Vincent painted many portraits of himself for the simple reason that he could not afford to pay models to sit for that long. He is one of the only artists to paint over 30 self portraits of himself.

"Today i am sending you my self-portrait, which you will need to study for a time. I hope you will notice that my facial expressions have become much more calmer, although my eyes have the same insecure look as before, or so it appears to me."