Self-Portrait with a Bowler Hat

A painter looking hard at himself

Paul Cézanne painted around thirty self-portraits. In this one, from about 1885 to 1886, he wears a bowler hat and a dark coat and turns his head to look over his shoulder at us. The painting belongs to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen.

It is not flattering and not dramatic. It is a study of a face built from colour.

A face built from patches of colour

The face is made of blocks of orange, pink, green and grey, laid side by side. There is little blending. The planes of the forehead, cheek and nose meet at clear edges, almost like facets.

This way of building form through colour patches was central to Cézanne’s method and later inspired the Cubists.

A sideways, guarded gaze

The eyes look at us from the side, under a heavy brow. One is lit, the other in shadow. The expression is reserved, even suspicious, as if he were judging the viewer.

Coat and wall in broken strokes

The coat is painted with dark blue and grey strokes broken by patches of light ground. The background is a pale wall made of short diagonal strokes. Both are as carefully worked as the face, so the whole canvas has the same density.

Questions about Self-Portrait with a Bowler Hat

When was it painted?

Around 1885 to 1886.

Where is the original?

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

How many self-portraits did Cézanne paint?

Around thirty painted self-portraits survive.

How large is it?

About 44.5 × 35.5 centimetres, oil on canvas.

Sources and image credit

• Wikimedia Commons: Self-Portrait with Bowler Hat, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
• Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

Reproduction of Self-Portrait with a Bowler Hat (about 1885 to 1886), via Wikimedia Commons; the painting is in the public domain. Detail images are crops of the same image; no reconstruction or upscaling.