Mitch Cairns painted fellow artist Agatha Gothe-Snape and had made the shortlist for Australia's premier portrait competition for the fourth time.
Each of the portraits that made up the Archibald Prize's 43 finalists tells a different story.
Some of the faces are well-known, from TV personality Lisa Wilkinson to Indigenous actor Jack Charles.
Others are more obscure.
And a few even challenge the very definition of a portrait.
David Gonski, from the Art Gallery of New South Wales' board of trustees, says he and his colleagues were torn between two particular entries.
But only one could win.
"The winner of the 2017 Archibald Prize, in the amount of $100,000, is Mitch Cairns."
The Sydney artist had been a finalist three times previously, but his Matisse-inspired portrait of his partner, Agatha Gothe-Snape, finally won him the honour.
He says it was not easy.
"It's probably the most ambitious subject, in a way, because it's really one that you can't ... you can't get wrong. I was terrified."
Mr Cairns called the piece a gesture of love to his partner of 10 years, the mother of his child.
After months of sketches and changes in direction, he says even he is surprised by how it turned out.
"No-one has mentioned the green nose. It's so great. It's a great green nose, and no-one has ..."
"Well, it's out there now."
"No-one has said a single thing about it, which is good, because it means that there's a registration. The most obvious feature of the face isn't mentioned, and I think that's kind of nice. It means people are looking at the painting."
For nearly a hundred years, the Archibald Prize has challenged people's perceptions of what constitutes a portrait.
Agatha Gothe-Snape is also an artist who likes to shake up people's perceptions of contemporary art.
She says she understands her likeness was never supposed to be photographic, but, rather, psychological and emotional.
"A portrait is always a portrait not just of the sitter but of the relationship between the two, and I think that's what art can offer us. Open up a world for other people to witness. I look at that, and I see not just myself but I see Mitch's perception of me and of our world."
"There's a lot that's unpainted, in a way."
In the past, the competition has sparked debate and even division across the country.
But 2017 Archibald curator Anne Ryan says its significance has not faltered, because of one key message.
"We really have to listen to what artists are saying. And what artists are doing is what artists are interested in, and it's what we should be responding to. So I think, as long as the portrait tells you something about the subject in a powerful way, it doesn't matter how it's done."
