Portrait of Doctor Félix Rey

Portrait of Doctor Félix Rey Nederland Vincent van Gogh Gallery and Appreciation

According to Doiteau & Leroy, one day Van Gogh wanted to present a painting he had just finished to Dr. Rey. But the doctor refused the gift, so Van Gogh offered the painting to the pharmacist of the hospital just passing by, a Mr Rousseau. He, too, refused and so the next passer-by, the administrator of the hospital, was offered the painting - and he, a certain Mr Neuvière, is said to have accepted. See also Hospital in Arles (Van Gogh series).

Rey later reminisced: "When I saw that he outlined my head entirely in green (he had only two main colors, red and green), that he painted my hair and my mustache--I really did not have red hair--in a blazing red on a biting green background, I was simply horrified ..."

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