It was in a context of crisis that Gauguin made that portrait of Vincent, back from visiting the Fabre Museum in Montpellier where they argued once more about their artistic views.
Gauguin, in a letter to Emile Bernard of December 1888, will write : “ Vincent admires Daumier, Daubigny, Ziem, the great Rousseau, all the ones I can’t stand. On the other hand, he hates Ingres, Raphael, Degas, all the ones I admire…He likes my paintings very much but when I work on them, he says I’m wrong to do this or that. He is romantic and I’d rather look to a primitive state…”
Vincent won’t like that portrait at all: “ it’s me alright, but gone mad”.