips

with this new style and technique
at that time.

His brushstrokes have started...
they feel like they're radiating out

in really thick daubs of impasto
from the centre of his face.

They couldn't be more different...

from the self-portrait
painted in late 1886,

where you often can't
tell one brushstroke from the other.

Here you can almost isolate
both each brushstroke...

and the colour used.

What I also think is really
interesting about this portrait

is how he's chosen to portray
himself in quite a smart suit.

He's now a serious person
who is working in Paris,

who has absorbed some
of the most radical changes in art

that have ever occurred,
and not only has he absorbed them,

he's able to create them
into his own unique style.

I think this is
one of the most confident images

that he produces
in his canon of self-portraits.

People might think
that the self-portraits

are just for
his own self-expression,

but he wanted to show them,
and he wanted to sell them.

While he was in Paris,
van Gogh took the initiative

to arrange exhibitions of his work,

and he actually exhibited
this self-portrait,

with the likes of
Toulouse-Lautrec and Emile Bernard,

in a restaurant in Montmartre.

However, the restauranteur
gave him a call

and told him that the diners were
complaining about the portraits,

so van Gogh turned up and took
the paintings back to his flat.

For Vincent, the close of 1887

heralds more paintings
and more self-portraits.

But the chill of a Paris winter

also brings familiar feelings
of sadness and dejection.

'Many thanks for your letter,

which I'd been looking forward to.

I daren't give way to the desire
to write to you often

or to encourage this on your part.

All this correspondence doesn't
always help to keep us, who are...

..of a nervous disposition,

strong in cases of possible
immersions in melancholy.

Here is an impression of mine,

which is the result of a portrait
that I painted in the mirror.

A pink-grey face with green eyes...

..ash-coloured hair,

wrinkled in forehead
and around the mouth.

Stiffly wooden,

a very red beard,
quite unkempt and sad.

This is what impressionism has
to my mind over the rest.

It isn't banal,

and one seeks a deeper likeness
than that of the photographer.'

What's interesting about Vincent's
letters to his sister Wil,

as opposed to his letters to Theo,

is because his sister
is not from an artist background.

He goes into much more detail
describing what he's working on,

and he gives a kind of,
through words,

a picture of what
he's trying to create.

MILLINGTON: In this self-portrait,
we see...

Vincent presenting himself
as a modern artist.

He's wearing a blue artist's smock,

and the whole portrait is painted
in really bright, exuberant colours.

We have the bright oranges
and the blues next to one another,

which became his signature style.

This portrait
is one of van Gogh's...

most confident images as an artist.

He's positioned the easel right in
the foreground. You cannot miss it.

He's holding his palette
very prominently,

and there's a kaleidoscope
of colours on it,

which references
the brightening of palette

that happened in his transformation
of style from moving to Paris.

I think there's a really interesting
central element to the painting

in that he signed it
and dated it in red,

virtually in the middle
of the picture,

which again, I think,
gives a signal to how...

confident he is about the picture,

and actually,
probably how pleased he is.

This is the last self-portrait,
that we know of,

that Vincent painted in Paris

before he then moved
to the south of France.

And for me,
the colours in this self-portrait

really indicate
that search for light.

We know Vincent was sick of Paris.

He wanted to escape the city
and reconnect with the countryside,

and find light and colour.

I think there is
hope and positivity in this work.

And I think Vincent was
very excited and hopeful

for what was going to come next
after he left Paris.

And the plans that he had
for an artist colony

where he was going to bring together
lots of like-minded artists

was a source of huge excitement
for him.

So while he does look drawn and
slightly pained in this portrait,

it's actually a really exciting time
in his life. And he felt that.

Like, he was aware that this is...
the next big thing was coming.

Bidding farewell to the friends he's
made in Paris, Vincent heads south.

He has big plans for the future,

and is excited to escape
the cool northern climate

for the warm,
bright light of Provence.

On 21st February 1888,

Vincent arrives in Arles,
in the south of France.

In Paris, he has adopted
a modern style of painting.

But the pace of life there
is too frenetic.

