Self Portrait with Black Eye Patch 1915

Rik Wouters, painted this self-portrait, sometime before he died in 1916. I can only imagine what he might have been thinking, painting himself with a black eye patch. Look at how the blues and greens merge to create the figure and how the backdrop is mostly red, with a few pinks and purples thrown in for good measure. Wouters seems to have been on a mission to record his likeness, and yet I get the impression that he was mostly interested in the paint itself. See how the colors are brushed on, one after the other, in small, soft strokes. I can almost feel his calm concentration. He is like so many artists who came before and after him, who are having an ongoing conversation across time. It’s like they are saying: hey, look at this! Maybe it will inspire you too?