In this self-portrait, Van Gogh portrays himself in a blue cap with black fur and a green overcoat with a bandage covering his ear and extending under his chin. Behind him is an open window, a canvas on an easel, with a few indistinguishable marks, as well as a
Japanese woodblock print,
Geishas in a Landscape made by
Satō Torakiyo in the 1870s. The fur cap pictured in the portrait serves as a memory of the difficult working circumstances he encountered in January 1889. The cap had been recently purchased to keep his heavy bandage in place and protect him from the winter cold. Van Gogh used
Impasto painting strokes, a technique where paint is laid thickly on a surface to show marks of the
Painting knife, to give the composition more energy and passion. He was inspired by
Adolphe Monticelli's use of impasto in his own paintings After renting four rooms in
The Yellow House, he invited
Paul Gauguin to join him. On evening of 23 December 1888, Gauguin threatened to leave and Van Gogh approached him with a razor. Later that night, he sliced off his own left ear, which is not apparent in the portrait since he used a mirror to paint it, making it seem like the right ear is bandaged instead, and brought it to a prostitute in Arles named Rachel. When she got the severed ear, Rachel became distressed and called the police to arrest Van Gogh for lunacy. ==History==