Self-portrait 1909

This self-portrait was painted by Martiros Sarian, and the medium looks like gouache or tempera, something matte and opaque, which lends itself to these flat planes of color. I love that you can really see the brushstrokes – vertical on the forehead, swirling in the hair – and the way he’s used blue to create shadows on his face. It’s such a simple yet bold way of building form. The colors aren’t blended, they’re just laid next to each other, creating this vibrant, almost mosaic-like effect. Look how the yellow in the background seeps into the skin, as if his head is radiating light. It’s not about capturing a likeness, but about constructing an image through color and gesture. The physicality of the paint is really present, it feels immediate and process-oriented. I'm reminded of Alexej von Jawlensky, who also used bold, flat colors in his portraits to convey emotion, and a sense of internal landscape. Ultimately, it's this embrace of ambiguity that makes art so compelling.