Everyone knows the Van Gogh of the great self-portraits, but the recently discovered photo above is the only known image purporting to show his face during the final years of his life, the period in which the great portraits were painted. Van Gogh is the man seated in back, third from left, staring directly into the camera. The two men in front are Van Gogh's then-intimate friends the painters Emile Bernard (left) and Paul Gauguin (right, in fez). Experts have also identified the other men, and details about them and the photo will likely be forthcoming. There will, of course, be disagreements among the experts, but the photo convinced me almost immediately. I have compared the figure in this photo with the photo of Van Gogh at 19, and to my unprofessional eye, this appears to be an older version of the same face (with a beard trimmed to square-off the jawline). Yes, this Kris Kristofferson-looking 19th-century dude is probably Vincent Van Gogh. Here's a blow-up:
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