This month’s exhibit, one of painter and graphic artist Adalbert Varga’s self-portraits, was created during one of the artist’s trips to Dresden. The two planes of the work interact subtly and symbolically. Varga depicts the female character (the muse or a loved one framed only in imaginary space) with blurred, almost absent features, while the image of the self is very clearly delineated in a play of light and dark. The influences of the German school are evident in the colors. The blue color disturbs the monotony of the dark shades of green. The presence of the feminine, however subtle, seems to balance the masculine restlessness. Adalbert Varga studied in Budapest in the class of Professor István Réti. He settled in Timișoara in the early 1920s. 1922 – 1923. The young Adalbert Varga traveled to Dresden and Munich to study with his colleague and friend, the sculptor Ferdinand Gallas. Following the model of the Der Weg (Free Art) School, he founded the Free Art School in Timișoara in 1926. Other artists – Ferdinand Gallas, Nándor Kóra Körber, Oskar Szuhanek, Julius Podlipny – were also involved in the project, which Varga took over in 1928, when he left for Paris. In France he already enjoyed the appreciation of art critics, which facilitated his professional career. After an intense artistic activity, during which he also sent works for exhibitions in his own country, information about Adalbert Varga is increasingly scarce. In 1940, at the age of just 40, he died under unknown circumstances. In his works, realized in an expressionist manner, he externalizes the richness of his inner world juxtaposed on various themes, from landscapes to portraits and narrative scenes. His portraits depict mysterious characters from different social backgrounds that seem timeless, drawn from a world of their own. Adalbert Varga’s self-portraits are defining for his artistic itinerary and for the full delineation of his identity beyond the boundaries of art.