Self-Portrait 1925

Here we have Roderic O’Conor’s ‘Self-Portrait’ with its gestural brushstrokes, and a limited but daring colour palette of pinks, greys, and blacks, a testament to art making as a journey of discovery. You can almost feel the texture of the paint, can’t you? Thick in places, especially around the face and hair, but scraped back in others, like he’s wiping away at the surface as he goes. Look at the little flicks of white that make up the hair, and how they contrast with the dark, brooding background. There’s a raw, emotional quality to this work; the brushwork is vigorous, almost frantic. And those red and pink hues around the eyes – it's as if he’s been crying, or maybe he’s just exhausted from the act of looking so intensely at himself. It reminds me a little of some of the early self-portraits by Paula Modersohn-Becker, where she’s really grappling with her own image, trying to capture something essential about herself on canvas. Ultimately, this painting shows how art doesn't offer easy answers, but rather embraces questions and uncertainties.