Czobel Bela 1928 Önarckép 1928

Bela Czobel painted this self-portrait in 1928, and it feels like the paint was thrown on with real abandon, thick and urgent. You can see the energy in the brushstrokes. He’s pictured with a cigarette; the smoke seems to mingle with the ochre and burnt umber of the background, right? I wonder if Czobel, while he was making this, felt like he was wrestling with himself. The heavy lines around his eyes give him an introspective and intense air. You can almost feel him staring back at himself, trying to figure something out. There’s a real kinship here with other artists of the time, like Kokoschka, who weren’t afraid to show the raw, emotional side of their subjects. It's like they’re all pushing each other to dig deeper, to find out what it means to be human. That’s what painting is, right? An ongoing conversation.