Whilst Sickert's occasional self-portraits tend to aggrandise the subject and to project the desired public face of a celebrated figure, Bomberg's numerous self-portraits became increasingly raw and uncensored expressions of emotional turmoil, suggesting that they fulfilled a therapeutic function for an artist who felt isolated, embittered and possessed little sense of an audience.

So densely worked is the picture that it also suggests an affinity with the early paintings of Auerbach and Kossoff, which is otherwise far less evident.