He hopes the serenity
will restore some balance,

while the warmer weather
and vivid colours will fire his art.

Vincent set off
for the south of France

in search of light and colour.

But when he arrived,
there was freezing conditions.

And the whole region
was covered in snow.

However, he was still inspired

by these bright white fields
and the light.

When he got to Arles, he was almost
returned to a rural setting...

and we know from
his early childhood

that he had an affinity
with the rural landscape.

The overarching plan for Arles
was to create an artist community.

So a cooperative of artists
who would make work together,

share the proceeds of sales,

and fundamentally, collaborate
to kind of create a new art.

He had this idea for a number
of reasons - I think he thought...

the Japanese woodcut artist
that had so inspired him,

and that he'd
first come across in Antwerp.

Then when he was in Paris,
he and his brother

amassed an incredible collection
of 19th-century woodcut prints.

He had the idea that this is how
Japanese artists worked together.

The fact that Vincent was
keen to set up a cooperative

shows you
a very different side to...

..one that a lot of people know.

And that side
of being very introspective,

it shows a side of...

community and collaboration,

and an understanding
that in order to perpetuate...

this being an artist,
he needed more, he needed support.

Not only emotional
but practical support.

I think a lot of the people
that Vincent was meeting in Paris,

they were all struggling -
nobody had money.

And Vincent's brother Theo, at that
time, was kind of dealing in art,

was a businessman,
knew the art world.

So it's quite a pragmatic plan.

MILLINGTON: Vincent van Gogh had
met Gauguin while he was in Paris,

through Theo, and he wanted this
older artist to join him

in the south of France
and become one of the first members,

and even the leader
of his artist colony there.

Gauguin wanted Theo van Gogh
to be selling his work,

to kind of represent him.

So there is an argument
that Gauguin was sort of

trying to get to Theo
through Vincent,

and kind of befriended Vincent
as a way to get to Theo,

who was quite an important player
in the art world in Paris.

So they corresponded,
they exchanged portraits -

this one, which van Gogh
dedicated to Gauguin.

And Gauguin reciprocated by sending
a picture back to Vincent.

What's really interesting is in the
letters to Theo about this portrait,

Vincent really believes
in his own work.

He says in a letter
that his portrait, he's sure,

stands up against that of Gauguin.

He's quite self-assured.

It's now known as Self-Portrait
Dedicated To Paul Gauguin,

but it's had other titles.

I think one of them is
Self-Portrait As Bonze,

which is a Japanese Buddhist monk.

And I think the link
to the Buddhist monk...

..was to showcase his commitment,
his commitment to painting.

In Arles,
Vincent painted everyday life.

He painted the cafe, blossom,

the harvest...
of course, sunflowers.

It's the series of sunflowers
which has become most famous.

And they were created because
in preparing for Gauguin's arrival,

he wanted to decorate
Gauguin's room.

And so he painted
what have now become...

some of the most iconic images of...

late 19th-century art
anywhere in the world.

Vincent and Paul Gauguin
lived, and worked,

in this place called
the Yellow House, in Arles.

Which was a very large building,

really designed
for more artists to be working.

Unfortunately,
it was just the two of them.

It became apparent, quite quickly,

after Gauguin had moved down
to the south of France,

that this colony, this community
that Vincent had envisioned...

would, in fact,
just be him and Gauguin...

working intensely together.

Although most
of Vincent's self-portraits

feature the artist's
head and shoulders,

one iconic work
stands apart from the rest.

LEBETER: So, van Gogh's chair
is a really interesting take

on the self-portrait, because of
course, he's not physically there.

But he's making a statement here
about his personality

and his kind of outlook
as an artist.

I think an artist can,
very easily, be...

simultaneously present
and not present

in the work that they produce.

It could be...

through the objects
they choose to represent,

or even the lack of objects.

So, when we look at Vincent's chair,

what sort of person
would sit in a chair like this?

And you say, well, it's kind
of rustic, you know, it's wicker.

And it looks like
it was made by hand,

and it looks like not much effort
was given to decoration.

And it's not painted,
and it's pretty...

like a farmhouse kind of chair.

