12.Self-Portrait

Rembrandt. Self Portrait, 1640

Though Dürer is credited for being the first artist to consistently create self-portraits, Rembrandt is given credit for being the first artist to intensely study the self through art. During his life time, 1606-1669, Rembrandt sketched his own face thousands of times. He created a legacy of 60 self-portraits that depict his history, an autobiographical story that chronicles his turbulent life. From rags to riches, through marriages and mistresses, from youth to old age, we can witness the changing face of Rembrandt.

Rembrandt. Self Portrait, 1669

Janson summed up Rembrandt's use of the self-portraits well when he wrote that "...his view of himself reflects every stage of his inner development - experimental in the Leyden years; theatrically disguised in the 1630's; frank and self-analytical toward the end of his life, ... yet full of simple dignity."

Vincent van Gogh, Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889

Vincent van Gogh is as famous for his self-portraits as is Rembrandt, though instead of creating them over a life time, he painted the majority, twenty-two of them, within two tumultuous years. Van Gogh's images during that period (1886-1888) and for the two years before his suicide in 1890 reveal a man who was struggling with life, and perhaps searching for answers through his painted image. Each painted portrait captures detailed emotions of shock, disturbance, tranquillity or confusion.

Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait with Monkey, 1938

Like Rembrandt and van Gogh, the story of Frida Kahlo can be read in her self-portraits. Approximately one-third of her work is the exploration of her self, physically and mentally. Kahlo created some fifty-five

self-portraits as a kind of therapy to face the most troubling events of her life; her leg crippled from polio, permanent injuries from a bus accident, abortions, and botched surgeries.