After two years of study at the Academy in Prague, Ivan Vavpotič left the city for Paris, going on to study another two years at the École du Louvre and the École des Beaux-Arts. Based on the signature, the painting can be dated to the beginning of his time in Paris, as the artist’s statement upon the turn of the century, confirmed with a prominent autograph. He painted himself before the mirror such that we view a double image with a (finished?) portrait on the easel. Only the stretcher on the left edge of the frame gives sense to the setting and the artist at work. Thus, the painter avoided grimaces when looking in the mirror and created a confrontational image, which stares penetratingly at its own countenance at the focal point where the viewer is standing before the painting. Vavpotič was an academically trained realist who stacked his quiver with elements of impressionism, but he never worked with a palette of pure colors. Similarly, here he subdued the expression of color and forced the painting into the realm of black and white. This helped emphasize the artist’s kempt appearance and the modesty of his student accommodations, which by no means are a studio. The palette with its smattering of vivid colors rises from the bottom edge throughout the width of the painting. It seems as if the artist’s bust itself is growing from the same spot and thus symbolically justifies the subject’s mission.