Scratching the Surface: On and In Self Portrait (1895)

Abstract

This article examines the surface of Edvard Munch’s Self Portrait (1895), one of the artist’s most emblematic images, proposing ways of thinking about the lines scratched into the blackness surrounding the artist’s head. Assuming that the surface is a place of negotiation among the artist, the material, and the viewer, it examines ways in which the almost invisible lines trouble the reading of the motif.

Keywords

• Edvard Munch
• Self-Portrait
• Lithograph
• Sudarium
• EdvardMunch