Portrait of Alexander Reid, c. 1887
Oil on board
16 1/8 x 12 3/4 in.
The Aaron M. and Clara Weitzenhoffer Collection, 2000

Alexander Reid was a Scottish art dealer and friend of Vincent van Gogh and his brother, Theo. (Theo was also an art dealer, as was Vincent before he became an artist.) This portrait was painted in the Paris apartment that Vincent and Theo shared before Vincent moved to Arles.

Two of the three paintings in the background have been identified as landscapes by Frank Boggs (1855-1926), an American artist who lived in France. They are currently in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. The third painting is a portrait of a woman by Van Gogh.

Reid?s features are curiously similar to Van Gogh?s own, as is also revealed in another portrait of Reid by Van Gogh, now in Glasgow.