Self-Portrait with Straw Hat

Catalogue numbers: F 469, JH 1310.

This self-portrait departs from the approach of earlier work. Now it is colour analogy that engages the painter's main interest, and the picture contains a cheerful, summery abundance of yellows in the shirt, face, hat and even the background. Carefully deployed violet strokes add a subtle contrastive note. It is only in the ginger of the beard that van Gogh still retains the principle of local colour.