Self-Portrait 1 by Degas

This highly sober early self-portrait belongs to the formative years of Edgar Degas, marked by a rigorous study of Renaissance masters during his travels in Italy. Through the work temporarily titled “Self-Portrait 1”, the young painter scrutinizes his own face with disarming honesty. This classically crafted painting lays the foundations of his linear technical rigor before he revolutionized the codes of pictorial representation within the Impressionist movement.

The young artist’s face occupies the center of the composition, presented three-quarters against a dark, plain background. His large dark eyes stare directly at the viewer with a serious, lucid expression tinged with a slight melancholy. His short brown hair frames a slender face where the shadow of a thin mustache can be discerned. He is dressed in a grey or beige artist’s jacket with simple folds, from which emerges the stiff, open white collar of a clean shirt, tied with a dark cravat. The general atmosphere is of great decorative simplicity. A soft, lateral light comes from the left, intensely illuminating one half of his face.

The work highlights the creator’s exceptional craftsmanship in handling traditional chiaroscuro. His technical mastery of oil painting allows him to model the volumes of the face with great plastic delicacy. The artist delivers here a testimony of remarkable human truth.