Self-Portrait 2 by Degas

This close-up self-portrait, with an incredibly modern framing, bears witness to the visual acuity and quest for identity of the young Edgar Degas at the beginning of his career. Through the canvas temporarily titled “Self-Portrait 2”, the painter tightens the space around his gaze to probe his own interiority. Attached to his period of classical training, this work already shows a boldness of layout that prefigures the innovative viewing angles characteristic of the Impressionist movement.

The artist’s face projects spectacularly into the foreground, cropped at the neck by the lower edge. He wears a black felt hat with a wide, tilted brim that plunges the top of his forehead into a dense shadow. His expressive brown eyes stare intensely at the viewer with an almost provocative insistence. A thin dark beard and mustache outline his jaw and lower lip. Under the collar of his dark jacket, the white of a light shirt is visible. The background is a uniform slate grey wall, focusing all attention on the model. A warm, raking light strikes the left side of his face.

The artist’s technical virtuosity is fully expressed in the precision of the drawing and the velvety texture of the skin under the light. His craftsmanship of oil on canvas shines through his masterly management of the violent contrasts between the hat’s shadow and the cheek’s clarity. The artist signs a work of remarkable psychological power.