Rimbaud 1976

Frank Auerbach made this painting, Rimbaud, using thick, energetic strokes, building up a surface that feels both chaotic and strangely solid. Look at how the yellows and pinks of the face push forward against the darker, more muted tones surrounding it. The materiality here is key. The paint is so dense, so sculptural, it’s like Auerbach is wrestling with the very stuff of the world to conjure an image. Notice the way the lines around the eyes and mouth are almost violently etched into the surface. It’s as if he’s trying to dig out the essence of Rimbaud, not just depict him. That yellow backdrop feels less like a background and more like a force field, radiating energy. Auerbach’s work, particularly his portraits, often have this quality of being fought for, and reminds me of Leon Kossoff, another painter who built images through the sheer physicality of paint. It’s this struggle, this embrace of ambiguity, that makes the work so compelling.