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Egry painted his self-portrait ten years after he had settled down by Lake Balaton. It shows how Egry's art had changed in the meantime. One can see him while he is painting. He shades his eyes with his hand as if looking for the most suitable motif in the glaring sunshine. His face reflects struggle and tension which engage him while he is working. Behind him, one can see Lake Balaton, trees in leaf, a bathing area and the water of the lake. They are not simple motifs of nature but elements of a world created by himself. It is the relationship of man and nature or, in other words, the pantheistic unity of creative man and the world.
He had often painted self-portraitsin landscape before (his face and posture can be recognized in the figures of workers). These pictures, however, used to have an element of still-life and reference to literature. This kind of objectiveness is all gone. His motifs show only composition characteristics. The relationship to nature is stronger, too. Mankind, earth, water and plant have become elements of air and sky and express a more intrinsic, transfigured and lyric message in the picture. His painting changed, too: instead of thick oil, he uses a peculiar mixture of pastels, water colours and little oil.
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