And that's exactly what
he wants you to be

thinking about
when you look at the painting.

Not only that, the texture...
of the painting itself,

which is pretty coarse
and rough in places,

it emphasises this idea
about the rural and the handmade,

and the dirty, and everything
that isn't Paris, basically.

Everything that
isn't sophistication,

the metropolitan, the designed,
and all of that stuff.

He's basically...

naming his direction
in this painting.

This kind of image of simplicity

says a lot about van Gogh
as a person,

that he sees himself
as a working person.

That he's a working artist,
that he kind of has his...

fingers in the dirt, so to speak.

I often think about van Gogh's chair
alongside one of his early works,

The Potato Eaters,
as a sort of political statement

of him as a working person alongside
working people in communities.

CHRISTIE: He's placed his pipe,
his tobacco, on the chair,

and it's surrounded by...

a place he felt very comfortable,
the Yellow House at Arles.

And it contrasts, quite clearly,

with what he painted
as Gauguin's chair.

In Gauguin's chair, it's on a sort
of what looks like a Persian rug.

It's a much sort of more
sophisticated, richer environment.

The look of Gauguin's chair...

immediately tells us that we're
dealing with a personality clash.

Because Gauguin's chair
is quite elaborate,

relatively speaking -
it's quite ornate.

It looks quite kind of fancy.

It has a sort of class association
that Vincent's chair doesn't have.

Van Gogh and Gauguin
argued about modern painting,

and while Gauguin worked
in a slow and methodical manner,

van Gogh worked
in a more fast-paced style.

Vincent just couldn't
get his head around...

trying to be more abstracted.

He wanted to be
more linked to time and place.

Gauguin was quite
an overbearing character,

who had a huge amount
of self-belief,

and was quite keen
to tell absolutely everyone

what he thought about their work.

So while Gauguin...

was a great proponent
of the art of the imagination,

that you don't necessarily need to
be out in nature to produce nature,

that how you can
kind of envisage it in your head,

and onto canvas, is more important.

So their approach to work
is completely different,

and that comes to bear
in the Yellow House

in what becomes quite a...

claustrophobic, I imagine,
quite a cabin-fevered...

atmosphere in the house, where they
are clashing up against each other

in that autumn and winter.

By 23rd December 1888,

van Gogh and Gauguin already
had their artistic differences.

But this was the evening
when they had a huge argument,

possibly about the fact
that Gauguin, by this point,

wanted to leave, whereas
van Gogh wanted to keep him here.

So Gauguin had only been
in Arles for a few months.

Gauguin had already thought about
leaving and going back to Paris,

and had written to Theo
to say that he changed his mind,

and then very quickly,

the situation seems to have
escalated quite dramatically.

Disagreements with Gauguin,

and what was clearly quite
a tense period working together,

led to van Gogh's
first bout of illness.

We're still not sure
quite what that illness was.

There are many theories -
whether it was a form of epilepsy,

whether he was bipolar.

Whatever it was, it led to...

a major crisis on 23rd December,

where he tried to attack Gauguin
with a razor.

We only really have
Gauguin's account for what happened,

but it seemed that there was
an argument in the Yellow House.

And Gauguin said that he was
going to leave. Left the house.

He was pursued by Vincent, who...

Gauguin reports
had a razor in his hand.

There was an altercation,
no physical violence.

But there was an argument. Vincent
went back to the Yellow House.

And Gauguin went somewhere else
to stay the night.

And during that night,
at some point,

Vincent is said
to have cut off his ear.

There's a great deal
of art historical debate

about how much of Vincent's ear
that he took off.

I think that debate
is somewhat redundant,

and that it doesn't really matter.

I think this is...

an acute mental health crisis
that Vincent is going through,

and quite a shocking act
of self-harm.

Whether he takes off his whole ear
or the lobe is...

irrelevant, really.

It's Christmas Eve...

when Vincent is admitted to hospital.

On hearing
what has happened in Arles,

Theo van Gogh immediately
leaves Paris and heads south.

He writes of his brother's condition
to his wife, Jo.

