Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear at the Courtauld Gallery

Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear hangs in the Courtauld Gallery's Great Room every day of the year. For ten weeks in the spring of 2022, it had company. More than fifteen more of his self-portraits arrived from museums across Europe and the United States, for the first exhibition ever built around the subject. I went to see them together and photographed as many as the crowds allowed.

What Does Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear Show?

Van Gogh painted this one in January 1889, about a week after he left hospital following the argument with Paul Gauguin that ended with him injuring his own left ear. He worked from a mirror, so the bandage that covered his left ear in life shows on the right of the canvas. Behind him, a blank canvas just started and a Japanese print pinned to the wall both point at the work he still meant to do.

Why Did Van Gogh Paint So Many Self-Portraits?

The National Gallery of Art in Washington counts at least 36 self-portraits in under four years, more than almost any other artist attempted. He told his brother Theo why, in a letter: he had "no other models," so he sat for himself instead. It cost nothing, and a face that never complains about holding still is a useful thing to practise on.

How Did Van Gogh's Self-Portraits Change After He Moved to Paris?

The earliest self-portraits in the show were painted in Paris, over the winter of 1886 into 1887, when Van Gogh was still working in the darker, tonal style he had learned in the Netherlands. Self-Portrait with a Dark Felt Hat is close-toned, brown and green, his face turned half away from the mirror.

By the spring of 1887 the palette had opened up. In Self-Portrait, now at the Art Institute of Chicago, he used the broken, dot-like brushstrokes he'd picked up from the Parisian avant-garde, laid down in blues and greens instead of browns. It's the same face, painted a few months apart, and it barely looks like the same man.

What Was the Courtauld's 2022 Van Gogh Self-Portraits Exhibition?

"Van Gogh: Self-Portraits" opened at the Courtauld Gallery on 3 February 2022 and closed on 8 May. It brought together more than fifteen self-portraits from seven lending museums, among them the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Curated by Karen Serres, it was the first exhibition ever built solely around Van Gogh's self-portraits.

London gets a reunion like that every so often: the Bayeux Tapestry is on one now, on loan to the British Museum from France.

Which Self-Portraits Were Reunited for the First Time in Decades?

Two of the paintings on show, both from September 1889, had not hung in the same room since they left Van Gogh's studio at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He painted them close together: one he sent to his mother, one he kept for himself. They went separate ways from there. One is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the other at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

What Is the Only Known Photograph of Van Gogh?

One exhibit wasn't a painting at all. It's a photograph of Van Gogh at nineteen, taken not long before he left the Netherlands for his first job, as an art dealer in London. He hated having his picture taken and never sat for a camera again, so this is the only photograph of him as an adult that's considered genuine. A different image, long shown as Van Gogh at thirteen, was identified in 2018 as his younger brother Theo instead.

Sambourne House in Kensington has a photography connection too: its owner, the illustrator Edward Linley Sambourne, was a keen amateur photographer, and his own pictures are part of the house today.

How Did the Courtauld Get Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear?

At Van Gogh's death in 1890, the painting belonged to Julien Tanguy, the Paris paint seller who kept him supplied with materials and studio space; how Tanguy came to own it was never recorded. It was shown at the two big Van Gogh retrospectives in Paris, in 1901 and 1905. In 1928 the industrialist and collector Samuel Courtauld bought it, and it has stayed in London ever since.

Samuel Courtauld wasn't London's only one-person collection to end up as a public gallery. The Wallace Collection in Marylebone came from one family's taste the same way; Leighton House in Kensington from one painter's. Both are free to walk into.

Can You Still See the Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear Today?

Yes. The painting lives in the Courtauld's LVMH Great Room, on the top floor, alongside the rest of the collection Samuel Courtauld gave the gallery that carries his name. Nothing needs booking. It's part of the permanent collection, included in a standard ticket. For the rest of the building, from the spiral staircase to the café, there's a full Courtauld Gallery guide here.

Visiting the Courtauld Gallery: Practical Notes

📍 Where: The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN. The Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear hangs in the LVMH Great Room, on the top floor.

📅 Open days: Every day, Monday to Sunday.

🎫 Admission: £14 for adults, or £16 with a donation (checked September 2026); free for under-18s, students and several other groups. The painting is part of the permanent collection, included in that same ticket.

🚇 Getting there: Temple, on the Circle and District lines, is closest.

⏳ How long: Ten minutes if the painting is all you're after; the rest of the Great Room and the Blavatnik Fine Rooms can fill an afternoon.

🗺️ Nearby: Somerset House's courtyard is right outside. Covent Garden is about ten minutes' walk.

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All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.