Zoran Mušič(Bukovica near Gorizia, 1909 – Venice, 2005)
Self Portrait
1998, tempera, paper, 541 x 437 mm
Signed and dated lower right: MUSIC 98, Watermark lower right: CERASTICO EDITORE (monogram)
NG G 8255, National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana
This bust in the triangular Renaissance composition of the thinker is a work from his last series of self-portraits. It was produced by an elderly, already nearly blind painter whose arm was shaking as it slid across the paper as if of its own accord.
The lines create a dark image of the painter, whose face is lost in the ink, recognizable just through his highlighted hands, which are supporting a weary head. The pose is that of the bodiless thinker, who is slowly turning to dust and disappearing into oblivion.
Gift of Ljuban, Milada and Vanda Mušič to the National Gallery of Slovenia