In this monumental self-portrait, Carl Larsson has painted himself as the confident doyen of artists. With raised chin and slightly narrowed eyes, he looks at the observer, charcoal pencil in hand, resting on the large, stretched canvas that makes up the right edge of the painting. In the yellow background, he has playfully introduced sinuous lines, rings, and a female figure swooping through the air—taken from the cartoons for the plafond in the foyer of the Royal Opera in Stockholm. The boy who was once so very poor is now the man at the height of his career.
Kristoffer Arvidss
