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Self-Portrait with Portrait of Gauguin
Emile Bernard, 1888

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Self-Portrait with Portrait of Gauguin

Emile Bernard (1868 - 1941), Pont-Aven, 1888

oil on canvas, 46 cm x 56 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)


Bernard painted this self-portrait in the French seaside village of Pont-Aven. He was working there with Paul Gauguin (shown in the background of the picture). A Japanese woodcut print is visible at bottom right.

Van Gogh had asked his two friends to make portraits of each other. But Bernard didn’t dare: he was only 20 and intimidated by Gauguin, who was twice his age. So each of them sent a self-portrait featuring a sketch of the other. Beside his signature, Bernard wrote a dedication to his friend (‘copain’) Van Gogh. The added ‘g’ at the end of ‘copain’ was a joke about the local accent in Provence, where Van Gogh was living.

Search in the collection:

  • 1888
  • Pont-Aven
  • painting
  • portrait
  • self-portrait
  • artist's portrait
  • Emile Bernard

Object number
s0206V1962
Credits (obliged to state)
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)
Dimensions
46 cm x 56 cm, 60.5 cm x 69.5 cm