Gold and Brown: Self-Portrait

James McNeill Whistler

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned man with a mustache stands with one hand on his hip and the other hand held up in this dark-toned, vertical portrait painting. The man’s body is angled to our right almost in profile, but he turns his face to us. He looks out with dark eyes and one eyebrow lifted. He has a straight nose, flushed cheeks, a tuft of hair under his pink lower lip, a wide mustache, and a narrow chin. His brown hair appears to be tousled but it blends into the sable-brown background, making details difficult to make out. The edge of a white collar and shirt front is tucked into a dark vest. The jacket, also coffee bean brown, seems to be pulled back behind the man’s right hand, which is planted on his hip. The left hand, farther from us, is held up, palm toward us, near his waist. The portrait is loosely painted and the dark tonalities of the brown paint make many details hard to discern. Three slightly darker brown spots near the center of the right edge create a butterfly form.