John Bellany Self Portrait, 1987

This 1987 self-portrait depicts John Bellany at 45 years old, exhausted and drained. In the 1980s, Bellany's personal life was filled with uncertainty and poor health. He had stopped eating as he suffered the first symptoms of liver failure, and between 1986 and 1988, he was in and out of the hospital.

Bellany reflected, 'Obviously the liver was collapsing, so the whole system was starting to go wrong. I would get frights. In fact, my nerve ends were totally frayed, so I was completely on edge. It was living hell...I was starting to look like somebody who was already dead. When I see photographs now, I nearly collapse. I look like someone out of Buchenwald.'

The top of Bellany's head is cut off in the composition, drawing focus to his sunken eyes. The detailed brush strokes within his face are contrasted by the chromatic simplicity of the patterns of his striped shirt and his neck scarf, its bold thick oranges, reds, and blues a familiar medley in Bellany's practice, contrasting the muted tones of his depleted visage. 

In 1988, John Bellany had his life-saving liver transplant, a relatively new procedure at the time, producing a related series of self-portraits during his convalescence and recovery.