Zelfportret c. 1911

Rik Wouters made this self-portrait using etching techniques. It’s like he’s feeling his way through the darks and lights, capturing his own image one tiny, careful mark at a time. Look how Wouters uses these tiny hatched lines to build up the shadows and the forms, especially in his fur hat. It’s this beautiful dance of light and dark, almost like he’s sculpting the image out of thin air. You can almost feel the texture of his skin and the softness of his hat, all through the magic of these little lines. The overall effect is very ghostly and subtle, as if this is a memory of the artist rather than a solid, fixed image. Wouters’ approach reminds me of artists like James Ensor, who used etching to explore the absurd and unsettling aspects of human existence. Just like Ensor, Wouters invites us to embrace ambiguity and find beauty in the process of artmaking itself.