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Primary sourcePainting1887

Portrait of Vincent van Gogh

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec · 1887

A pastel portrait of Van Gogh made by fellow painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1887, showing him at a Paris café.

A portrait of Van Gogh made by a fellow painter who knew him from their shared studio in Paris.

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Pastel drawing of a bearded older man in profile, seated at a table by a window, wearing a jacket and tie, with a glass on the table. Soft blue, yellow, and green strokes cover the scene.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 1887. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

About this source

What it is

A chalk pastel portrait by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, made in 1887 and held at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It shows Vincent van Gogh in profile, seated at a table with a glass of absinthe at the Café du Tambourin in Paris.

Why it matters

Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh met as students at Fernand Cormon's studio in Paris. The portrait places Van Gogh among the Montmartre avant-garde, at a café where he had an arrangement with the proprietor, Agostina Segatori, and once exhibited his collection of Japanese prints.

Look closer

  • What does the setting tell us about Van Gogh's life in Paris at this time?
  • Why might a fellow painter choose to portray him like this?
  • What might the painting leave out about Van Gogh's personal struggles?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Vincent van Gogh on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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