Self-Portrait, 1941
Ligabue’s second hospitalization at S. Lazzaro in Reggio Emilia lasted over a year, between 1940 and 1941. He was diagnosed with “manic-depressive psychosis.” Doctors reported extreme mood swings, rapidly shifting from euphoria to verbal aggression and self-harm. In a note, the head physician Professor Bertolani wrote: “Laccabue has been provided with the necessary materials to paint.”
During this period of confinement, his work attracted the attention of art critic Luigi Bartolini, introduced to him through Marino Mazzacurati. From this phase date works such as Courtyard and a Self-Portrait, among his most frequent subjects. Courtyard is a weak work, almost the product of an insecure artist anxiously trying to cover the surface. By contrast, the Self-Portrait with Yellow Grating displayed here shows far greater compositional depth.
Ligabue neutralizes the background through the ornamental description of red wallpaper with diamond patterns and yellow circles. From this emerges, rendered with meticulous detail, the youthful and orderly figure of the painter, who examines himself in every facial fold and every crease of his clothing. A faint shadow on the wallpaper reveals his skill in chiaroscuro and depth.
After the crisis that led to hospitalization, Ligabue finds the strength to recompose himself, sealing this achievement in an autobiographical work of great technical rigor. It is an important painting—perhaps his first true masterpiece—marking his full awareness of his own stylistic value.