Self-Portrait 1905

Max Beckmann made this self-portrait with oil on canvas in 1905. Here we see a young artist looking intently outwards, painted in a palette of greens, greys and creams. I’m thinking about the physicality of applying oil paint, the smell, the way it moves under the brush – how Beckmann layers it on to build up form, a bit thin in places, a bit thicker in others. I imagine Beckmann peering into the mirror, trying to capture something of himself at this early stage in his career. There’s a vulnerability to his expression; the open-mouthed stare reminds me of the early self-portraits of Van Gogh, and you get the feeling that the act of painting is a process of self-discovery, an attempt to understand who he is and what kind of artist he wants to be. It’s a kind of conversation artists have with themselves – and then with us, the viewers. It is fascinating to consider these painters in dialogue across time and space.