Self-portrait 1905

Alexej von Jawlensky made this self-portrait with oil on board; he’s used these quite bold colors and shapes. The face is almost mask-like, isn’t it? You can imagine him, brush in hand, building up these planes of color, one next to the other, figuring out his face in a kind of code. Look at those juicy strokes of pink on his cheek, and that smear of yellow on his forehead, just casually placed. It's like he's teasing out the structure of his face. Jawlensky’s really pushing against traditional portraiture. He is not trying to capture a likeness. The black lines around the eyes give it an abstract, almost haunted, feel. You can see him in conversation with other expressionists like Kirchner. They are all reaching for something raw, something real, that's buried beneath the surface. And that’s what painting is, right? A constant act of discovery.