Self-Portrait 1934

Dobri Dobrev created this self-portrait with oil on canvas. The dominant gestures are short, hatched strokes of browns, pinks, and creams. I can just imagine him dabbing the paint, one stroke after the other, trying to capture his own likeness. What's cool about painting a self-portrait is that you’re not just painting what you see, but also what you feel. What was Dobrev thinking when he made this? Was he feeling confident, pensive, or maybe a little unsure? I wonder whether he was working from a mirror, and whether he kept on looking at himself, trying to catch his own gaze. The paint is applied thinly, so you can still see the texture of the canvas underneath. Look at how the small dashes of pigment build up around the eyes and mouth. It’s like he’s searching for something, some kind of truth about himself, layer by layer. Painters are always in conversation with each other, right? Each brushstroke is like a little thought, a little feeling, made visible and given form. Painting is an embodied practice that thrives on openness and exploration. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty.