Portrait of the Dancer Alexander Sakharoff (Bildnis des Tänzers Alexander Sacharoff)

1909

Oil on cardboard, 69.5 × 66.5 cm. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Munich

A ballet dancer and friend of the painter, shown half-length in a red costume, tilts his head and fixes us with a painted stare. It is one of three portraits of him made in 1909 alone.

The museum places it at the start of the series of staring heads that runs through his work until 1914.
Look at the face: chalk-white skin, dark-ringed, heavy-lidded eyes and red lips, with a single rose below.
Clotilde von Derp-Sacharoff recalled it was painted in under half an hour. The dancer arrived before a show, already in makeup, and carried off the wet board.
The white, mask-like face trades likeness for a stage type; the museum also notes the sitter's androgynous look.
Bought by the Lenbachhaus in 1965.

Image: Lenbachhaus, Munich · CC0 1.0