A man with piercing green eyes and a reddish beard faces forward, his gaze intense and direct. Short, energetic brushstrokes in greens, blues, and oranges cover the background, creating a vibrant, almost pulsating field of color behind the figure. The same technique appears in the man's jacket, where dabs of red, green, and blue suggest the weave of the fabric and the play of light across its surface.

His hair is brushed back from his forehead, and the reddish tones of his beard and hair stand out against the cooler background. The composition centers the head and shoulders, cropping the figure at the chest and placing the face just off-center to the right. Small details, such as the artist’s parted lips and the subtle modeling of his cheekbones, are rendered with short, layered strokes. This is a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh, painted in 1887 during his time in Paris.

The densely dabbed brushwork reflects van Gogh’s response to Georges Seurat’s pointillist technique, transforming it into an expressive, emotional language. The surface is alive with particles of intense color—greens, blues, reds, and oranges—dominated by the deep green of the artist’s eyes and the force of his gaze. Self-Portrait belongs to the Post-impressionism movement and depicts the artist himself, as noted in the records. The painting’s provenance traces its journey from van Gogh’s sister-in-law in Amsterdam, through several European collectors and galleries, to its acquisition by Joseph Winterbotham and eventual donation to the Art Institute in 1954.

It has been exhibited in major European and American venues, including Cologne, Berlin, Amsterdam, and New York, as documented by the museum.