In the Picture

While many museums remain shuttered due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibitions will include shows at institutions that are now reopening as well as digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.

As Romantic conceptions of individual artistic genius took hold in the 19th century, portraiture became increasingly popular among painters. This display of 75 works at the Van Gogh Museum – which shuttered after just three weeks in March, and has been extended until 30 August following the museum’s reopening on 1 June – features both self-portraits and portraits of other artists, in order to consider how painters from Gustave Courbet to Van Gogh, Hélène Schjerfbeck and Francis Bacon employed the genre to explore questions of artistic identity. Find out more from the Van Gogh Museum’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889), Vincent Van Gogh. The Courtauld Gallery, London

Self-Portrait in Hell (1903), Edvard Munch. Munchmuseet, Oslo

Self-portrait, Black Background (1915), Helene Schjerfbeck. Finnish National Gallery/Ateneum Art Museum. Photo: Yehia Eweis

Homage to Van Gogh (1960), Francis Bacon. Göteborgs Konstmuseum