Semi-Nude Self-Portrait

• Richard Gerstl (1883–1908)
• 1902/04
• Oil on canvas
• Leopold Museum, Vienna

Richard Gerstl depicted a frontal view of himself standing against a blue-turquoise background. His head is surrounded by a kind of aura in bright, translucent blue, and his face is solemn and calm. The face and the piercing eyes are executed in detail while his hands and other parts of the body are merely hinted at; in the area of the white cloth, even the canvas is visible. Gerstl looks straight out, but his thoughtful gaze seems to look through the viewer to a distance.