L’Homme en bleu (c.1921)

Soutine, Chaïm (1893-1943)

L’Homme en bleu (Man in Blue)
c.1921
Oil on canvas, 130.8 x 65.7 cm
Barnes FoundationPhiladelphia

Though conventional in format, this portrait of an unidentified man is uniquely Soutine‘s in its gestural brushwork and fiery colors. As in Soutine‘s other portraits, hands are spectacularly expressive: positioned right up close to the viewer, they are a tangle of thick strokes, each a different color. The man’s clenched body and grimacing face pulsate with an empathic energy that seems to wrinkle his suit; we can almost feel Soutine‘s presence as he tried to capture his sitter. One model described Soutine‘s working process: “He was turning red like a crayfish, his eyes widened and his beautiful fingers felt his throat and caressed his face. The emotion seemed to stimulate his sense of color, and he muttered incomprehensible words between clenched teeth.” (BF)