“Self-Portrait Beneath Woman’s Mask,” crafted by Edvard Munch between 1891 and 1892, is an expressionist self-portrait rendered in oil on board. The artwork measures 69 by 43.5 centimeters and reflects the keen introspection and emotional depth characteristic of the Expressionism movement. Currently housed in the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, this piece is a notable example of Munch’s exploration of identity and the human psyche.
The artwork portrays the artist with a fixed and penetrating gaze that confronts the viewer. His face is rendered with a pallid complexion, and his features are sharply defined, contributing to an overall feeling of intensity and self-examination. Above the artist’s head floats a woman’s mask, which appears almost as a spectral presence, with a red hue that resembles the warm, but unsettling tones of the background. The mask seems to both conceal and reveal, hovering ambiguously over the subject’s own visage as if suggesting the fluid boundaries of identity. Munch’s attention to psychological states and his choice of bold, somber colors coalesce to form a powerful piece that invites reflection on themes of self-perception and the masks one wears in society.
