At the t.mes , art venues exclusively welcomed members of the Dutch community and a few Indonesian artists who painted in accordance with the accepted Mooi Indie style.

This rejection would urge the artist to analyze his physicality until the end of his life. Affandi was not a political artist. He was simply an artist, fixated by the concept of the ‘self’. Intimately aware of every crevasse and contour of his own face as he aged, the artist was obsessed with the act of looking at the mirror. His self-portraits would become visual documentations of his personhood at varying stages of his life, intimately revealing t.mes ’s impression on the evolution of both man and artist. The present lot is a confrontation with the authentic self, an instrument of self-analysis which earnestly renders the artist’s imperfections without partiality or erasure.

Affandi’s face dominates the left side of the composition in the present lot, while his hand clutches onto the head of a pipe that protrudes towards the right side of the canvas. A group of birds perch on the ground in the distance, suggesting that the artist was outdoors when painting this work. The white strokes that appear as smoke churning out of his pipe blend in with his wispy white hair. Vibrant reds and oranges swirl around his aged countenance, forming a tense yet somber expression, while washes of lime yellows and bright blues softly vibrate in the backdrop. Above his signature, Affandi includes his archetypal ‘life force’ symbol, consisting of a sun, hands and feet, signifying that he was satisfied with the result of this painting. Self Portrait with Pipe highlights the pensive spirit of an impassioned, elderly man; a rare portrait that transcends two-dimensional ideals of art and beauty in order to capture human existence in all its com

當時，藝術場地只招待荷蘭社區的人士，及一些採用當時被認可的「美哉印地」（Mooi Indie）風格的少數印尼畫家。這次被拒絕入場的經歷，促使阿凡迪在此後的人生裡，反覆分析自己各種外在特質，直到離世方休。阿凡迪不是政治藝術家，他單純只是一位藝術家，他的焦點在於「自我」這個概念。隨著日漸年長，阿凡迪越來越仔細地察覺到自己臉上的縫隙及輪廓，他沉迷在鏡前看自己。他的自畫像成為了他生命中各階段的視覺紀錄，亦仔細地反映時間如何影響一個人、包括他自己的成長。本作是藝術家面對真實自我的體驗，一個自我分析的工具，懇切而沒有任何偏見或刪減地呈現了藝術家的不完美。

藝術家的臉孔是本作構圖左方的主體，他的手握著煙斗頭，而煙斗則向畫布的右方延伸。在遠方的地上有一群雀鳥棲息著，顯示藝術家繪製這幅畫時應該身處室外。白色的筆觸貌似是從煙斗中呼出的白煙，亦與他稀疏的白髮混集在一起。大膽鮮明的紅色與橙色圍繞在他充滿歲月痕跡的臉上，組成一個緊繃又憂鬱的神情；淡淡的檸檬黃和醒目的藍色在背景中輕輕地顫動。在畫面的簽名之上，阿凡迪添上了他經典的「生命力量」符號，符號由一個太陽及手腳組成，代表藝術家對這幅作品的成果感到滿意。《叼煙斗的自畫像》展現一個熱情洋溢的老翁沉思的一面。這幅難得一見的肖像畫，從二維的藝術及美學中昇華出來，呈現人類的存在本質的複雜性。