Visconti’s Van Gogh pens have been popular for many years, and they are often packaged with an ink to match the color theme of the version. In 2021, they introduced a series of Van Gogh inks sold on their own. There are currently twelve inks in the series, but that will probably expand, as they add to the Van Gogh pen line.

Visconti Self Portrait is a blue green aquamarine. It’s elegant in a way that makes me think of wavy, blown glass art. It’s gentle in demeanor and often reveals polychromatic qualities. It leans green on some papers (uncoated papers, in particular), and blue on others. In saturation, it often teases with hints of yellow and tan, and the subtlest whisper of pink.

On uncoated papers, strokes are clean. Although not razor sharp, there’s no feathering. On coated papers, color variation is wider, and stroke profiles are crisp and well defined with a nice darkened edge. Shading is low to moderate, but consistent on uncoated papers.

This is a fairly wet ink in flow. Drying was fast on uncoated papers, but not a problem on coated papers. Overall, I’d call it about average.

The Visconti Van Gogh inks come in attractive and efficient, square, glass, 30 ml bottles. They retail for around US$19 at most popular online retailers. Self Portrait is a nice ink when paired with the right paper and nib. For me, it’s too muted for EF nibs. In broader nibs and coated papers, there’s enough depth of color, and the nice stroke edging that really make it pop. However, this is a tricky range of the color spectrum. For some, it will be too muted. I think this ink has a lot of potential for calligraphy and creative fun, and in the right pairing it’s a nice in writing, too.

Keep scrolling for the swatch card, ink comparisons, and the bottle.