October 1888

Vincent paints the first of his autumn gardens, lamenting the fact that models have proved surprisingly difficult to hire in Arles. He purchases a new mirror so he can paint a portrait of himself. By the end of the first week in September, he has completed 15 new studies and has run almost entirely out of paint.

He continues to paint on no. 30 canvases and considers using less finely ground colors if they can be purchased less expensively. Working extensively in oils, he paints in much heavier irnpasto, “plain and thick.”

– Alisia Robin Coon, Van Gogh Timeline, in Becoming van Gogh, Denver Art Museum, 2012, 262