Hallé was born in Surrey. His father was related to the Hallé who founded the orchestra, and his mother was a direct descendant of Sir Peter Lely, court painter to Charles II. This self portrait is a curious painting. There is an almost jokey dichotomy between the conventional, pipe-smoking man in suit and the vibrant, fluid means of expression. The rich colours give the picture a flavour of semi-abstraction, though underlying figurative structure is retained. There is a respectability here, yet it co-exists with the image of the artist as a mysterious, semi-abstracted presence. Hallé was a rare colourist, whose use of deep, shifting colour expressed a sense of the freshness of the world. He had learned a good deal from the Fauves and the German Expressionists.