In this self-portrait, the artist depicts himself following the rules of his own art. Where we should see a face — according to the laws of portraiture, which are none other than to capture the subject’s features — we see only strokes of colour scattered violently across the canvas.

This is exactly as Franquesa intended. He does not show us his facial features but his character as an artist. Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) said of an acquaintance of his: “I don’t remember him very well, but what I do remember is that his face looked very abstract.” This portrait is in tune with the words of the American artist, who exerted a direct influence on this and other works produced by Franquesa in the eighties.

As we can see, the Self-portrait is strongly influenced by American

 action painting 

Emerging in the USA in the 1950s, this art movement may be ascribed within twentieth century American

 Abstract Expressionism 

This contemporary painting movement emerged within the field of abstraction in the 1940s in the United States, from where it spread worldwide. Rooted in similar premises and postulates as Surrealism, the Abstract Expressionist artists regarded the act of painting as a spontaneous and unconscious activity, a dynamic bodily action divested of any kind of prior planning. The works belonging to this movement are defined by the use of pure, vibrant primary colours that convey a profound sense of freedom. The movement’s main pioneers were, among others, Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) and Hans Hoffman (1880-1966). Leading Spanish exponents of the movement are Esteban Vicente (1903-2001) and José Guerrero (1914-1991), who lived for some time in New York City, where they were in first-hand contact with the many artistic innovations taking place there around that time.

, although it would later be adopted and reinterpreted by European artists. The term was coined in New York in the essay The American Action Painters by Harold Rosenberg, published in 1952 in the magazine Art News. The text talked about a new movement which laid the emphasis on the very act of painting and understood the final result as a consequence of that act although not as the pursued end. Action Painting works are defined by an extremely powerful use of colour and by the gesturality characterising the application of the paint on the surface of the canvas. Its major representatives in the US are Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) and Willem de Kooning (1904-1997).

, especially in the gesturality and the boldness of the brushwork, overstepping the confines of the canvas.

Pink, grey, black and yellow strokes merge on a white background. We are presented with a schematic face, as if it were submerged between one brushstroke and another, constructed with furious black strokes which combine to form an unrecognisable, almost grumpy face with a frown.