One of the Maltese modern art movement’s pioneers, Willie Apap’s (1918—1970) choice of subject matter, form and colour palette reveals a certain kind of purification, a move from the exterior to the interior, from the visible realm to that of the inner human condition, and ultimately to the spiritual, that is, to what cannot be seen or touched. But the deeper one goes, so too does the mystery. Apap’s keen interest in the human figure, face and setting, undergoes a similar transformation; a transfiguration of sorts, shrouded in a thick veil of ambiguity, incompleteness and obscurity.

Over the span of almost four decades of active artistic life, Apap’s evolution in self-portraiture presents a veritable autobiography of the artist. The self portrait on display in the exhibition is a late work from 1967, the last known to exist. It has been said that a self portrait is an investigation of the ‘self’; the artist is now at the apex of his career, a master of his style, and a pioneer of modern art.