A Photo of Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh is arguably one of the most famous artists of all time. This 19th century painter created a whopping 900 paintings and 1,000 sketches and drawings in his lifetime! Some of his works are more recognizable than others - how can we forget Starry Night? Or this self portrait, perhaps?

As iconic as Starry Night may be, in my opinion this one is as well. My elementary school art teacher had a copy this portrait on one of the art classroom cabinets. This painting was on a magnet you could buy at an art museum I went to. If you held this up to someone, they'd probably say, "oh, I know that painting. Van Gogh made it." Though as lifelike and impressive this piece of work is, sometimes I wonder if there are any photographs of Vincent Van Gogh. I've never seen one, and I wonder why. Oftentimes photos of famous people aren't that hard to find, but that isn't the case with Vincent. So, are there any photographs of this well-known Dutch painter, and if so, why don't we ever see them?

The possibility

Van Gogh lived from 1853 to 1890. The world's oldest surviving photograph was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. Photography really became widespread to the public after the 1840's, but having someone take photos of you could be expensive. This does mean, however, that Van Gogh could have hired someone to take a picture of him.

We often forget that for much of his life Vincent wasn't exactly rich. He wasn't living in poverty, and he wasn't wealthy, but he didn't have lots of money, either. Therefore, it'd be a pretty hefty spend.

Have we found photos?

yes... and no. There are two rare photos, supposedly of Vincent when he was a child. However, recently those have been proven to actually be photos of his younger brother, Theo Van Gogh. The photography for Theo's pictures was more possible, since Vincent and his brother grew up in a well-off family. Though the photos were proven to be of Theo, there are still some pictures that might be of Van Gogh. (However, it's very unlikely.)

This photo ^ looks a lot like Vincent, don't you think? The man in the photo looks quite similar to him. There was a notable photographic firm, Morin & Tholander in Namur, Belgium that could have taken the photograph. There's a theory that the photo originated in Belgium and was later brought to Canada by Victor Morin. Vincent stayed in Belgium from 1879 to 1880, so there is chance that this picture is, indeed, Vincent Van Gogh.

There's also a chance Van Gogh might appear in this picture. At the far right we see Paul Gauguin, and Emile Bernard second from the left. However, the photo expert at the Van Gogh Museum states that it cannot be Vincent, “because it simply does not look like him”. Also, Van Gogh hadn't mentioned this get-together in any of his letters.

Lastly, there's this Edmond Bénard photo, showing 34 men posing at the Académie Julian in Paris in 1888. This picture was recently found by an Italian art historian, Antonio De Robertis. He claims to have identified Vincent Van Gogh in this photograph. We also see Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, as well as Andries Bonger, brother in law and friend of Theo Van Gogh.

So, is Vincent in any of these pictures?

Most of these theories are, well, just theories. We may never know for certain if Vincent Van Gogh is in any of these photographs. For now, we'll have 4 drawings and 34 self portraits, and that's still amazing!