Paris, Winter, 1886-87. (Gray hat, blue tie.) Van Gogh painted over 30 self portraits between1886-89. placing him among the most prolific self portraitists of all time. Van Gogh used portrait painting as a method of introspection, to make money and to develop his skills as an artist. http://blog.daum.net/kmozzart/1278 Cruising along the Lungotevere on a Vespa I had time to admire the vast self portrait of Vincent on the back of a Roman tour bus. The poster, promoting yet another one-man show of his work, had a glorious reproduction of the artist in which every brush stroke was enlarged to about 3”. What struck me, though, were his green eyes. Green? I didn’t know Vincent’s eyes were green so I checked. Yes, he sometimes has green eyes but he sometimes hasn’t: bluish, dark brown, green over brown. Vincent’s eyes... [http://www.everypainterpaintshimself.com/blog/the_mystery_of_van_goghs_nose] Van Gogh's self portraits in chronological order: http://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/gogh_van/16/ .