Last updated: 19 Dec 2024
Baba's Portrait
September 2011
Brush and paper
Watercolour
Portrait
Impressionism
A quick portrait of Baba as he was getting deeper into dementia
1. Medium: Watercolor on paper
2. Shapes and objects: A portrait of a middle-aged man with a mustache. The subject has short, light-colored hair and is wearing a light green shirt or jacket. The background is plain and light-colored.
3. Colours: The face is painted in various shades of beige and light brown, with touches of pink for the cheeks and lips. The eyes are a deep green. The hair and mustache are light brown. The shirt or jacket is a soft green. The background is a neutral off-white.
4. Narrative: This portrait captures a direct, straightforward view of the subject. The man's expression is neutral, perhaps slightly pensive. The simple background and clothing keep the focus on the face, particularly the eyes and mustache which are the most detailed elements. The painting style is loose and expressive, giving a sense of the subject's character rather than a photorealistic depiction.
5. Original Artist: While this is an original work by Mehrdad Fahimi (as evidenced by the signature and date in the bottom right), the style is reminiscent of expressionist portraiture. It brings to mind the work of artists like Oskar Kokoschka or Lucian Freud in its focus on capturing the essence of the subject through expressive brushwork rather than strict realism.
The painting demonstrates Fahimi's skill in using watercolor for portraiture, a medium that can be challenging for this genre due to its fluidity. The artist has managed to capture a sense of the subject's personality and presence with a relatively limited palette and loose technique.
This portrait continues the tradition of artistic portraiture that seeks to reveal something of the sitter's inner character through external appearance, using the artist's personal style and interpretation rather than striving for photographic accuracy.
Details
Type
artwork
Created At
07 May 2023