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The Poet (Portrait of Eugène Boch), 1888
Van Gogh had detailed plans for how he would depict a poet some time before he found Eugène Boch (a painter) to be his model. Van Gogh felt Boch was ideal as he had a narrow face that reminded him of the 13th-century poet Dante. The deep blue sky behind the figure, intended to express a man ‘who dreams great dreams’, was essential to the symbolism of the work.
Oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, bequest of Eugène Boch, 1941