Vincent Van Gogh's Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most well-known painters of the world, known by both artists and the general populations, yet most only care about his “Starry Night” or his “Sunflowers” series. In truth, it is his self-portraits that reveal the most about how the artist saw himself and how he portrayed the world at large through his struggles. Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear employs the brilliant use of color while asking questions about Van Gogh’s future as an artist and gives insight into a few of his influences. Van Gogh was an artist who was able to transform such immense pain into great beauty, securing him as not only one of the top post-impressionists, but as one of the most well-regarded painters in the modern world. Van Gogh uses the classical medium of oil on canvas to bring to light such a new usage of color. His usage of the pure complementary colors directly next to each other offer such a stark contrast that one sometimes must look away for a few moments because the undiluted colors are so potent; perhaps Van Gogh did it on purpose. He sought for the brightness and potency of the colors to make the viewer feel something, whether it be sadness or happiness. Van Gogh’s works, including Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear have an almost visual melody to them, each of the colors both work well individually and

The bandage too, which would have been soaked in camphor, suggests that he both accepts what has happened and is happy, literally, to take his medicine (Khan