Self-portrait

In 1957 this sheet of cardboard was split in two. Until then the self-portrait had been on the back of another picture. The front carries a portrait of a woman that the Belvedere dates to around 1908, and Jawlensky painted himself on the reverse in 1912, when he was living in Munich. Since the separation each side has been mounted on its own canvas, and the museum keeps them as two works under two inventory numbers. Here he looks straight out, bald, with a short moustache, his face built from patches of orange, yellow and green held inside heavy dark outlines. He wears a green jacket over a dark waistcoat. A band of red runs along the bottom edge, and above his shoulder a bright yellow and orange shape breaks into the dark background.