Selbstbildnis 1912

This is a self-portrait by Alexej von Jawlensky, and there’s no date on it, but the painting is alive with thick strokes of greens, reds, and yellows. It's like watching a face emerge from a garden. You know, painting a self-portrait is always a trip, right? I imagine Jawlensky in front of the mirror, wrestling with his own image, trying to capture not just what he looks like, but who he is. The colours aren’t realistic, but they feel true. That slash of green that defines the side of his face, the way the yellow illuminates his forehead—they’re not just colours, they're feelings. There’s this sense of the artist really grappling with himself. And that's what painting is, right? A conversation, a struggle, a way of seeing and feeling. We can see echoes of Van Gogh's intensity in the way Jawlensky uses colour, that same urge to express something deep and raw through paint. It all becomes part of the same conversation, an ongoing dialogue across time and space.