Van Gogh given facelift by fun-loving photographer

An architect-turned-photographer from Lithuania has digitally recreated one of the best known self-portraits by Van Gogh to find out what the men actually looked like in reality.

­Tadao Cern explained what triggered him to start the fun project.

“Some time ago a stranger asked me to make his portrait… So I did. I sent him the image and I never heard back from him again. Not long ago I saw one painting and I felt that it was very familiar. And then I got it – It was a copy of my photo! I did a little research and it seems the guy who draw(copied) it is quite well known around… His name is Vincent Van Gogh or something… Pity that he never mentioned me and I can't find his contact now,” the artist wrote, jokingly, on his personal site.

Van Gogh's Self-Portrait

­The video Cern posted on his website captures the process of turning Van Gogh as depicted on his self-portrait into a photograph.

The artist’s short life ended when the creator of the "Painter on the Road to Tarascon" shot himself dead aged 37. During his lifetime Van Gogh suffered from depression and would probably be diagnosed with bipolar disorder these days.

In 1889, a year before his death, local residents of Arles called on the authorities to have Van Gogh put into an asylum, claiming the painter appeared to be a public menace. Later the artist, famous for cutting off his own ear, voluntarily entered a mental asylum for the second time. What influenced his decision was that at Saint-Rémy he was allowed to paint and could therefore better control his hallucinations.