Inspired by a revealing passage from Franz Kafka’s diaries, this striking portrait explores the writer’s fascination with duality, identity and the tension between inner and outer worlds.

The painting draws on Kafka’s description of the lonely bachelor and his observation of a “double face”, translating these ideas into a portrait divided between opposing states: male and female, dream and reality, and positive and inverse colour. The result is an enigmatic and psychologically charged image that reflects the complexity of Kafka’s literary world, where the familiar often gives way to something stranger and more unsettling.

The setting adds another layer of historical character, with the tiled floor echoing the cobbled surroundings of Kinsky Palace Square in Prague, a location closely associated with Kafka’s life. The painting is presented in an original early-20th-century oak frame with carved sycamore detailing and its original antique glass, further enhancing the work’s period atmosphere and connection to Kafka’s era.