The foxglove in the sitter’s hand is a medicinal plant, an apt symbol for a physician, but its presence seems to have been forgotten in Dr. Cachet’s sad musings. Recognizing his spiritual kinship with this somewhat eccentric man in whose friendly care he spent the last months of his life, Van Gogh noted that Cachet had "the heart-broken expression of our time".

PORTRAIT OF DOCTOR GACHET (1890)
Oil on Canvas

This is revealed in the downward drooping lines of brow, eyes, and mouth, which repeat the overall pose of the body, painted in restless, coiling strokes. The sagging undulations of the torso are emphasized by the heavy contour line that traces it, and the shape of the jacket lapel repeats the clenching of the right hand. There is pathos in the contrast between the jaunty little cap and its troubled wearer. Cachet’s brooding, inward-looking eyes are the focus of this painting, and their peculiar light blue has been set off by the range of other blues in flowers, jacket, and abstract landscape background.