The Seattle Art Museum has done a beautiful job of hanging the show - the paintings are well spaced and lit, so that the colours shine brightly. Gauguin said that he wanted the colour to vibrate like music and I felt that it does. It glows, with nothing strident or harsh or clashing. The paintings aren't large, most 30 x 36 inches maximum. As much as I don't think I would have liked the man, I do like the way he put down the paint.
If you look through images of his work, you see many self-portraits. They are all done from the same angle, with his head facing to the right and his eyes looking sideways. This is the way it has to be when you are doing self-portraits; it is awkward because you have to look in the mirror and at the same time face your canvas. This one that is in the show has a nice bit of yellow-orange on his shirt front, and a good dash of black below to heighten the other colours.
