Vincent Willem Van Gogh was one of the most influential post-impressionist artists of his time. He created a variety of paintings during his life, mainly in his later years before committing suicide after years of mental illness and poor health. From the beginning, he suffered from depression. After moving to London, he isolated himself and turned to painting to occupy himself. For most of his life he lived in poverty, smoking and drinking heavily. Despite all this, he persevered in his creative work, taking additional exams to improve, even though it may have caused him additional stress.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay He was often caught in altercations and confrontations due to his unconventional mannerisms and style. It was this turbulent life that led to one of many dramatic episodes, one of them being self-harm. It is believed that Van Gogh started hearing voices and so he took a razor to stop the voices and cut off his ear. His state of mind was very disturbed at that time, he wrapped his ear in paper and sent it to a prostitute he was visiting. Van Gogh is believed to have had a psychotic episode, a complete mental breakdown, and was diagnosed with "acute mania and generalized delirium." After hospital treatment, Van Gogh continued despite his continued suffering from depression, hallucinations and delusions. In addition to his work overload, poor diet, and insomnia, he had numerous speculative diagnoses, including bipolar disorder, acute intermittent porphyria, and temporal lobe epilepsy. Despite this, he continued to paint, his illness having a significant effect on his work, showcasing both his emotional expression and his creative genius. Van Gogh created numerous portraits during his career as an artist. One of the most interesting is a self-portrait of him with a bandaged ear that he painted after his self-harm incident. The focus on the bandage emphasizes how important this event was to him and painting it was a form of self-expression. His facial expression is dark, his complexion is yellowish green. His image is a mirror image of himself, as if he doubts himself. Vincent Van Gogh - Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1989) His portraits were "determined" and "physiognomic", mainly created during periods of introspection and reflection, often emphasizing the high level of self- evaluation and scrutiny that he would submit to. This can be seen in his gaze, slightly distant from the viewer. His appearance in this portrait is that of an unsteady and unkempt person, unshaven, with sunken eyes and jaw. He used bright colors to express his mood, particularly yellow and green which he said symbolized "emotional truth". He referred in his writings to his “anxious mood” and the “inevitability of the circumstances”. Van Gogh was considered a tragic failure and madman throughout his life. On July 27, 1890, he shot himself in the chest with a revolver. Her self-harm and self-portrait were indeed signs of serious self-harm and suicidal tendencies. Indeed, it took him 30 hours to die from a point-blank gunshot – a painful, slow, self-inflicted death. It is since his death that critics have sought to understand his psychological state and the impact it had on his work. His illness was seen as an obstacle to his work, he was often disengaged for long periods, which.