Self-portrait 1946

Zinaida Serebriakova made this self-portrait with oils, but when? Look at how she layers those strokes, light blue over a darker underpainting, on her blouse. It's like she's building up the form, figuring it out as she goes. I can imagine her standing in front of the mirror, brush in hand, studying her own face with a mix of curiosity and maybe a little anxiety. The paint isn't too thick, but you can still see the texture, the way the brush moved across the canvas. And those eyes, they really draw you in, don't they? It's like she's having a conversation with herself, or maybe with us. Painters, we’re always looking at each other's work, riffing on each other's ideas. When you see a painting like this, you can feel the artist reaching across time, saying, "Hey, I was here, I was thinking about this, what do you think?" That's the beauty of painting, it's an ongoing conversation, full of questions and possibilities.