Self-portrait 1932

Istvan Farkas made this self-portrait in an unknown year, and possibly used watercolor and charcoal to make it. It's got this lovely, washed-out palette, which I think gives it a kind of dreamlike, introspective feel, right? The lines are soft, almost hesitant, like he's feeling his way around his own image. And then you notice how the paint kinda bleeds into the paper. Look at the side of his face; how the pinks and blues just melt together. It gives him this fragile, almost ethereal quality. There's something so vulnerable about it, you know? It reminds me of those quiet moments when you're alone with yourself, and all the masks come off. And isn't that what art's all about, anyway? Showing us those hidden parts of ourselves, the messy, imperfect bits that make us human. The way the image feels unresolved also relates to the work of other figurative painters like Marlene Dumas. It’s like we're catching a glimpse of something fleeting, a moment in time that can never be fully grasped.