'I found Vincent
in the hospital in Arles.

It was terribly sad being there...

because from time to time,
all his grief would well up inside,

and he would try to weep...
but couldn't.

Had he just once found someone to
whom he could pour his heart out...

..it might never have come to this.

In the next few days,

they will decide
whether he is to be transferred

to a special institution.

There is little hope,

but he has done more
than so many in his life,

and suffered and fought more than
most people are capable of doing.

If he must pass away...

so be it.

But the thought of it
breaks my heart.'

So Vincent is in hospital
for a few days

but then returns
to the Yellow House.

We know that Theo and Paul Gauguin
went back to Paris the same day,

so now Vincent is alone in Arles.

Very soon after the incident...

Vincent returns to painting.

And it shows that he was
a very resilient man.

And it also shows that he was
totally dedicated to making art.

The first months of 1889

find Vincent van Gogh in the depths
of a profound emotional struggle.

Returning to Arles
after a stay in hospital,

Vincent paints what will become...

his most internationally recognisable
self-portrait.

Self-Portrait With A Bandaged Ear

is another truly extraordinary
self-portrait,

because it was painted a week,
two weeks after...

van Gogh's first crisis of mental
illness, when he cut off his ear.

Clearly, a very traumatic time...

for both himself and his family
and everyone around him.

This is one of the most iconic
self-portraits in Western art.

It is following
quite a shocking episode,

and his reasons for creating this...

self-portrait are complex,

and maybe something
we will never fully understand.

We know from the letters
to Theo that...

Vincent is trying to reassure Theo
that he's getting back to normality,

he's working again.

So you could possibly argue
that this portrait is created

as a way to try and reassure
his brother that he's on the mend.

In Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear,

Vincent is in the Yellow House,
and he's really buttoned up.

This is the first month of the year.
It's really cold.

He's got his big overcoat on
and his furry hat on.

And you can see
the bandage around his ear,

which...he's turned his head
towards you so you can see it.

He doesn't look...

traumatised.

He looks, actually,
quite serious and together.

He's showing us, 'I'm still fully
committed to being an artist.

I've got my easel behind me,
and I'm showing you...

my hugest influence
of the Japanese print.

I'm also placing myself within
this studio in the south of France

to show how important Arles
has been to me.'

So, I think,

considering the state of mind he was
in a few weeks before this portrait,

it's a confident assertion...

of himself as an artist.

I think this work really does show
how important self-portraiture is

to Vincent because it is
the first thing that he creates

when he's released from the hospital
and is back in the Yellow House.

And his first thought
is to pick up a paintbrush again,

look in the mirror
and paint what he sees.

So this self-portrait
is a way of reckoning with himself.

This work could be seen
as an image of recovery

just as much as it could
an image of injury.

'Unfortunately,
it's complicated in several ways.

My paintings are worthless.

They cost me
an extraordinary amount, it's true.

Perhaps, sometimes,
even in blood and brain.

Nevertheless...
I've started work again,

and I already have
three studies done in the studio.

I retain all good hope.

But I feel weak...

..and a little anxious,
and fearful.'

Vincent had had relapses
and seemed to realise

he couldn't live this independent
life in the Yellow House.

And so
he admitted himself, voluntarily,

to the psychiatric hospital
in Saint-Remy.

Far from slowing Vincent down,

a prolonged stay in hospital results
in one of his most prolific periods.

As ever, self-portraits
are central to his output.

'I hope you're well,
and your wife too.

And that you'll enjoy
a little of the good weather.

As for me, my health is good.

As for the head...

it will, let's hope,
be a matter of time and patience.

I've been here almost a whole month
and not one single time

have I felt the slightest desire
to be elsewhere.

Just...

the will to work again
is becoming...

..a tiny bit firmer.'

So the August 1889 portrait
is really significant

for a number of different reasons.

Firstly, it wasn't thought to be a
van Gogh until relatively recently.

Its attribution
was contested for decades.

And the Van Gogh Museum
did a technical analysis on it

relatively recently and found
that it definitely is a van Gogh

that was painted at Saint-Remy.

