Before the Light Goes, Self-Portrait of the Artist with His Dog in a Landscape

Dated 1906, two years after his move to Swainsthorpe in Norfolk, Before the Light Goes is one of Munnings's earliest self-portraits. He depicts himself painting en-plein air, following in the great tradition of landscape painting. During this period, Munnings devoted himself to recording the effects of nature in the Norfolk landscape and this picture captures an idyllic moment as the artist paints the scene in front of him as the light fades. The warm tones of the sunset bathes the picture in a golden glow silhouetting the artist and his dog. Munnings recalls that he was inspired, at this time, by 'the tone of day, the light, - grey or sun - on things... I long always to sit by a river and paint' (see A. J. Munnings, The Second Burst, Bungay, 1951, p. 209).