Carl Larsson Self-Portrait 1906 — Uffizi Gallery Postcard

Carl Larsson painted this self-portrait in 1906 for the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, which has long maintained a collection of artists' self-portraits in the Vasari Corridor. In it, Larsson looks out from under a wide black hat, pince-nez on his nose, white studio smock, auburn beard. In his right hand, gripped with some force, a small marionette in a red polka-dot jester's costume, one arm raised. Karin Larsson is visible, partially, in the interior behind him.

The year before, Larsson's eldest son Ulf had died at eighteen. What reads as theatrical in the painting also carries something of the weight of that loss. It is an oil painting — unusual for Larsson, who worked primarily in watercolour — and the technique adds to the sense of a man examining himself in a different register than his usual domestic watercolours.

This art postcard reproduces the Uffizi painting on a 10×15 cm card at 350 g/m². A distinctive piece for collectors of Swedish art, for postcrossing with correspondents who know Larsson's work, or for anyone drawn to self-portrait as a genre. Part of the Carl Larsson series; browse all painting art postcards.