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The face – a mirror of the soul? Of the emotions? For Marlene Dumas, originally from South Africa and today living in Amsterdam, the face may well be the core theme in her art.

“What I always find so fascinating about the human face, painting and working with it, is the fact that if you are interested in the world of human emotions, it has everything in it.”

She never works from a life model. Instead, she has collected a large archive of photographs to work from – press photos, pictures in glossy magazines, and snapshots. This painting entitled Ecce Homo is also based on a photo, though Dumas has radically changed the image in the process of painting:

“When I use a photo or snapshot, I don’t try to imitate the medium itself. It’s my model, and I try to recognise the facial expression.”

In most cases, the photo only captures the external appearance. In her paintings, Dumas transforms the model to give a visual expression to what she perceives as the ‘true face’ of the person photographed.

The title Ecce Homo – “Behold – the man” is a reference to a scene in the Gospel according to Saint John when Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea, used just those words to present the tortured Christ to the gathered crowds. Marlene Dumas created this painting as part of the process of making a larger work commissioned as a new altarpiece for Dresden’s Saint Anne’s Church.