2001 Self-portrait, 60x50 cm, oils

Stages of making the painting

Some things just stick in your mind. Such a thing can be a learning situation from fifty years ago. Believe or not, this happened in 1951. I was wandering around in the gallery of ancient art in the Louvre somewhere at the ground floor. I was wondering how such large sphinxes could have been brought inside the building. Napoleon must have liked them. I thought they looked quite unfriendly and repulsive, quite as official art usually does. Then I entered the gallery of Mesopotamian art. Inside the glass cabinets there were small terra cotta scupltures from a couple of thousand years ago. Shepherds had made them to pass the time. At that moment I realised the difference between individual and official art. This is an old recollection, but memories occupy our minds. The subconscious produces memories that are different from the daytime consciousness.

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