Self Portrait with Open Dressing Gown 1920

Émilie Charmy painted this self-portrait with what looks like oil on canvas, a medium that invites a lot of pushing and pulling. The colours are muted, mostly greys and browns, but there's a real directness in the way she’s applied the paint. You can almost feel the brushstrokes building up, one on top of another, as she tried to capture not just how she looked, but how she felt about looking. I wonder what it was like for her, standing there in her dressing gown, confronting herself in the mirror, trying to nail down her essence with a brush? The looseness reminds me of other painters, like Manet, who were more interested in capturing a fleeting impression than getting every detail perfect. See how the paint kind of melts and blends, especially around her face and hands? It's like she's not trying to hide the process, but embrace the messy, uncertain act of painting.