The subject of the painting is Julien-François Tanguy, whom Van Gogh got to know in Paris in 1886. The owner of a small art supply shop on rue Clauzel, he was called affectionately by local artists as “le père Tanguy” (Father Tanguy). Once arrested and detained for his involvement in the Paris Commune, Tanguy was very understanding and kind to the poor artists, and often accepted paintings in lieu of money when they could not pay. Many Impressionists and Neo-impressionists such as Pissarro, Gauguin, Toulous-Lautrec frequented his shop. Tanguy was one of the few people who attended Van Gogh’s funeral, and afterward organized an exhibition of the latter’s works

This painting was executed in fresh colours and clear brush strokes. Tanguy is portraited frontally, hands crossed over his stomach, his eyes lost as if in a dream. In the background, Van Gogh painted a wall of Japanese ukiyoe images: a Mount Fuji after Utagawa Hiroshige over the head of Tanguy, a landscape with cherry blossoms to the right, two images of geisha or kabuki actors, etc.

Following Tanguy's death in 1894, his daughter sold this portrait to sculptor Auguste Rodin, and the work is now in the permanent collection of Musée Rodin in Paris