Self-Portrait 1939

This "Self-Portrait" by Walter Kurt Wiemken is a really striking image made in paint, though we don't know exactly when. He was working between the wars, so you can get a sense of the tensions of that time, but the image itself is so personal and strange, it almost doesn't matter when he made it. The way he lays down the paint – it's like he's figuring it out as he goes. The colors are muted, but there are these surprising drips, like tears or rain. Look at the way the trees in the background are just kind of hinted at, and the way the snow seems to be arching over the figure's head. It makes you wonder, is this a portrait of a person or a portrait of a feeling? Wiemken reminds me of other artists, like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who were trying to capture something raw and real, not just what things looked like on the surface. It's like he's saying, "Here I am, take it or leave it," and in the end, that's what makes it so compelling.