We see the first manifestation of his savagery in the Self-portrait with Halo, painted between October and November 1889, whose combination of maliciousness and arrogance in Gauguin’s facial features identifies divinity with savagery. A careful examination of the artist’s physical traits will help us articulate Gauguin’s statement about himself in this self-portrait. The overall impression conveyed by this canvas is by no means that of messianic magnanimity, but rather that of a malevolent magus. The components of the face reinforce each other’s savagery and enhance the effect of their cumulative savagery. 
His almond-like eyes, the irises shifted to the left, looking sideways, and even the wrinkle at the bottom of the eyelid allude to some sort of hidden, reprehensible intentions. This avoidance of eye contact represents an ultimate attempt to conceal the defeat of his “sensitive” part despite the savagery that transpires from his deformed face. For instance, the absence of eyelashes gives an inhuman touch to the figure depicted, thus declaring the triumph of his savagery. The most remarkable expression of savagery in Self-portrait with Halo is however the sharply-broken nose which introduces a nuance of grotesquerie. It is interesting how here physical anomalies stand as exterior expressions of a more profound anomaly at the level of the individual, namely his savagery. A symbol of the recurrent triumphs of savagery over divinity, this curiously-shaped nose will become more accentuated in his subsequent self-portraits as Christ. However, in Self-portrait with Halo, savagery still manifests itself in a human form: overt disparagement of surrounding individuals. Betraying Gauguin’s condescension and derision towards those who lack his remarkable insight, the tilted mouth stands as a proof of this reproachful attitude. On one hand the excessive bony structure of the face, the pointed beard and the fringe arranged in an arrow-like shape convey mental acuity, but on the other hand they express his maliciousness, an embryonic form of his savagery. Not only that Gauguin considered himself to be superior to others, but due to the ever increasing role of his savagery he could not refrain from harboring malicious feelings towards them. The fashion in which he systematically accentuated these facial features, meant to hint at his genius, betrays his salient arrogance. However, even more important is that he used physical anomalies to suggest the incipient form of his savagery, a psychological anomaly manifested as pervasive maliciousness combined with a touch of grotesquerie, the latter anticipating the artist’s subsequent self-portraits. His concern with physicality demonstrates that the triumph is not that of Gauguin over “the temptations of feeling, desire and life” as Jirat-Wasyitinsky argued. It seems more plausible to affirm that since he was totally immersed in these temptations the triumph is that of the savage part over its sensitive counterpart.