Van Gogh is incredibly productive
in Saint-Remy.

This is one of his
most prolific periods in his career,

and where he creates some of
his most iconic works as well.

CHRISTIE: He was quite lucky when
he arrived, because it wasn't full,

and so he was able
to have two rooms.

So he used one room for his studio
and one room that he slept in.

And actually being in the asylum,
which was an odd monastery...

..set up a kind of
regular routine for him.

What's a really key thing
to understand

about the way that Vincent worked...

was that he did not paint when
he was in his periods of crisis.

He couldn't paint.
He didn't want to do anything.

He couldn't even write letters home

when he was
in his periods of crisis.

This self-portrait
is the exception to the rule,

and is one of the only works
that he made

while he was going through
a period of mental health crisis.

MILLINGTON: This self-portrait
stands in stark contrast

to many of the others - Vincent
used a much more muted palette,

and these sort of lurid greens
for this self-portrait.

For me, there's something quite...

claustrophobic
about the composition.

And we know at the time
that he'd been banned

from going outside of the hospital.

In this portrait,
Vincent looks sick.

And in fact, he had recently...

had this incident
where he ingested paint.

And paint at this time
was highly toxic.

So he got sick, and his paints
were taken away from him.

Theo then wrote to the hospital,
saying actually,

he needs his paint, cos his paint
is kind of his medicine.

It's what helps him
get on an even keel mentally.

So he got his paints back.

But he wasn't able to leave
the hospital.

So he was painting, essentially,

plant life,
vegetation in the courtyard,

and views from
outside of the asylum window.

He still wants to show
he's an avant-garde artist,

because you see, in the background,

this wonderfully dynamic brushwork,

these bold colour contrasts.

But his facial features here,

he does look incredibly vulnerable.

And I think it's a very rare...

moment where...
he let that side of his character

come out in one of
the self-portraits.

I think, for me, this...

this really is one of the bleakest
portraits that van Gogh created.

This is a man who looks exhausted,
he looks drawn,

his gaze is not as confident,

not as direct as it is
in some of the other self-portraits.

And I think it's...
it's interesting...

who Vincent was
creating this painting for.

Was this for a public?
Almost certainly not.

I think this is one of the clearest
indications of Vincent...

coming to terms with himself,

of trying to understand
what is happening to him.

So one of Vincent van Gogh's
final self-portraits is created

mere days after
the August 1889 self-portrait.

And the difference between the two
could not be more stark.

Here, Vincent looks confident.

The direct gaze is back.

He's an artist who is
in complete control of his craft.

What stands out to me
about this portrait

is that it's a celebration
of colour again.

The blues and the smock and
in the background are truly so deep,

so vibrant, almost like
the colours in Starry Night,

in those other works
from this time in his life

that we know so well,
and we love so much.

He's showing everyone
that regardless of his mental state,

he still has this very fervent
commitment to be an artist.

When you look at the style,
it's absolutely dazzling.

He's holding a palette.
He's turned facing the viewer.

Again, you see those complementary
colours coming through.

He's wearing the painter's spot,
which is blue,

which contrasts with his sort
of orange features within his face.

You see the reds
and the greens drawing out...

the definition of his eyes,
and his nose, and his beard.

It is an absolutely
cracking portrait,

which I think is...

a real culmination
of what he'd learnt.

He's showing himself
with his brushes and his palette,

and he's someone who again,
is thinking about...

the next step as an artist
who is moving forward his career.

And as a bookend
of this self-portrait,

and going back to the self-portrait
in 1886 in Paris,

three years have passed
between those two paintings.

And the advances that Vincent has
made in that time is unprecedented.

It couldn't be more different
to that early self-portrait

that we first looked at from 1886,

where he was emerging
from a dark background.

Here, he's literally
radiating energy.

I think this is
an incredible culmination...

of all that he'd learnt,
and absorbed,

since moving to France.

In May 1890,

Vincent decides to move north again.

He remains incredibly productive,

making 75 paintings in 70 days.

Vincent moves to Auvers, which is
a little village northwest of Paris,

to be closer to Theo.

