Portrait of Etienne-Lucien Martin, 1887Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
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Van Gogh painstakingly built up this portrait in subtle colors rendered with fine brushstrokes. While the background and the man’s clothes are subdued, the face consists of stripes painted in all manner of colors.
The man depicted here is Lucien Martin, the owner of a restaurant where Van Gogh and his friends showed their work in November 1887. Vincent’s paintings were often shown at Parisian cafés, restaurants and art dealers’. However, they failed to sell.
