Self Portraits...Me and Van Gogh

I should like to do portraits which will appear as revelations to people in a hundred years' time.
-- From Vincent Van Gogh's June 3, 1890, letter to his sister

Besides the luminous glory of the night sky, Vincent van Gogh painted many images of the eyes that beheld that night - his vulnerable, intense eyes revealed in self portraits.  What is so interesting about these self portraits is that most (22) were painted during two years from 1886 through 1888 shortly before he killed himself in 1890.

Study some of Van Gogh's self portraits at Jason Wu's Princeton blog.  I see a fatigued longing, almost pleading, in his eyes; I wonder what feeling resided behind those eyes and what he was trying to reveal ("revelation to people a hundred years' time").  Did Van Gogh know he would choose to embrace death shortly?  Was he capturing the eyes of a creator who would soon unite with Creation?  Is this the face of the end of struggle, the face of resignation, or the face of ongoing struggle in which a man looks for a reason or the strength to continue fighting the pain of life?   Are these the eyes of the stranger on earth, the subject of Van Gogh's 1876 sermon based on Psalm 119 : 19.  That sermon included the following:

"Much strife must be striven
Much suffering must be suffered
Much prayer must be prayed
And then the end will be peace." 

Anyone who has ever stared into a mirror and wondered who they are and what self resides behind those eyes, might glean an understanding of  Van Gogh and his self portraits.  .  . musings of another  stranger on the earth longing to be at home somewhere, wondering if it was time to find the peace of repose, balancing that need against the vibrant passion to continue integrating the light, color and form of this brilliant world.  Was this the struggle we see in those eyes? 

With no further clarification than the images, I suppose Van Gogh accomplished his goal.  Each will see a different revelation, but most all will agree that these eyes haunt almost 117 years later. 

I am in the process of beginning a self portrait for an upcoming Call.  I am deciding if it will be acrylic, watercolor or digital.  But regardless the media and more importantly, what will my eyes reveal 100  years from now?  What will yours reveal?