In this self-portrait, Van Gogh is wearing a blue cap with black fur and a green overcoat with a bandage covering his ear and extending under his chin.

Behind him is an open window, a canvas on an easel, with a few indistinguishable marks, as well as a Japanese woodblock print, Geishas in a Landscape made by Satō Torakiyo in the 1870s.

[5][6] Van Gogh had moved from Paris to Arles to establish a community of supportive artists called the Studio of the South.

[17] The art of woodblock printing in Japan was of great influence for Van Gogh as he was a big collector of many Japanese pieces.

[18] Throughout his lifetime, he had collected hundreds of Japanese prints,[19] including Geishas in a Landscape by Torakiyo Sato, which was then used as inspiration for the copy in the background of this portrait.