Artwork
Selfportrait
Selfportrait is an oil painting by the Realist artist Anselm Feuerbach. It is held in the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on the artist’s face and upper torso, emphasizing his physiognomy and the act of smoking, which becomes part of his self-presentation.
The work is a painted self-portrait by Anselm Feuerbach from 1878.
The subject depicted is the artist himself, shown with a moustache and soul patch, holding a cigarette, and meeting the viewer’s gaze. The composition centers on the artist’s face and upper torso, emphasizing his physiognomy and the act of smoking, which becomes part of his self-presentation. By including the cigarette, Feuerbach signals a personal habit while focusing attention on his direct, unflinching stare, a device that underscores the work’s introspective and self-referential nature.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1878, the self-portrait is painted in oil on canvas with a horizontal format measuring 83 cm in height and 67 cm in width.
The handling emphasizes a restrained, controlled brushwork that models the face with subtle tonal transitions rather than pronounced impasto. The palette is subdued, relying on earthy ochres, umbers, and a muted blue-grey background to concentrate attention on the sitter’s features. Formal qualities include a direct, inward gaze and a softly modeled moustache and goatee, while the smoke curling from the pipe introduces a calm, contemplative atmosphere.
The composition balances the verticality of the figure against the horizontality of the support, creating a quiet monumentality.
History & Provenance
Anselm Feuerbach created the oil-on-canvas self-portrait in 1878. The work depicts the artist with a moustache and soul patch, gazing directly at the viewer while smoking. It currently resides in the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich.
The painting measures 83 cm in height and 67 cm in width. No specific commission details or earlier ownership records are provided in the available documentation.
Anselm Feuerbach's 1878 oil painting Selfportrait is held in the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich. The work depicts the artist with a mustache and soul patch, gazing toward the viewer while smoking. It measures 83 cm in height and 67 cm in width.
The provided sources do not contain specific inventory or accession numbers for the work, nor do they list any exhibition history.
Legacy
Anselm Feuerbach's Selfportrait (1878), an oil on canvas work housed at the Kunsthaus Zürich, has been recognized for its distinctive self-representation that blends intimate personal detail with classical compositional balance. The painting's depiction of the artist smoking, his moustache, soul patch, and direct gaze toward the viewer has contributed to its lasting reputation as a psychologically nuanced self-portrait within 19th-century European art. Its presence in the museum's collection and frequent scholarly discussion has cemented its status as a key example of Feuerbach's introspective approach, influencing later interpretations of artist self-representation in modern art history.
Overview
Created in 1890, this oil painting is a self‑portrait by Anselm Feuerbach, a prominent German painter associated with the 19th‑century neoclassical movement. The canvas presents the artist seated against a dark backdrop, his gaze meeting the viewer directly. The work is part of the permanent collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich.
Artist & collection
Artist
Anselm Feuerbach (12 September 1829 – 4 January 1880) was a German painter. He was the leading neoclassical painter of the German 19th-century school.
