Saadoja says vanity led him to accept Karis portrait commission

Estonian painter Tõnis Saadoja said he was vain enough to accept an offer to paint President Alar Karis, despite having limited experience with portraits, ERR reported from the Ringvaade programme.

“I tried to think not so much about the office of president, because a portrait is ultimately of a person,” Saadoja said. He described Karis as “a very good president” and “a very likeable person”.

Saadoja said he would be more likely to refuse a portrait commission if he did not get along with the person being portrayed. “If someone calls and asks you to do something like this, you would rather say yes,” he said.

The process began with a photo shoot, followed by some thought about which image to choose. Saadoja said he had considerable freedom to make decisions. He started work gradually in the summer, and the painting itself came together during September.

Saadoja said he believes visible brush hairs can be a good feature of a painting because they show the history of the material. He signed the portrait on the back, saying he was not confident about signing the front and had rarely done so on his paintings.