Vincent van Gogh - Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe. Self-portrait without beard 1889
Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe. Self-portrait without beard 1889
40x31cm oil/canvas
Sold for: USD 71.5 million
Auction house: Christie's, New York
Sale date: 19 November 1998
Seller: Heirs of Jacques Koerfer
Buyer: Anonymous buyer
This painting may have been van Gogh's last self-portrait, which he gave to his mother as a birthday gift. Van Gogh painted Self-Portrait without beard just after he had shaved himself (Hulsker thought it painted in Arles following his admission to hospital after mutilating his ear when he was also shaved, as can be seen in the "bandaged ear" portraits F527 and F529). The painting can be seen in the third (smaller) version of Bedroom in Arles at the Musée d'Orsay. The self-portrait is one of the most expensive paintings of all time, selling for $71.5 million in 1998 in New York. At the time, it was the third (or an inflation-adjusted fourth) most expensive painting ever sold.