Cleveland Museum of Art

Self-Portrait

Armand Guillaumin

Date

1872

Medium

pastel on cream laid paper mounted on cardboard

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This self-portrait is one of several that Armand Guillaumin created as a young artist during the early 1870s. Around this time, he worked closely with Camille Pissarro and Paul Cézanne, experimenting alongside them with vivid layers of color. Here, Guillaumin juxtaposed dark, dull tones with bright blue and orange to create unexpected optical blends. He meets the viewer's gaze directly, suggesting his intense focus at a period when such experimentation was just beginning to coalesce into the Impressionist movement. Armand Guillaumin came from a working-class background and was employed as a laborer for Paris's Department of Bridges and Roads in order to support his artistic ambitions.

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