Self-Portrait 1937

Arshile Gorky’s Self-Portrait is an exercise in the poetics of paint, using colour and form to evoke the feeling of a person. It's interesting how the face seems both present and obscured, achieved through thin washes of colour and a kind of hesitant, searching line. The way Gorky layers these semi-transparent colours creates a subtle depth, a sense of the figure emerging from the canvas, or perhaps sinking back into it. The skin tones are built up from yellows, pinks and ochres, offset by that flash of pale blue at the chest. Look at the hands, holding what could be a rag, or a crumpled cloth. These parts seem unfinished, raw, with visible brushstrokes that give the painting a sense of process, of the artist still at work, still figuring things out. Like a dialogue between the artist and his own image. This echoes the work of Cézanne, where the act of seeing and painting becomes a form of understanding. So, with Gorky we're not just seeing a self-portrait, but witnessing a mind in action, grappling with identity and form.