Peter Schmidt - self portrait

Peter Schmidt - Self portrait, watercolour, 9.5 x 7.5 cm, no date
(Collection and by kind permission of Adalsteinn Ingolfsson)

"I think I must have met Peter through Eggert Pétursson or Ingólfur Örn Arnarson, two Icelandic artists who had brought him to the Suðurgata 7 gallery in Reykjavik for a show.

Since I had studied art history in London and was fairly familiar with the art scene there, I naturally gravitated towards Peter. I took him on rides in my car, both around Reykjavik and the lava landscape surrounding the city.

Peter´s presence was inspiring. You felt him listening intently to whatever you had to say, and his queries were always quiet, to the point, with enough unsaid to make you think.

There was a Buddist quality about him; one felt that he had found himself an utterly peaceful level of existence. At the same time there was something sad or melancholic about him.

I remember most clearly an evening at my home, when I cooked him the simplest of meals, fresh flounder with potatoes. While I cooked Peter found an LP of mine featuring Casals playing the Bach cello suites. In the end we both sat on the floor, ate the fish and listened to the music. Peter deemed this a" perfect evening". I think it was partly as a thank you for the fish that he sent me his self portrait."

Adalsteinn Ingolfsson

This self portrait watercolor painting is thought to be the only one Peter Schmidt ever painted. Soon to be featured prominently at http://www.peterschmidtweb.com/.