Template:Did you know nominations/Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 21:34, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake

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... that Paul Gauguin's Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake (pictured) is a companion piece to his portrait of Dutch artist Meijer de Haan?

Reviewed: Frank Spedding

Moved to mainspace by Viriditas (talk). Self-nominated at 02:09, 21 June 2015 (UTC).

Interesting reflection of a great piece of art, on good sources. Would you find a more interesting hook, or do you trust that interest will be caused by the image? The image is excellent, even in small size, and licensed. - I added van Gogh's name to his work, - his influence would interest me more than "companion piece". Or say more about de Haan? Could you get the van Gogh pic closer to where it's mentioned? A gallery perhaps? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:17, 5 July 2015 (UTC)

One more: the "halo" looks almost like caricature to me, - are there comments in sources? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:18, 5 July 2015 (UTC)

I think over time, the caricature interpretation has fallen out of favor. The NGA notes, "At the time [it was painted], Gauguin's likeness was described by friends as an "unkind character sketch" - a caricature." Today, most art critics agree that it has "elements of caricature", but they focus more on the symbolism of Gauguin's contradictory, dual nature. According to the catalog for the Maker of Myth exhibition, "Gauguin portrays himself as a fundamentally contradictory man—saint and sinner, tempted and tempter, angel and Lucifer, civilized and savage." Gauguin himself wrote: "No one is good; no one is evil; everyone is both, in the same way and in different ways......You drag your double along with you, and yet the two contrive to get on together...I have been good sometimes; I do not congratulate myself because of it. I have been evil often; I do not repent it." As far as we know, Gauguin was using this painting and the companion piece of Meijer de Haan to comment on the dual nature of the sinner and the saint, the devil and the angel, and the civilized and the savage. Far from caricature, this is primitivism (uses Japanese form), symbolism (uses religion and spirituality, mythological and dream imagery, intensely personal, private, obscure and ambiguous), and synthetism (evokes cloisonné). There are several sources that connect this painting directly with Van Gogh, but they tend to be somewhat speculative, and I tend to avoid speculative hooks. I can of course, revisit this hypothesis. There are also many other possibilities to consider. I will take pause to reflect upon the infinite diversity in infinite combinations and further address your point shortly. I am patiently expecting a new book in the mail tomorrow, which may present a new solution. If it does not come, I will present an alternate hook or modify the present one, as well as address your concerns about caricature in the article. Viriditas (talk) 02:50, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Excellent, now get the sinner and saint aspect of all of us into a hook, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:04, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

That's not a bad idea; I might even be able to do it with the current hook since the same applies to the portrait of Meijer de Haan. Let me look into this. Viriditas (talk) 22:03, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

@Gerda Arendt: I have received the new book. There is a passage by Françoise Cachin that perfectly illustrates our discussion of caricature up above (and how the interpretation changed over time), and I intend to add it tonight. Although I still think the hook captures the most unambiguous, unchanging "fact" about the work, I will endeavor to come up with a few ALTs soon. Viriditas (talk) 22:57, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

ALT1: ~~... that Paul Gauguin's Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake (pictured) was bequeathed by American banker Chester Dale to the National Gallery of Art after his death?~~

@Gerda Arendt: I've added the bit about caricature you requested.[1] I've also added an ALT1 above. Let me know if I can do anything else. Viriditas (talk) 20:38, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

the original, - finding the banker rather distracting. The image and its title is the hook for me. - Thanks for adding! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:49, 23 July 2015 (UTC)