There's a sense that the dream
of the studio of the South,

of the Yellow House,
is kind of over.

It's as though he recognises
that it's over, I think.

During the summer of 1890,
Vincent was hugely productive,

painting at least one work a day.

However, we also know
he was riddled with...

doubts and worries about his future.

Theo and his wife, Jo, had
just had a child earlier that year.

It was a recurring worry for Vincent

that he was becoming
a financial and emotional burden

on his brother Theo.

And I think the arrival
of a child into their marriage...

accentuated that.

Theo was also
having troubles at work,

and he was thinking about
leaving the Goupil Gallery

and starting up on his own,

which would have added
financial stress to the household.

And Theo, of course, had been
financially supporting Vincent

for years up until that point.

In July 1890,

Vincent walked out
into a wheat field in Auvers

and shot himself in the chest
with a revolver.

He managed to make it back
to the house where he was staying,

and he survived for a day and a half
with mortal injuries.

He wouldn't let anyone in the house
tell Theo that night,

because he didn't want him to worry
and rush to...

..rush from Paris there and then, so
Theo was only informed the next day.

He apparently arrived,
and Vincent died,

with Theo by his bedside,
later that same day.

'Vincent said,
"I would so like to go."

And an hour later, he had his wish.

Life weighed so heavily on him.'

Theo van Gogh dies
just six months after Vincent,

and they are both buried alongside
one another in Auvers, near Paris.

Over the next few decades,

interest in Vincent's work
begins to grow.

The really key person...

who was responsible
for van Gogh's legacy

was his sister-in-law, Jo Bonger,

who was married to his brother Theo.

Over the years, van Gogh had
just been sending his work to Theo,

and he actually said
because he couldn't pay Theo,

he was paying him,
essentially, in paintings.

And so Jo suddenly found herself
responsible for all this work.

She was a smart
and savvy businesswoman,

who negotiated sales,
and also loans of paintings,

to museums and galleries
around the world.

Another really crucial thing
that happened in 1914

was the first publication of the
letters between Vincent and Theo,

and opening up
that personal story straight away

added into that artistic legacy,

as well as the paintings themselves.

And now, over 100 years later,

he is, without doubt,
one of the most iconic,

if not the most iconic,
artist of the late 19th century.

Vincent van Gogh
became a global phenomenon.

His story has touched millions.

But his self-portraits
speak of more than just loneliness

and mental breakdown.

They speak of resilience,

and the transcendent power of art.

These eight portraits
show a very multifaceted

and complicated artist,

who went through
various stages of development,

both in his artistic life
but also in his personal life.

And I think his portraits
would show that development,

would show these moments of turmoil
but also of triumph.

These portraits,
they're crucial to knowing him.

MILLINGTON: There's something
really frank and expressive

in the way that van Gogh portrayed
himself in his self-portraits.

We go beyond the myth
of the tortured genius

and see a painter
mastering his craft

and becoming one of the greatest
modern artists of all time.

They're a way for us to...

get an insight into him as a person,

where he lived,
but also how his practice developed.

STREET: I think
the self-portraits...

have made van Gogh
even more beloved.

When we see Vincent
looking out at us from a painting,

remember, he's looking at himself
in a reflection in a mirror,

first of all,
but now he looks at us.

And somebody looking at you
in a painting

is a way of building a bridge
between their world and ours.

And that's why, I think,
they feel so close to us.

I think anyone who...

creates so many self-portraits

is, one, very brave,

and, I think,

intimately connected
to their own emotional state.

Creating so many self-portraits,

I think,
is also a way of documenting...

..the stages of your...

mental state, and its ups...

and its downs.

What I think
is particularly incredible

about Vincent's self-portraits
is you've got the myth of...

him cutting off his ear, and
so that obviously draws people in.

But then when, I think,

people look properly
at all the self-portraits,

they realise they aren't...

just portraits of someone
who is totally mentally ill,

painting without direction.

They were the result
of years of painstaking...

effort on his part.

They don't feel sad and downtrodden.

They feel uplifting and affirmative.

And I think that is the power
of seeing them all together.

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