The Art Archives: A 19th Century Selfie

Van Gogh - A Tormented Soul

The Story

In the Fall of 1980, I was really into Creative Writing, Ceramics, and Artwork.

Figure Drawing was the most interesting because it required vision, concentration, and perception. While most of it was with pencil or charcoal sketches of live models, a few exercises were necessary to help us gain perspective.

One such exercise was to copy a self-portrait of a famous artist.

I chose this particular one by Van Gogh because of the vividness of color and contrast and also how well it captures his melancholy personality that ultimately led to a depression so dark that he took his own life.

This is his most famous “selfie” so to speak:

Cork Hutson, Eugene, OR, Fall 1980

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