A self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh that has remained largely hidden from public view for more than three decades will serve as the centrepiece of an ambitious exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, where it will be displayed alongside other works once owned by the pioneering French collector Gustave Fayet. The painting, valued at between $200 million and $300 million for insurance purposes according to recent assessments, was acquired by Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos in the 1970s for an estimated $2 million to $3 million. Organisers of Gustave Fayet, Collector-Designer: Icons of Modern Art, which runs from October 9 until March 8, 2027, selected the portrait as one of the show’s key loans after rejecting numerous previous exhibition requests.
The work was painted in mid-January 1889, three weeks after Van Gogh mutilated his left ear during a period of mental distress following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin in Arles. In a letter to his brother Theo cited by The Art Newspaper, the artist noted that he had resumed painting and completed three studies, including this self-portrait and another now at the Courtauld Gallery in London. A January analysis by the publication found that both works demonstrate Van Gogh had lost none of his artistic skill, with controlled brushwork and bold composition that contradict any notion of diminished capacity.
The portrait’s most striking feature is its vibrant orange and red background, divided at eye level to emphasise the artist’s direct gaze, while his green coat provides a complementary contrast that heightens the overall impact. Van Gogh deliberately positioned himself to display the prominent bandage rather than conceal the injury, a choice that The Art Newspaper described as a courageous act of candour. The inclusion of a pipe clenched in his mouth further underscores a sense of calm resolve amid personal turmoil, according to the same assessment.
Now in the collection of the Niarchos family and occasionally on view at the Kunsthaus Zurich, the painting last appeared in a temporary exhibition in 1990, despite repeated loan demands from museums worldwide. Its selection for the Fondation Louis Vuitton show marks a significant moment for a work that has been requested for numerous international displays but remained off limits until this loan was approved. Exhibition curators plan to hang it near a later self-portrait by Gauguin that also once belonged to Fayet, highlighting the complex relationship between the two artists.
Three years after Van Gogh’s death, the portrait was chosen to represent him in the 1893 exhibition Les Portraits du Prochain Siècle at the Le Barc de Boutteville gallery in Paris, an honour for an artist who was still largely unknown at the time. Poet and critic Paul-Napoléon Roinard, writing in the Revue Encyclopédique, expressed surprise at the work, stating, “Oh! The beautiful and wild harmony of this primitive barbarism of art: the juxtaposition of colours.” The exhibition itself received limited press coverage, yet the inclusion of Van Gogh’s image with its visible bandage introduced many viewers to the story of his injury for the first time.
Van Gogh produced around 35 surviving self-portraits during the final years of his life, many of them experiments in style and self-representation that drew on his fascination with Japanese prints. This particular example incorporates elements of that influence through its flattened planes and intense colour contrasts, techniques that would later inspire artists such as André Derain. The Fondation Louis Vuitton exhibition will reassemble more than 250 works from Fayet’s collection, offering new context for how the French painter and patron championed modern masters including Van Gogh.
