This is Kurelek’s first mature work, created immediately following his sudden departure from the Ontario College of Art. It marks his decision to pursue his artistic talents professionally and reveals his early identification with Stephen Dedalus, the protagonist in James Joyce’s 1916 novel that shares its title with the painting. Later Kurelek explained that he initially titled the self-portrait The Romantic, “because I represented myself as a dreamer: the Joycean artist about to burst into beautiful bloom, but not quite there yet.”