Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (obverse: The Potato Peeler)

This intense self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh, painted in 1887, captures the artist during a pivotal period in Paris where his palette brightened dramatically. Van Gogh, a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, is renowned for his expressive brushwork and bold use of color, characteristics that are vividly present here. While he is known for creating approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life, this piece from 1887 shows him experimenting with techniques that would define his later, more famous works like "The Bedroom" or "The Poet's Garden." The obverse of this canvas, titled "The Potato Peeler," reveals Van Gogh's practice of reusing materials, a common necessity for artists of his time. This self-portrait is a powerful example of his prolific output in the genre, contributing significantly to the rise of expressionism in modern art, even though his work only began to gain critical attention shortly before his death at 37.