Self Portrait 1911

This is a self-portrait by Theo van Doesburg, made with oil on canvas. I love the way he's gone about building the image with visible brushstrokes, treating the face almost like a landscape with planes of colour. Looking closely, you can see how the paint is applied in these little dabs and dashes, almost like mosaic tiles. There's a real physicality to it, you can almost feel the drag of the brush across the canvas. The unexpected pinks and purples in the skin tones, juxtaposed against that intense blue background, create a vibrant, almost electric feel. Notice the small highlights of bright white, especially on the forehead and nose, which give the face volume and presence. This approach to color and form reminds me a bit of Cezanne, who similarly broke down objects into geometric shapes and blocks of color. Like Cezanne, Doesburg is interested in the structure of things, in how we perceive reality through the act of painting. It's a reminder that art isn't just about representation, it's about process, about how we see and how we make.