Before Vincent van Gogh, the universally beloved painter, there was Vincent van Gogh, the trainwreck.

This painting was completed just after Vincent arrived in Paris for a do-over with his brother Theo. The brothers van Gogh had lived together in the Netherlands. Their first living arrangement didn't go too well. With Theo entrenched on the economic side of the Paris art scene, Vincent wanted a little brotherly love in the form of a familial hook-up. Including a bed to crash on. When Vincent arrived, there wasn't room for a studio. He got them a bigger apartment in the hip part of town. Theo even pulled some strings to get Vincent into a hoighty-toighty school, learning from real-deal artists. Matriculating alongside the likes of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Only, Vincent's the ugly duckling of the group. Getting hazed and getting no respect.

Vincent doesn't draw the way the instructor or the students want him to. He's going fast and furious with enough passion to fill a dozen canvases for his peers' every one. Everyone else is playing the slow game. Trying to make a living as an artist in the crowded Paris scene, he starts looking in the mirror for inspiration. Vincent churns out self-portraits like the Amish churn out butter. 

Eventually, he's using these self-portraits to paint himself the way he wants everyone to see him. Brooding and serious. An artist who knows how to put paint on a brush. A shrewd businessman with a hat. Vincent wears hats like this in many self-portraits because that was his idea of a good businessman. Someone who can afford and pull off a hat. Vincent vogues so you'll take him seriously. Otherwise, he'd remain that freckled weirdo who can't maintain a relationship and has bad teeth. Sorry, Vinny. #truthhurts.