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Portrait of Dr. Gachet is a late 19th century masterpiece by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh and one of the most valuable paintings ever. Van Gogh actually painted two versions of this portrait—the painting above, currently held by the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and an earlier version in different colours and with different features, including buttons on Dr. Gachet’s jacket.

The first version of Portrait of Dr. Gachet has passed through several hands in the past 110 years. Prior to the Second World War, Germany’s Nazi government confiscated the painting as it was regarded degenerate, like other modernist artworks. Art collector Siegfried Kramarsky owned it later on and in 1990 his family put it up for auction at Christie’s New York. A Japanese businessman, Ryoei Saito paid a then world record of USD 82.5 million to possess this masterpiece.

The fascinating history of this painting is well described in Cynthia Saltzman’s book: Portrait of Dr. Gachet The Story of a Van Gogh Masterpiece, Money, Politics, Collectors, Greed, and Loss.

Dr. Gachet was a medical doctor who was good friends with van Gogh and treated him during his last months. Van Gogh deliberately painted Dr. Gachet to have a melancholy expression. The plant he is holding in the picture is foxglove (Digitalis), an extract of which is used to treat heart ailments.