Delhomme’s portraits are created through direct observation and, unlike much contemporary “figurative” painting, not mediated by photography. His work could be characterized as a painting of representation, “re-presentation” in the etymological sense as a “bringing before one” of an image or figure that substitutes reality. Each portrait records the presence of the model in the controlled situation of the studio. The artist is less interested in likeness than the exchange of gazes between painter and model, continuing a long tradition of portraiture predating photography.