Arthur Segal, born in 1875 in Romania moved to Berlin in 1892 where he joined the Kunstakademie. First influenced by the landscapes of Segantini he rapidly moved from a pointillist technique to a neo-impressionist style more in keeping with van Gogh with slightly longer, more detailed brushstrokes.

Together with Heckel, Kirchner, Melzer, Pechstein, Richter, Schmidt-Rottluff, Tappert and others he founded the Neue Secession. In their first exhibition in 1910 he contributed five paintings.

The present self-portrait was one of these five exhibited works and was illustrated in the exhibition catalogue.