A man with a pointed goatee and moustache faces forward, his hazel eyes fixed just above the viewer, set against a deep blue night sky scattered with small, bright stars. His short, close-cropped hair and sharply defined eyebrows frame a face rendered in bold, directional brushstrokes of ochre, green, and pink, giving the skin a vivid, almost sculpted presence. He wears a mustard-yellow jacket with a high collar and a single visible button, the lapels outlined in green, over a pale shirt and a diagonally striped tie in red and blue-green.

The background is a flat, swirling expanse of midnight blue, punctuated by scattered white and yellow stars, with one large star shining at the upper left corner, its rays radiating outward in thick, textured strokes. The paint is laid on in energetic, visible strokes, especially in the jacket and face, where the texture of the brushwork creates a sense of movement and immediacy. The composition places the figure centrally, his head and shoulders filling most of the canvas, while the starry sky surrounds him and pushes his form forward.

Small details, such as the uneven growth of the beard and the subtle asymmetry of the mouth, add to the sense of individuality and direct observation. The left edge of the jacket is cropped by the border of the canvas, with the shoulder sloping downward and out of view. A faint greenish shadow runs along the right side of the face, accentuating the cheekbone and jawline.

The collar of the shirt is painted with swift, parallel strokes of pale blue and white, contrasting with the warmer tones of the face and jacket. The starry background contains small, irregular dabs of white and yellow paint, some of which appear almost as flecks or scratches rather than defined stars. The lower right corner of the painting is dominated by the ochre of the jacket, with loose, visible brushwork and subtle shifts in color.

Light falls most strongly on the left side of the face and forehead, while the right side recedes into cooler, shadowed tones. Vincent van Gogh painted this portrait in 1888, during his time in Arles.