Self-Portrait, 10th plate 1905

Alphonse Legros created this self-portrait, one of a series, using sanguine, a red chalk, to conjure his likeness. The marks feel so immediate, like Legros is trying to capture not just his face, but a fleeting thought. The density of lines around his head almost vibrates, giving him a halo of intellect, or maybe just hinting at the energy it takes to really *see* oneself. It’s like he's asking, "Who am I today?" each stroke a question, a reconsideration. There’s a real tenderness in the way he renders his beard, each strand given attention, as if acknowledging the weight of experience, the accumulation of days etched into his very being. I bet he was looking in the mirror thinking about time, about aging, about the quiet dignity of getting older. Painters, we're always in conversation with each other, across time, across space. Legros is winking at us from the past, reminding us that the act of looking, of drawing, is an act of profound connection.