Three things it does fast: ground deep blue, sharpen oak, wake the study. The Smoker is one of Van Gogh’s 1888 Arles portraits and it carries that same loose, confident brushwork, with a man in a dark blue hat and warm brown jacket pulling on a clay pipe. Hang it where you read or work above a writing desk, beside a low bookcase, or in a snug corner with a reading lamp. It loves warm wood, worn leather, and a wool rug in muted greens and browns. Keep the wall around it quiet; this is a portrait that wants to be looked at, not crowded. Stretched over a wooden frame on canvas for a deeper, more painterly feel.