William Gillies RSA
Self-Portrait, 1940
Oil on canvas
86.9 x 71.4 cm (sight)
108.7 x 93.5 cm (frame)
108.7 x 93.5 cm (frame)
On loan from National Galleries of Scotland. This is the only direct self-portrait Gillies painted. The year before he painted it, he had fled Edinburgh at the start of World...
On loan from National Galleries of Scotland.
This is the only direct self-portrait Gillies painted. The year before he painted it, he had fled Edinburgh at the start of World War Two. He was still mourning the death of his sister and thought her illness, which was hereditary, might take him too. Gillies was also now the sole family provider and money was tight due to the war lessening opportunities to exhibit and sell his work.
But hope still shines out in this portrait in its lively, fluid brushstrokes and bright palette. In the way he has used colour to balance this portrait and in the act of holding his brushes, is Gillies telling us that the act of painting helps him keep balance in an uncertain life?
This is the only direct self-portrait Gillies painted. The year before he painted it, he had fled Edinburgh at the start of World War Two. He was still mourning the death of his sister and thought her illness, which was hereditary, might take him too. Gillies was also now the sole family provider and money was tight due to the war lessening opportunities to exhibit and sell his work.
But hope still shines out in this portrait in its lively, fluid brushstrokes and bright palette. In the way he has used colour to balance this portrait and in the act of holding his brushes, is Gillies telling us that the act of painting helps him keep balance in an uncertain life?
