How does Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake elucidate its Development?
Van Gogh had previously decorated rooms with his paintings, in particular the rooms of several restaurants in Paris and the Yellow House in Arles.  Gauguin and de Haan appear to have been influenced by this work, as they began decorating the dining room of Buvette de la Plage in a similar fashion. Gauguin's Self-Portrait was prepared along with its pendant, Portrait of Jacob Meyer de Haan (1889),  to the right and left respectively of a fireplace on the upper panels of two wooden cupboard doors.  Gauguin gave the panels a subtle, textured matte surface using white chalk ground and a combed wave pattern.  Both works were completed sometime between mid-November and mid-December 1889.
chalk right Arles pendant wood matte surface white chalk ground Van Gogh left