Self-Portrait 1920

Cuno Amiet made this "Self-Portrait" with oil on canvas, but the date has eluded us. The way he builds up the image with all those strokes reminds me that artmaking is often about layering and learning as you go. If you look closely, you can see how Amiet uses thick paint to capture light and shadow. There's a real physicality to it. Those flecks of orange, purple and green in the face, for instance, feel so deliberate, yet also spontaneous. I'm drawn to the way Amiet captures his own gaze, a bit skeptical, maybe? It makes you wonder what he was thinking as he looked in the mirror. It reminds me of Van Gogh. Both artists use self-portraiture to explore not just what they look like, but who they are. Art invites us to embrace ambiguity, to ask questions rather than demand answers.