Compared to other Impressionists, whom Van Gogh first met in 1886, he was perhaps more drawn to the human face. Between 1886 to 1888, the artist lived in Paris with his brother and painted twenty-two self-portraits. Later works indicate the artist's deteriorating health, such as this Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat. Van Gogh is dressed in the yellow straw hat and work coat of a peasant labourer, a frequently worn outfit appropriate for his self-image as a working man's artist.
