The eccentric self-portrait shows the artist with the tools of his trade, but without a face.

Bathurst-based painter Tim Storrier has won the 91st Archibald Prize for portraiture, the Art Gallery of NSW announced today.

At today’s prize presentation in the gallery, the 63-year-old accepted the award accompanied by his dog Smudge (also depicted on canvas), whom he describes as “the critic and guide of the whole enterprise”.

Claiming the Archibald, Storrier joked, would make him “the most unpopular artist in the country – with other artists,” especially given the winnings rose from $50,000 to $75,000 this year.

The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch), one of 41 finalists and 839 submissions, is modelled on a 1510 painting by Hieronymus Bosch. Storrier’s tongue-in-cheek, surrealistic twist depicts an intrepid painter on a “journey through the landscape of the artist’s mind.”

Although the figure in the self-portrait at first appears to have no face (think H G Wells’ The Invisible Man), Storrier has in fact included his visage on a faint sketch blowing in the wind behind the artist.

It is a significant departure in tone from last year’s winner, Ben Quilty’s touching tribute to his mentor and fellow...