the dogs jumped over the artist

thank you wikimedia commons {PD}

This is Polish artist Julian Falat's "Self-Portrait from Palette" (at least that's how it was translated). This is an oil on canvas, but Falat (1853 - 1929) was one of Poland's most prolific watercolorists and also a leading Impressionist. He accepted an invitation to become Emperor Wilhelm II's court painter in Berlin in 1886. I wonder if he was still doing that when he painted this ten years later; I don't know if he was, but this piece has a playful, lighthearted feel to it that I much doubt would fly at the Imperial court. Speaking of flying - who paints dogs seemingly soaring through the air? Julian Falat does, I guess, and it's magical to see. I wish that were my wall at home.

There's a Falat museum in his modest white villa in the town of Bielsko-Biala. You can read a little bit about it, and him, here.